Purpose. This study aimed to analyze causal relationships among safety climate dimensions, safety performance dimensions and occupational accidents for nurses working in hospitals. Methods. Data were gathered from questionnaires filled in by nurses from three public hospitals. To analyze interactions among variables, a Bayesian network (BN) analysis was conducted. Using the function of BN ‘belief updating’, variables with the highest influences on occupational accidents were determined. Results. A total of 211 nurses participated in this study. They were mainly female and married. The results showed that 39.3% of nurses experienced occupational accidents during the last 12 months before the study. Less than half of the nurses had an acceptable safety performance. Safety participation had the highest influence on occupational accidents, followed by safety compliance. Reporting of errors had the highest score among the safety climate dimensions. Training of nurses was necessary for improving both safety compliance and safety participation, and thereby reducing occupational accidents. Conclusion. The effect of safety participation on occupational accidents among nurses was higher than that of safety compliance. Among the safety climate dimensions, supervisors’ attitude to safety and safety training had the highest effects on both nurses’ safety performance and occupational accidents.