DART Rate Calculator

Q: What is the difference between DART rate and TRIR?

Both use the same math, but they count different cases. TRIR counts every recordable injury and illness, even ones that only needed a stitch or a prescription. DART counts only the serious ones: days away from work, restricted duty, or a job transfer. DART is always a smaller number than TRIR at the same company, because every DART case is inside TRIR. If your DART rate is close to your TRIR, most of your injuries are serious ones.

Q: Do you count the day of the injury as a day away from work?

No. OSHA says to start counting on the day after the injury happened. The day of the injury is never counted as a day away, even if the worker went home early. You count calendar days, not just work days. That means weekends and holidays count if the doctor said the worker could not return.

Q: How many days away or restricted do you count for one injury?

You stop at 180 days . Once a case reaches 180 days away, 180 days restricted, or 180 days of both added together, you can stop counting and write 180 on the log. Day counts do not change your DART rate. DART counts cases , not days. One case with 2 days away counts the same as one case with 180 days away.

Q: How do you find total hours worked if payroll records are not exact?

OSHA lets you estimate. The common method is 2,000 hours per full-time worker per year (40 hours a week, 50 weeks). Example: 25 full-time workers × 2,000 = 50,000 hours. Then add overtime hours and subtract long absences like vacation, sick leave, or holidays. Do not count paid time off as hours worked, because nobody can get hurt on the job while they are at home.

DART Rate Calculator

Summary of the current DART rate calculation values
DART Incidents	—
Total Hours Worked	—
Multiplier Used	—
Calculation Mode	—
Your DART Rate	—
Industry Benchmark	—
Comparison Status	—

DART Incidents

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Total Hours Worked

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Multiplier Used

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Calculation Mode

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Your DART Rate

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Industry Benchmark

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Comparison Status

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Introduction

The DART rate shows how many work injuries were bad enough to keep a worker away from the job, put them on limited duty, or move them to another job. DART stands for Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred. OSHA uses this number to see how safe a workplace is.

Enter the number of DART cases from your OSHA 300 Log and the total hours your team worked. The calculator uses the standard OSHA formula:

DART Rate = (DART cases × 200,000) ÷ total hours worked

The number 200,000 stands for 100 full-time workers putting in 2,000 hours each in one year. So your DART rate tells you how many cases you would expect for every 100 full-time workers. You can also switch to monthly mode, which uses 16,667 hours instead.

You can pick your industry to compare your rate with the average from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The tool shows a chart, your rate, and every step of the math. A lower rate is better. A higher rate means it may be time to look at your safety plan.

How to use our DART Rate Calculator

Enter your DART incidents and total hours worked, then pick your industry. The calculator shows your DART rate, how it compares to the industry average, a chart, and the full math step by step.

Calculation Mode: Pick Annual to use the OSHA multiplier of 200,000 hours for a full year. Pick Monthly to use 16,667 hours for one month.

Total DART Incidents: Type the number of cases with days away from work, restricted duty, or a job transfer. Get this count from your OSHA 300 Log. Use a whole number, and enter 0 if you had none.

Total Hours Worked by All Employees: Type the total hours all your workers put in during that time. Commas and decimals are fine. This number must be more than zero.

Industry Benchmark: Choose your industry from the list. The calculator loads the BLS average DART rate and tells you if your rate is below, at, or above it.

Quick-Fill Examples: Click Small Office, Mid-Size Operation, or Large Facility to fill both fields with sample numbers and see how the math works.

Calculate and Reset: Click Calculate to run the numbers. Click Reset to clear the form and start over.

What Is the DART Rate?

DART stands for Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred. It is a safety number that shows how often workers at a company get hurt badly enough to miss work, work with limits, or move to a different job. OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) uses the DART rate to see how safe a workplace really is.

The DART Rate Formula

The math is simple:

DART Rate = (Number of DART Cases × 200,000) ÷ Total Hours Worked

The number 200,000 stands for 100 full-time workers who each work 2,000 hours in one year. That base lets a small shop and a big plant compare their safety records fairly. If you want a one-month number instead, you use 16,667 hours, which is the same base for just one month.

Which Injuries Count

A case counts toward your DART rate if a work injury or illness caused any of these:

Days away from work. The worker missed one or more days.
Restricted duty. The worker stayed but could not do all normal tasks.
Job transfer. The worker was moved to a different job because of the injury.

Cases that only needed first aid do not count. Cases that needed medical care but caused no lost time, no limits, and no transfer are recordable on the OSHA 300 Log, but they are not DART cases.

Where to Find Your Numbers

Your DART case count comes from your OSHA 300 Log. Add up the checkmarks in Column H (days away) and Column I (job transfer or restriction). Your total hours worked comes from payroll. Count real hours worked by all employees. Do not count vacation, sick days, or holidays.

What Is a Good DART Rate?

A lower rate is better. A rate of 0.00 means no DART cases at all. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes average DART rates by industry, so you can see how you stack up against similar companies. Here are a few examples:

Industry	Average DART Rate
All Industries	1.7
Construction	1.9
Manufacturing	2.1
Transportation and Warehousing	3.5
Couriers and Messengers	6.6

If your rate is above your industry average, it is a sign to look closer at training, equipment, and job tasks.

