Nanotechnology-enabled occupational health and safety as a strategic driver of crisis management: An empirical study of electricity maintenance departments in Baghdad

Abstract

Occupational health and safety (OHS) has emerged as a strategic organizational function that contributes not only to employee protection but also to organizational resilience and crisis preparedness. Effective communication, meanwhile, plays a vital role in facilitating information exchange, coordination, and decision-making during emergency situations. This study investigates the impact of occupational health and safety on crisis management through the mediating role of effective communication in the Electricity Maintenance Departments of Baghdad, Al-Karkh. A quantitative descriptive–analytical approach is adopted, and data are collected using a structured questionnaire distributed to a comprehensive census sample of 56 managerial and supervisory employees, including department heads, division and unit supervisors, work supervisors, and team leaders. The study examined three principal constructs: occupational health and safety, effective communication, and crisis management. Data are analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics and IBM SPSS Amos through descriptive statistics, reliability and validity assessments, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling (SEM), and mediation analysis. The results confirmed the adequacy and validity of the measurement models and revealed significant positive relationships among the study variables. Occupational health and safety are found to exert a direct positive effect on crisis management, indicating that organizations with stronger safety practices demonstrate greater preparedness, response capability, and recovery effectiveness during crises. Effective communication also showed a significant positive influence on crisis management by enhancing coordination, information credibility, communication speed, flexibility, and feedback mechanisms. Furthermore, occupational health and safety significantly improved effective communication, while mediation analysis confirmed that effective communication partially mediates the relationship between occupational health and safety and crisis management. These findings emphasize the importance of integrating occupational health and safety systems with effective communication strategies to strengthen crisis preparedness, improve organizational resilience, enhance operational continuity, and support effective crisis management in high-risk electricity maintenance environments.