What is a good TRIR for construction?
Total Recordable Incident Rate is the headline number every owner, insurer, and prequalifier looks at first. Here is what the number means, how it is calculated, the benchmarks that matter, and the one way to actually move it.
TRIR
TRIR = (recordable incidents × 200,000) ÷ hours worked. The 200,000 is 100 employees × 2,000 hours, so a 5-person crew and a 500-person GC can be compared on the same scale. The gauge shows a 2.1 — solid, but every tenth of a point is a lever on your insurer's math and your bid list.
The benchmarks that matter
| Band | TRIR | Who runs here |
|---|---|---|
| Best-in-class | under 1.0 | World-class safety programs, often owner-mandated for high-hazard work |
| Top quartile | 1.0 – 2.0 | Contractors who track leading indicators and close corrective actions fast |
| Industry average | ~2.4 | The construction sector midpoint (NAICS 23) |
| Needs attention | above 3.0 | Reactive programs; a prequalification risk on many bid lists |
A worked example
A crew logs 3 recordable injuries across 340,000 hours worked in a year. TRIR = (3 × 200,000) ÷ 340,000 = 1.76 — top-quartile. But the identical 3 injuries on a smaller job of 180,000 hours read 3.33, a prequalification risk on the same safety record. Hours worked is the denominator that makes small contractors look volatile — always normalize before you compare two firms, and never read a single quarter of a small crew as a trend.
TRIR is a lagging number — you cannot manage it directly, only the behaviours behind it. The contractors who bring it down do one thing consistently: they drive their near-miss reporting up and close corrective actions fast. Fix hazards while they are still near-misses and they never become recordables. Track the leading indicators, and the lagging TRIR follows over the next 12 to 18 months.
It also pairs with EMR, DART, and the national OSHA citation priorities — read them together, never one alone.
TRIR questions
What is a good TRIR in construction?▾
Below the industry average of ~2.4 is acceptable, below 2.0 is top-quartile, and below 1.0 is best-in-class. Some owners set a hard TRIR ceiling as a prequalification gate.
How is TRIR calculated?▾
TRIR = (number of OSHA-recordable incidents × 200,000) ÷ total hours worked. The 200,000 constant normalizes the rate to 100 full-time employees working 2,000 hours a year, so companies of different sizes can be compared.
What counts as a recordable for TRIR?▾
Any work-related death, days away from work, restricted work or transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness — plus certain diagnosed conditions. First-aid-only cases are not recordable.
POD computes your TRIR automatically
Start with the free safety inspection template, then let POD read the recordables and hours already in your daily reports. Per project and across your portfolio, in real time.