If you have ever bid on a contract, applied for a new insurance policy, or been asked to fill out a safety prequalification questionnaire, you have probably been asked for your TRIR and DART rates. These two numbers are the universal shorthand for how safe — or unsafe — your workplace is relative to everyone else in your industry.
The formulas are not complicated, but the details matter. A miscounted case or an incorrect hours figure can inflate your rate, costing you real money in higher premiums or lost bids. This guide walks through both calculations step by step, explains what the results actually mean, and shows you how to benchmark your numbers against national averages.
What Is TRIR?
TRIR stands for Total Recordable Incident Rate. It measures the total number of OSHA-recordable injuries and illnesses your company experienced per 100 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers over a given period, typically one calendar year.
The formula is:
TRIR Formula
TRIR = (Number of OSHA Recordable Cases × 200,000) ÷ Total Hours Worked by All Employees
The 200,000 in the formula is a constant that represents the approximate number of hours 100 full-time employees would work in a year (100 workers × 40 hours/week × 50 weeks). This normalizes the rate so companies of different sizes can be compared directly. A 10-person shop and a 10,000-employee manufacturer are measured on the same scale.
Worked Example
Suppose your company had 4 recordable incidents last year and your employees worked a combined total of 250,000 hours. Your TRIR would be: (4 × 200,000) ÷ 250,000 = 3.2. That means for every 100 full-time workers, you would expect about 3.2 recordable incidents per year.
What Is DART?
DART stands for Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred. It is a subset of TRIR that only counts the more serious cases — those where the employee missed work, was placed on restricted duty, or was transferred to a different job because of the injury or illness.
The formula is identical in structure:
DART Formula
DART Rate = (Number of DART Cases × 200,000) ÷ Total Hours Worked by All Employees
Because DART excludes "other recordable cases" — incidents that required medical treatment beyond first aid but did not result in time away, restriction, or transfer — it is always equal to or lower than your TRIR. Many clients and insurers consider DART the more meaningful metric because it reflects the incidents that actually disrupted operations.
Worked Example
Using the same company from above: of your 4 recordable cases, 2 involved days away from work and 1 involved restricted duty. That gives you 3 DART cases. Your DART rate would be: (3 × 200,000) ÷ 250,000 = 2.4.
Getting the Hours Right
The most common source of error in rate calculations is the total hours worked figure. This number needs to include actual hours worked by all employees — salaried, hourly, part-time, seasonal, and temporary workers you directly supervise. It should not include paid time off like vacation, sick leave, or holidays.
For salaried employees who do not track hours, OSHA accepts a reasonable estimate. A common approach is to assume 2,000 hours per year for each full-time salaried employee (40 hours × 50 weeks), then adjust for any known extended absences.
Common Mistake
Do not use payroll hours for your calculation. Payroll hours typically include paid holidays, vacation, and sick time, which will overcount your hours worked and artificially deflate your rates. If your rates look surprisingly low, this is often why.
What Counts as a Recordable Case?
Only OSHA-recordable injuries and illnesses belong in the numerator of your TRIR formula. A case is recordable if it is work-related and results in death, days away from work, restricted work or job transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, loss of consciousness, or a significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician.
First-aid-only cases — things like cleaning a wound, applying a bandage, or using a non-prescription medication at non-prescription strength — do not count. Including them will inflate your rate unnecessarily.
How Do You Compare? Industry Benchmarks from BLS
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes injury and illness incidence rates annually through its Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses. The most recent data, released in January 2026, covers calendar year 2024. The overall TRIR for private industry was 2.3 cases per 100 full-time equivalent workers — the lowest on record going back to 2003.
But the overall number obscures wide variation by industry. Here are some representative TRIR benchmarks from the 2024 data to give you a sense of where you might stand:
- Healthcare and social assistance: 3.4 per 100 FTE
- Manufacturing: approximately 2.5 per 100 FTE
- Construction: approximately 2.4 per 100 FTE
- Retail trade: approximately 2.2 per 100 FTE
- Information sector: 0.7 per 100 FTE (lowest among major sectors)
- All private industry combined: 2.3 per 100 FTE
If your rate is above your industry average, it does not necessarily mean your workplace is unsafe — it could reflect more honest reporting. But it will raise questions from insurers and clients. If your rate is significantly below average, make sure you are not under-reporting. OSHA takes under-reporting seriously, and the penalties can be far worse than the higher rate would have been.
Where to Find Your Industry Rate
BLS publishes detailed rates by NAICS industry code at bls.gov/iif. You can also use OSHA's free Injury and Illness Incidence Rate Calculator at data.bls.gov/iirc to look up the published rate for your specific industry code.
Why These Rates Matter Beyond Compliance
Your TRIR and DART rates are not just numbers on a form. They have direct financial consequences. Workers' compensation insurers use them to set your Experience Modification Rate (EMR), which directly affects your premium. General contractors use them as a go/no-go filter in prequalification — many large GCs will not consider subcontractors with a TRIR above a certain threshold, often 1.0 or the industry average, whichever is lower.
OSHA itself uses aggregate rate data to target inspections. Industries and establishments with rates above the national average are more likely to receive a programmed inspection. The agency's electronic reporting requirements, which now include Forms 300 and 301 for certain high-hazard industries, make this targeting more data-driven every year.
Tracking Your Rates Over Time
A single year's rate can be misleading, especially for small employers. If you have 20 employees and one recordable incident, your TRIR might look alarming compared to a company with 2,000 employees. That is why trending matters more than any single data point. Track your TRIR and DART quarterly and annually. Look for patterns: are injuries clustering in a particular department, season, or job function? Are your rates improving or deteriorating year over year?
This kind of trend analysis is exactly what OSHA expects at the advanced level of the Safety Champions Program, and it is what insurers and sophisticated clients want to see when they ask about your safety performance. A company that can show three years of declining rates tells a much stronger story than one that simply reports last year's number.
LogStead calculates your TRIR and DART rates automatically from your recorded incidents and hours worked, and tracks them over time so you can spot trends without building a spreadsheet from scratch every quarter. But whether you use a tool or a calculator, the important thing is to actually run the numbers regularly and act on what they tell you.