Why the DART Rate Matters

OSHA looks at DART rates when choosing which worksites to inspect. High rates can lead to inspections and fines. Insurance companies also use safety numbers to set your workers' compensation costs, so a lower rate can save money. Many general contractors and large buyers ask for your DART rate before they hire you. Most of all, a low rate means fewer people getting hurt on the job.

How to Lower Your DART Rate

Find and fix hazards before someone gets hurt.
Train workers on safe steps for each task, and train new hires right away.
Report and study near misses, not just injuries.
Use a light-duty return-to-work plan so hurt workers heal safely.
Check your numbers often instead of waiting until the end of the year.

Formulas used

DART Rate

\text{DART Rate} = \frac{I \times M}{H}

Annual multiplier (100 employees × 2,000 hours)

M_{\text{annual}} = 200{,}000

Monthly multiplier (one-month equivalent)

M_{\text{monthly}} = 16{,}667

Percent difference from industry benchmark

\Delta\% = \frac{\text{DART Rate} - B}{B} \times 100\%

Benchmark comparison zone boundaries (±20%)

Z_{\text{low}} = 0.8 \times B, \quad Z_{\text{high}} = 1.2 \times B

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between DART rate and TRIR?

Both use the same math, but they count different cases.

TRIR counts every recordable injury and illness, even ones that only needed a stitch or a prescription.
DART counts only the serious ones: days away from work, restricted duty, or a job transfer.

DART is always a smaller number than TRIR at the same company, because every DART case is inside TRIR. If your DART rate is close to your TRIR, most of your injuries are serious ones.

Is every DART case also a recordable case?

Yes. A case must first be recordable on the OSHA 300 Log before it can be a DART case. But the reverse is not true. A recordable case that only needed medical care, with no lost days, no work limits, and no transfer, stays off your DART count.

Do you count the day of the injury as a day away from work?

No. OSHA says to start counting on the day after the injury happened. The day of the injury is never counted as a day away, even if the worker went home early.

You count calendar days, not just work days. That means weekends and holidays count if the doctor said the worker could not return.

How many days away or restricted do you count for one injury?

You stop at 180 days. Once a case reaches 180 days away, 180 days restricted, or 180 days of both added together, you can stop counting and write 180 on the log.

Day counts do not change your DART rate. DART counts cases, not days. One case with 2 days away counts the same as one case with 180 days away.

Does a work-related death count in the DART rate?

No. A fatality gets its own column on the OSHA 300 Log (Column G). It counts in your TRIR but not in your DART rate, because the worker did not have days away, restricted duty, or a transfer.

This is why DART alone never tells the whole safety story. Always look at fatalities and severity too.

Can one injury count as two DART cases?

No. Each injury is one case, no matter how many things happen after it. If a worker misses three days and then comes back on light duty for two weeks, that is still one DART case.

On the log, you check the most serious box only. Days away beats restricted duty, so that case gets checked in Column H.

How do you find total hours worked if payroll records are not exact?

OSHA lets you estimate. The common method is 2,000 hours per full-time worker per year (40 hours a week, 50 weeks).

Example: 25 full-time workers × 2,000 = 50,000 hours.

Then add overtime hours and subtract long absences like vacation, sick leave, or holidays. Do not count paid time off as hours worked, because nobody can get hurt on the job while they are at home.

Do temp workers and contractors count in your DART rate?

Temp workers usually do. If you set their daily tasks and supervise them, you record their injuries on your 300 Log, even though a staffing agency signs their checks. Those injuries go into your DART rate, and their hours go into your total hours.

Independent contractors who run their own work are not on your log. They keep their own records.

What DART rate do general contractors and clients ask for?

Many large clients want a DART rate at or below the BLS average for your industry. Some prequalification systems set a hard cut, often around 3.0, and a few ask for under 1.0 on high-risk sites.

Most also ask for three years of numbers, not just one. A single bad year matters less if your trend is going down.

Does a high DART rate raise workers' compensation costs?

Usually, yes, but not directly. Your insurance price is driven by your EMR (Experience Modification Rate), which is based on claim costs. DART cases are the expensive ones, since they involve lost time and wage payments.

More DART cases mean more claim dollars, and more claim dollars push your EMR and your premium up.

What does a DART rate of 3.0 actually mean?

It means that for every 100 full-time workers, about 3 had an injury serious enough to cause lost days, restricted duty, or a transfer in one year.

Another way to say it: about 3 out of every 100 workers got hurt badly enough to change how they work. A rate of 6.0 is twice as bad. A rate of 0.00 means nobody did.

How often should a company check its DART rate?

Check it every month or quarter, not just once at year-end. Waiting a full year means you spot a problem months too late to fix it.

Short periods jump around a lot. At a small company, one injury in a single month can make the rate look huge. Look at the trend over time, not one spike.

Does OSHA use DART rates to pick which workplaces to inspect?

Yes. OSHA runs a Site-Specific Targeting program that pulls injury data employers submit each year. Workplaces with high DART rates for their industry go on the list for a planned inspection.

Reporting honest numbers still matters. Hiding cases is a separate violation with its own fines.

What is the difference between DART rate and lost time injury rate?

The lost time injury rate (LTIR) counts only cases where a worker missed days. DART is wider: it also counts restricted duty and job transfers.

So DART is always the same or higher than LTIR. Companies with strong light-duty programs often have a low LTIR but a normal DART, because hurt workers stay on site doing limited tasks instead of going home.

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