What is the formula for DART rate?

DART rate equals the number of days-away, restricted, or transferred cases, times 200,000, divided by total hours worked. In the running example, 2 DART-qualifying cases, 1 days-away and 1 restricted or transferred, across 400,000 hours worked gives a DART rate of 2 times 200,000 divided by 400,000, or 1.0. The formula structure matches TRIR and LTIR exactly; only which cases get counted in the numerator changes from rate to rate.

Why does DART rate fall between TRIR and LTIR?

Because its numerator sits between the other two in scope. TRIR’s numerator is every recordable case, the widest net. LTIR’s numerator is only days-away cases, the narrowest. DART’s numerator is days-away cases plus restricted-work and job-transfer cases, which is every LTIR case plus the restricted and transferred cases LTIR leaves out. That makes DART mathematically bounded between LTIR and TRIR for the same period: it can never be lower than LTIR, since every LTIR case is also a DART case, and it can never be higher than TRIR, since every DART case is also a recordable case.

Why can two contractors share the same TRIR but have different DART rates?

Because TRIR only requires that a case cleared the recordable threshold; it doesn’t care whether the follow-on was restricted duty, a transfer, or nothing further. Two contractors can each have 3 recordables and an identical TRIR, yet one group’s injuries all resolved with medical treatment and no restriction while the other’s included two restricted-duty cases. The first contractor’s DART rate would be lower than the second’s even though their TRIR numbers are identical, which is exactly why DART is tracked as a separate rate: it captures a severity signal TRIR’s broader net misses.

Construction Glossary · Safety

DARTRate

Two contractors can share an identical TRIR and still have very different DART rates, because DART only counts the cases serious enough to change the workday.

Definition

Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred cases, times 200,000 divided by hours worked. DART sits between TRIR, which counts every recordable, and LTIR, which counts only days-away cases: it adds restricted-duty and job-transfer cases to the days-away count, capturing severity broader than lost-time alone but narrower than all recordables.

Where DART draws its line

Of the 3 recordable cases, 1 is a days-away case and 1 is a restricted-or-transfer case, both DART-qualifying. The third resolved with treatment and no restriction, so it counts toward TRIR but not DART. That non-DART case is not a lesser safety event; it simply resolved without a restriction or a missed day, which is exactly the distinction DART exists to preserve instead of collapsing every recordable into one undifferentiated count.

Includes and excludes

DART sits in the middle because its rule includes more than LTIR's but less than TRIR's. Reviewers who only ask for TRIR can miss a contractor whose recordables are concentrated in restricted-duty and transfer cases, a pattern DART is built to surface, which is one reason some prequalification forms request TRIR, DART, and LTIR together rather than any single rate in isolation.

Rate	Includes	Excludes
TRIR	Every recordable case	Nothing, it is the full count
DART	Days-away + restricted/transfer cases	Recordables with no restriction and no day away
LTIR	Days-away cases only	Restricted/transfer cases that never produced a day away

Every row traces back to the same recordable incident count, logged the way OSHA recordkeeping requires.

Where DART stands in POD today

POD does not currently capture DART. It reads your recordable, first-aid, and lost-time counts and surfaces TRIR, but the full DART-scored safety card stays a placeholder until DART-bearing OSHA logs are provided. POD deliberately refuses to substitute TRIR for DART, because a stand-in number would be worse than an honest blank.

TRIR vs EMR vs LTIR vs DART guide

Frequently asked questions

DART narrows further into LTIR

Remove the restricted and transfer cases and what is left is the lost-time-only measure, the narrowest and most severe slice of the same recordable count.

LTIR Back to the Glossary