Understanding OSHA Injury Rates: TCR, DART, and DAFWII Explained

Published 2026-03-19 · Source: OSHA.gov

Compiled by the PlainSafetyScore editorial team.

OSHA requires employers to track workplace injuries using standardized metrics. Understanding these metrics is essential for evaluating employer safety records. Here are the three main rates you'll see on PlainSafetyScore.

TCR - Total Case Rate

The TCR (also called TCIR - Total Case Incident Rate) measures the number of recordable work-related injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers per year.

Formula: TCR = (Number of recordable cases × 200,000) ÷ Total hours worked

The 200,000 figure represents the hours 100 workers would work in a year (100 workers × 40 hrs/wk × 50 weeks). This standardizes the rate regardless of workforce size.

Example: If a company with 500 employees had 25 recordable cases in a year: TCR = (25 × 200,000) ÷ 1,000,000 hours = 5.0

DART - Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred Rate

DART is a subset of TCR that focuses only on more serious cases - those where the worker missed days of work, had restricted duties, or was transferred to another job.

A high DART relative to TCR suggests that when injuries occur, they tend to be serious enough to require time away or restricted work.

DAFWII - Days Away From Work Injury and Illness Rate

DAFWII is the most severe subset - it counts only cases where the worker had to miss at least one day of work due to the injury or illness. This is the metric most strongly correlated with serious harm.

What's a "Good" Rate?

Rates vary enormously by industry. The BLS publishes industry-average benchmarks annually. A TCR of 3.0 might be excellent for a hospital (benchmark ~7.5) but concerning for an office (benchmark ~0.5). Always compare to the specific industry benchmark shown on each employer's page.

Live from the 496,317 credibly-rated establishments in our full OSHA dataset: 48.8% (242,312 employers) currently run at or below their own industry's benchmark rate. That split is exactly why a raw TCR number means nothing on its own, the benchmark comparison is what turns it into a signal.

How Rates Are Calculated in Practice

OSHA requires employers to maintain an OSHA 300 Log that records every recordable injury and illness during the calendar year. At the end of each year, the employer summarizes this data on the OSHA 300A form, which includes total hours worked by all employees. The rates are then calculated by dividing case counts by hours worked, multiplied by 200,000. Employers with 20 or more employees in high-hazard industries must submit this data electronically through the OSHA Injury Tracking Application.

The distinction between recordable and non-recordable cases is important. Not every workplace injury is OSHA-recordable. Minor injuries requiring only first aid (band-aids, non-prescription medications, brief ice pack application) are not recorded. An injury becomes recordable when it results in medical treatment beyond first aid, days away from work, restricted duty, transfer to another job, loss of consciousness, or a significant injury or illness diagnosed by a healthcare provider. This threshold means the rates you see on PlainSafetyScore reflect injuries of meaningful severity, not every scraped knee.

Common Misinterpretations

One frequent mistake is comparing raw case numbers between employers of different sizes. A company with 5,000 employees and 50 injuries is actually safer (TCR = 2.0) than a company with 200 employees and 10 injuries (TCR = 10.0). Rates normalize for size, which is why PlainSafetyScore uses rates rather than raw counts for all comparisons and grading.

Another common error is treating a single year of data as definitive. Injury rates naturally fluctuate year to year, especially for smaller establishments where a single serious incident can dramatically change the rate. PlainSafetyScore averages across all available years (2016-2024) to provide a more stable and meaningful assessment. The year-by-year breakdown on each employer page lets you evaluate trends alongside the average.

It is also important to understand that these rates capture reported injuries only. Research published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine suggests that actual workplace injury rates may be two to three times higher than reported rates, due to factors including worker fear of retaliation, lack of awareness about reporting rights, and employer pressure to underreport. A low reported rate does not necessarily mean a safe workplace, it may indicate a culture that discourages reporting.

National Averages (Private Industry, 2023)

How the major sectors compare on Total Case Rate. A grade always reads against the matching industry benchmark, a TCR of 3.0 is excellent for healthcare yet alarming for finance.

Using Injury Rates for Decision-Making

For job seekers, comparing the three rates (TCR, DART, DAFWII) for a potential employer reveals not just how many injuries occur but how severe they tend to be. An employer with a high TCR but low DART means many minor injuries (first aid cases that were still recordable) but few serious ones. An employer with a moderate TCR but a very high DART-to-TCR ratio means fewer total injuries, but those that do occur tend to be serious enough to cause missed work or restricted duties.

For employers and safety professionals, tracking the ratio of DART to TCR over time is a valuable leading indicator. If the DART rate is increasing relative to TCR, it suggests that while overall injury frequency may be stable, the severity of incidents is worsening, a signal that new or unaddressed hazards may be emerging. Conversely, a decreasing DART-to-TCR ratio indicates that safety interventions are successfully reducing the severity of injuries even if the total number of recordable incidents remains constant.

PlainSafetyScore uses TCR as the primary grading metric because it captures the broadest measure of workplace injury occurrence. The employer detail pages also show DART and DAFWII rates where available, allowing users to evaluate both the frequency and severity of an employer's injury record. Together, these three metrics provide a comprehensive picture of workplace safety that no single number can convey alone.

For researchers and policymakers, the relationship between these rates at the industry level reveals patterns in how different sectors experience workplace harm. Industries with high TCR but relatively low DART (such as healthcare) tend to have many minor injuries driven by repetitive tasks. Industries with lower TCR but high DART-to-TCR ratios (such as construction) tend to have fewer total incidents, but those incidents are more likely to be severe or fatal.

The three injury rates, TCR, DART, and DAFWII, form the foundation of all workplace safety analysis in the United States and are the metrics most frequently cited in regulatory proceedings, insurance underwriting, and occupational health research.

For a practical walkthrough of how to use these rates when evaluating a specific employer, see our guide on how to check employer safety. For detailed methodology on how PlainSafetyScore converts these rates into letter grades, see safety grades explained.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) 2023.

Compiled by the PlainSafetyScore editorial team.