Health & Safety Program

OSHA Incident Rates: A Guide to Assessing Workplace Safety

Learn the significance of OSHA Recordable Incident Rate/TRIR. Learn benchmarks, interpretation, & improvement. Prioritize safety for a thriving workplace.

David Brennan EMBA, COHS

Jan 24, 2026

If you’re a contractor, you’re usually not calculating incident rates because you’re curious. You’re doing it because something is forcing the question: a GC prequal, an insurance renewal, a client requirement, or you’re trying to move upmarket without looking like a risk.

And here’s the part most people miss: your incident rate is the number they ask for, but what they judge is whether you can back it up with a safety system that actually runs in the field.

If you want a fast gut-check on whether your training, inspections, and proof would hold up if a GC (or OSHA) asked for it tomorrow, book a Free Safety Assessment.

What is an OSHA Incident Rate?

An OSHA incident rate (often called an “incidence rate”) is a standardized way to measure workplace injuries/illnesses against hours worked so companies of different sizes can be compared. OSHA’s standard incidence rate formula uses a 200,000-hour base.

Most commonly, contractors track:

Why Contractors Calculate Incident Rates in the First Place

Because incident rates show up in:

Prequalification systems and bid packages
Owner/GC safety screening
Insurance conversations (experience, renewals, premiums)
Internal trend tracking (are things improving or drifting?)

The number is only step one. The real question is: “What will they ask for next?” (training proof, inspections, corrective actions, incident investigations, supervisor accountability, etc.)

That’s exactly what we review in the Free Safety Assessment.

TRIR vs DART (what’s the difference?)

TRIR is your “all recordables” rate.

DART focuses on severity and impact, cases that caused:

Days away from work
Restricted work
Job transfer

If you’re trying to win higher-standard work, DART is often the metric that raises eyebrows because it signals operational disruption, not just recordables.

What is a “good” OSHA incident rate?

There isn’t one universal “good” number.

A “good” rate depends on:

Your industry (construction vs manufacturing vs office)
Your scope (self-perform vs mostly subbed out)
Your risk profile (heights, energized work, heavy equipment, etc.)
Who’s evaluating you (different GCs/owners have different thresholds)

For benchmarking, start with BLS industry incidence rates (by NAICS). BLS reported the private industry total recordable case rate at 2.3 per 100 FTE workers in 2024, but your trade and category will vary from that overall number.

What Your Incident Rate is Actually Telling a GC or Insurer

Whether your TRIR is high or low, here’s what people assume:

If your TRIR is higher than expected:

“More claims, more disruption, more risk.”
“Do they have consistent training and supervision?”
“Will this project become a safety management problem for us?”

If your TRIR is low:

“Great, can they prove it?”
“Do they have clean documentation and real field control, or are they underreporting/missing recordkeeping?”

Either way, the next step is always proof.

If your proof lives in texts, paper binders, and scattered folders, the Free Safety Assessment helps you get it organized into something prequal-ready (without rewriting your whole program).

The fastest ways to improve your incident rates (without creating more admin)

Contractors don’t lower rates by “caring more.” They lower rates by running a system that catches drift early.

Focus on these 5 levers to improve your incident rates:

Supervisor-led field habits (consistency across crews) - If foremen enforce safety like schedule and quality, your rate follows.
Training that matches real job risk (and proof that’s easy to pull) - Start with role-based essentials (not “everyone takes everything”). Training links you can use right now:

- OSHA 10 (for entry-level workers)
- OSHA 30 (for supervisors/leads)

Closeouts that actually close - Most programs don’t fail on identifying hazards, they fail on closing corrective actions fast.
Better control of the “usual suspects” (the hazards that create repeat recordables) - Common high-impact construction categories:

Better incident reporting and investigations If you don’t capture good detail, you can’t fix root causes. Helpful read: 7 Essential Elements of an Incident Report

What to do Right After You Calculate Your Incident Rate

If you’re calculating TRIR/DART for a prequal or renewal, do this next:

Confirm your recordkeeping inputs (OSHA 300/300A/301)
Make sure your training, inspections, and corrective actions are pullable fast
Identify the repeat hazards creating your recordables (falls, pinch points, silica, electrical, ladders, etc.)
Assign ownership (who actually runs the system weekly?)

If you want us to walk through this with you and translate your rate into a practical plan your foremen can run, book the Free Safety Assessment here.