Glossary

DART rate

An OSHA incident rate counting injury and illness cases that caused days away from work, restricted duty or a job transfer, per 100 full-time workers.

Also called: days away restricted or transferred rate, DART incident rate, DART

DART stands for days away, restricted or transferred. The rate counts work-related injury and illness cases that led to at least one day away from work, restricted work activity or a transfer to another job, and scales them to 100 full-time employees for a year. The BLS formula is (DART cases x 200,000) / total hours worked by all employees. The 200,000 is 100 employees working 40 hours a week for 50 weeks.

Say a contractor logs 3 such cases in a year on 150,000 hours worked (a hypothetical). The DART rate is (3 x 200,000) / 150,000 = 4.0. A case counts once even if it involved both days away and restricted duty.

DART tracks severity better than the total recordable rate, because it leaves out cases treated with medical care alone. General contractors and facility owners use it to prequalify subcontractors, and underwriters read it next to loss runs. Compare yours with the BLS average for your NAICS industry, not with a number from a different trade.

One catch: light duty. Keeping an injured worker on restricted duty is good for claim costs, yet it still counts toward DART. OSHA recordkeeping, injury rates and insurance explains the log and its insurance link, OSHA incident rate calculator runs the math, and total recordable incident rate is the broader companion measure.

Last reviewed October 10, 2026

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Related terms

Total recordable incident rate (TRIR) A safety metric showing OSHA-recordable injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in a year, calculated from case counts and hours worked. OSHA recordable injury A work-related injury or illness meeting OSHA's recording criteria, such as lost time, restricted duty or care beyond first aid, entered on the OSHA 300 log. Light duty Temporary, modified work offered to an injured employee whose doctor has set restrictions, so the person stays on the job while recovering from a work injury. Experience modification rate (EMR) A multiplier on workers' compensation premium comparing an employer's actual claim losses with the losses expected for its industry and size.

Related guides

OSHA recordkeeping, injury rates and insurance Which injuries go on the OSHA 300 log, how TRIR and DART are calculated, and how underwriters, contract owners and your experience mod read the numbers.

Related tools

OSHA incident rate calculator (TRIR and DART) Calculate TRIR, DART rate, lost-time case rate and severity rate from your OSHA 300 log and hours worked, and compare them with an industry rate.