Workplace safety in enterprises is crucial to the well-being of the population and the overall development of the economy and society. It is also an indispensable component of corporate ESG development strategies. Against this backdrop, this paper examines the impact of minimum wage on workplace safety using a sample of A-share listed companies in China from 2008 to 2022. The finding indicates that minimum wage increases significantly reduce the likelihood of enterprise safety accidents. This conclusion remains robust after a series of endogeneity and robustness tests. Mechanism analyses reveal that minimum wage increases mitigate enterprise safety accidents through several pathways, including realizing technological substitution, optimizing the human capital structure, and improving management efficiency. Heterogeneity analyses further show that the mitigating effect of minimum wage increases on workplace safety accidents is more pronounced in firms with low cost-passing capacity, higher operating risk, and more myopic management. Finally, this paper also finds that minimum wage increases effectively reduce the frequency of safety accidents as well as the associated property and human losses. These findings shed light on the specific role of minimum wage policies in safeguarding labor safety rights and provide important implications for promoting workplace safety in enterprises.