The Days Away, Restricted, or Transfer (DART) Rate is a safety metric measuring workplace injury and illness severity. Businesses across the United States track this figure, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) monitors it as an indicator of organizational safety performance. The DART Rate quantifies the impact of incidents that result in an employee being unable to perform their normal work duties. Managing this metric is important for maintaining a secure and productive work environment.
Defining the DART Rate
The DART Rate is an acronym for Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred, representing a calculation that measures the frequency of work-related injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time employees. This metric specifically captures incidents severe enough to prevent an employee from working their regular job or performing their full duties. The rate serves as a lagging indicator, meaning it reflects safety performance that has already occurred, offering a retrospective view of a company’s success in mitigating serious workplace hazards.
While many companies track the Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR), the DART Rate focuses only on a subset of those incidents that result in lost time or modified duty. This emphasis makes the DART Rate a more direct measure of the operational and productivity losses caused by an incident. A low DART Rate suggests that injuries or illnesses are generally less severe or less disruptive to business operations. Conversely, a high rate signals that incidents are frequently causing significant employee absence or job function changes.
Understanding Incidents That Count
The DART calculation includes three categories of work-related incidents that meet OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements. The first category, “Days Away From Work,” counts any injury or illness that causes an employee to miss at least one full day of scheduled work following the incident date. This component is the most disruptive, as the worker is completely absent from the job.
The second and third categories, “Restricted Work” and “Job Transfer,” involve the employee remaining at work but with altered responsibilities. A restricted work case limits an employee from performing one or more routine job functions, or restricts the amount of time they can spend on the job. A job transfer case occurs when an employee is temporarily or permanently moved to a different job suited to their temporary physical limitations following an injury.
All three incident types reflect a measurable loss in an employee’s capacity to perform their pre-injury role, indicating a direct impact on operational output. When an incident involves both days away and a subsequent period of restricted work or transfer, it is counted as a single DART incident. The days away and restricted days are tracked separately for other metrics, but the incident itself is counted only once for the DART calculation.
How the DART Rate is Calculated
Calculating the DART Rate involves a precise formula designed to standardize the metric across organizations of varying sizes. The formula is expressed as: DART Rate = (Number of DART Incidents $\times$ 200,000) $\div$ Total Employee Hours Worked. The “Number of DART Incidents” is the total count of all cases that resulted in days away, restricted work, or job transfer during the measured period, typically one calendar year.
The “Total Employee Hours Worked” figure includes the hours all employees were on the job, including full-time, part-time, and temporary staff supervised by the company. This figure excludes non-working hours such as vacation, sick leave, and holidays. The inclusion of all hours worked ensures the rate accurately reflects the true exposure to risk across the entire workforce.
The “200,000-hour constant” is the standardizing factor that allows for comparison across different companies and industries. This number represents the total hours worked by 100 full-time employees over a standard year (40 hours per week for 50 weeks). For example, if a company with 500,000 hours worked recorded 5 DART incidents in a year, the calculation would be $(5 \times 200,000) \div 500,000$, resulting in a DART Rate of 2.0 incidents per 100 employees.
Why the DART Rate Matters to Your Business
The DART Rate influences regulatory scrutiny, financial stability, and public perception. A high DART Rate can trigger an OSHA inspection, as the agency uses this data to identify workplaces that may require intervention. Non-compliance or safety violations found during an inspection can lead to substantial fines and mandated corrective actions, adding financial strain and administrative burden.
The financial consequences of a high DART Rate concern workers’ compensation insurance premiums. The rate directly impacts a company’s Experience Modification Factor, a multiplier used by insurers to adjust premiums based on past claims and safety performance. Injuries resulting in lost time or modified duty, as captured by the DART Rate, are typically more costly than medical-only claims, leading to higher overall insurance expenses.
The rate also affects a company’s reputation and its ability to secure new business contracts. Many larger organizations and government agencies require suppliers and contractors to disclose their DART Rate during the vetting process. A poor safety record can damage employee morale and signal a lack of commitment to worker well-being, potentially causing a loss of business opportunities and increasing employee turnover.
Strategies for Improving Your DART Rate
Improving the DART Rate requires addressing the root causes of incidents and minimizing the duration of recovery. Implementing detailed incident investigations that go beyond identifying the immediate cause is an important step. A thorough root cause analysis helps uncover underlying systemic issues, such as inadequate training or equipment failures, allowing for targeted preventative measures.
Enhanced safety training, particularly for employees engaged in high-risk tasks, is a primary preventative measure. Training programs should be recurrent and focus on hazard recognition, proper equipment operation, and adherence to established safety protocols. Encouraging the early reporting of near-misses and potential hazards is also a strategy, as this information can prevent a minor issue from escalating into a recordable injury.
The most direct strategy for reducing the DART Rate is the implementation of a formal Return-to-Work (RTW) program. These programs focus on bringing injured employees back to the workplace as soon as medically appropriate, often through temporary assignments with restricted or modified duties. By offering transitional work, a company can minimize the number of “Days Away From Work” incidents, which helps to lower the DART Rate while supporting the employee’s recovery.