The Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred (DART) Rate is a metric designed by OSHA to monitor injuries in high-risk industries and used by EHS managers to track recordable incidents over time. Unlike the Total Case Incident Rate, the DART rate only takes into account the most serious incidents. This calculation adds up the incidents that caused lost days of work, resulted in an employee transferring to a different job, or restricted certain job roles. Because of this, your DART rate is most likely be lower than your facility’s TCIR.
First, enter the total number of injuries and illnesses in the workplace from the past year; these incidents must have resulted in days away from the job, restricted job roles, or transfers. The other variable you will need to input is the total number of hours employees worked in a calendar year. This information can be found in the most recent copy of your OSHA 300 log and 300A summary.
What's next?
The 200,000 represents 100 employees working 40 hours a week for 50 weeks; this gives you the number of incidents resulting in lost or restricted days or job transfer due to work-related injuries or illnesses per 100 full-time employees over one full year. The DART rate is a type of incident rate that can be used as a benchmark, or a KPI, and can be critical to improving your safety performance. Use this incident rate to monitor safety programs and ensure your efforts are effectively reducing injuries.
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average DART rate for the private industry is 1.5 – meaning on average, 1.5 cases resulting in days away from work, job transfer, or restriction occur every year for every 100 workers in the private sector. It is important to remember more dangerous industries (maritime, logging, etc.) will have a higher rate than average.
Additional Dart Rate facts:
- The DART rate is a measure of the frequency and severity of workplace injuries and illnesses that result in days away from work, restricted work activities, or job transfers. Source: https://www.safeopedia.com/2/1367/safety-standards/dart-rate-what-it-is-and-how-to-calculate-it
- The DART rate is calculated by multiplying the number of recordable cases that involved days away, restricted, or transferred by 200,000, and then dividing by the total number of hours worked by all employees. Source: https://www.mscdirect.com/betterMRO/safety/osha-dart-safety-rate-explained-and-how-calculate-it
- The DART rate is one of the safety indicators that OSHA uses to evaluate the performance of different industries and companies. The lower the DART rate, the better the safety record. Source: https://hsewatch.com/dart-rate/
- The DART rate can help employers identify the root causes of workplace injuries and illnesses, and implement corrective actions to prevent them from recurring. Source: https://www.dakotasoft.com/blog/2023/10/06/osha-dart-rate-how-to-calculate-it-and-why-its-important
- The DART rate can also help employers reduce the costs associated with workers’ compensation, medical expenses, lost productivity, and employee turnover. Source: https://www.hseblog.com/dart-rate/
