OSHA Incident Rates: A Guide to Assessing Workplace Safety

Last updated: April 2026

OSHA incident rates are the common language of workplace safety performance. When a general contractor reviews your prequalification package, when ISNetworld flags your company, when your insurance broker calculates your premium, they are all looking at the same set of numbers: TRIR, DART, and EMR.

OSHA incident rates are standardized metrics that measure workplace injuries and illnesses relative to the number of hours worked, allowing companies of any size to be compared on the same scale. The rates are calculated using formulas established under 29 CFR 1904 and published annually by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Three OSHA Incident Rates Every Contractor Needs to Know

OSHA and the Bureau of Labor Statistics use three primary incidence rates to measure workplace safety. Each uses the same formula structure but counts different types of cases.

TRIR (Total Recordable Incident Rate)

TRIR counts every OSHA-recordable case: any work-related injury or illness that results in medical treatment beyond first aid, days away from work, restricted work, job transfer, loss of consciousness, or a significant diagnosis by a physician.

Formula: TRIR = (Recordable Cases x 200,000) / Total Hours Worked

TRIR is the broadest measure. It tells you how often incidents happen. It is the most commonly requested rate on prequalification forms and bid packages. For a complete walkthrough, see our TRIR calculation guide.

DART Rate (Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred)

DART counts only the cases where the worker's ability to do their job was affected: they missed work, were put on restricted duties, or were transferred to a different role.

Formula: DART Rate = (DART Cases x 200,000) / Total Hours Worked

DART is a severity filter on TRIR. A company with a high TRIR but a low DART is experiencing frequent but minor incidents. A company where DART and TRIR are close together is experiencing mostly severe incidents. See our DART rate guide for the full breakdown.

DAFW Rate (Days Away From Work)

DAFW counts only the cases where the worker actually missed scheduled workdays. It excludes restricted-work and transfer cases.

Formula: DAFW Rate = (Days-Away Cases x 200,000) / Total Hours Worked

DAFW is the strictest severity measure. It only counts cases where the injury or illness was serious enough to keep the worker off the job entirely. The 2024 national DAFW rate was 0.8 per 100 FTE (National Safety Council, 2024).

2024 OSHA Incident Rate Benchmarks

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes incidence rates annually through the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII). The most recent data covers 2024 (BLS, published January 2026).

All private industry (2024):

• TRIR: 2.3 per 100 FTE (down from 2.4 in 2023)
• DART: 1.4 per 100 FTE (down from 1.5 in 2023)
• DAFW: 0.8 per 100 FTE (down from 0.9 in 2023)

All three rates hit record lows in 2024, continuing a downward trend that has persisted for over two decades.

Construction (2024):

• TRIR: 2.3 per 100 FTE (down from 2.4 in 2023)

Construction matched the national average in 2024, a significant improvement from historical rates that frequently exceeded 3.0. Specialty trade contractors and heavy/civil engineering construction tend to have higher rates than general building construction.

You can compare your company's rates to BLS benchmarks using the BLS Injury and Illness Incidence Rate Calculator, which allows industry-specific comparisons by NAICS code.

How OSHA Incident Rates Are Used

Incident rates serve three distinct purposes for contractors:

Prequalification and Bidding

ISNetworld, Avetta, ComplyWorks, and most GC prequalification processes require three to five years of TRIR, DART, and EMR history. Many general contractors set hard thresholds. If your TRIR exceeds their cutoff (commonly 1.0 to 2.0 depending on project type), your bid is rejected before pricing is reviewed.

Insurance Pricing

Your experience modification rate (EMR) is calculated from the same underlying claims data that drives your incident rates. A contractor with consistently high TRIR and DART rates will see their EMR climb over the following 12 to 24 months, increasing workers' compensation premiums. For the full EMR breakdown, see our EMR in construction guide.

Internal Benchmarking

Tracking TRIR and DART quarterly gives you a trend line. Rising rates signal that your safety program is losing effectiveness. Falling rates validate that prevention efforts are working. The rates are most useful when compared against your own historical performance, not just industry averages.

The OSHA 300 Log and Incident Rate Calculation

All incidence rates start with the OSHA 300 log (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses). Employers with 11 or more employees are required to maintain this log under 29 CFR 1904.

The 300 log columns that drive each rate:

• Column G (Death): Counts toward TRIR
• Column H (Days away from work): Counts toward TRIR, DART, and DAFW
• Column I (Job transfer or restriction): Counts toward TRIR and DART
• Column J (Other recordable cases): Counts toward TRIR only

When calculating your rates, make sure you are counting from the correct columns. A common error is including Column J cases in the DART count, which inflates the rate.

Use our free TRIR calculator to quickly compute your rates from your 300 log data.

How to Improve Your OSHA Incident Rates

Incident rates are lagging indicators. You improve them by strengthening the leading indicators that prevent incidents from occurring in the first place.

1. Track leading safety metrics monthly: Inspection completion, corrective action closure, near-miss reporting, and training compliance all predict where your next recordable will come from.
2. Focus prevention on your top incident types. Review your OSHA 300 log for patterns: same body part, same type of work, same crew, same time of day. Targeted prevention outperforms generic programs.
3. Improve incident investigation depth. Surface-level root cause analysis produces corrective actions that do not prevent recurrence. If the same type of incident keeps appearing, the investigation process needs strengthening.
4. Build a return-to-work program. Modified-duty options reduce the severity of claims, which lowers both DART rates and EMR over time.

Frequently Asked Questions