What Is DART Rate? (Definition)
DART Rate stands for Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred Rate. It is an OSHA safety metric that measures recordable work-related injuries and illnesses that result in days away from work, restricted work activity, or transfer to another job.
DART is more severity-focused than TRIR because it does not count every recordable case. It specifically tracks incidents that reduce a worker's ability to perform their normal job, making it useful for understanding the real operational impact of injuries.
What Counts as a DART Case?
A case is typically included in DART when a work-related injury or illness results in:
-
Days away from work after the day of injury or illness
-
Restricted work activity where the employee cannot perform routine job functions
-
Transfer to another job because the worker cannot safely perform their usual role
-
OSHA-recordable medical outcomes that also meet one of the DART categories
DART Rate Formula
DART Rate = (number of DART cases × 200,000) / total hours worked
The 200,000 constant represents the hours worked by 100 full-time employees in a year: 100 workers × 40 hours per week × 50 weeks.
Using a standard constant allows a small contractor, a manufacturing site, and a global operation to compare performance on a like-for-like basis.
A warehouse operation records 6 DART cases in one year and its employees worked 750,000 total hours.
-
Multiply DART cases by 200,000: 6 × 200,000 = 1,200,000
-
Divide by total hours worked: 1,200,000 ÷ 750,000 = 1.6
The site's DART Rate is 1.6, meaning it experienced 1.6 DART cases per 100 full-time workers for the year.
DART Rate vs TRIR vs LTIFR: Key Differences
| Metric | Includes | Excludes | Best Used For |
|---|---|---|---|
| DART Rate | Days away, restricted, or transferred cases | Recordables without work impact | Understanding serious work-capacity loss |
| TRIR | All OSHA recordable incidents | First aid-only cases | Broad incident benchmarking |
| LTIFR | Lost time injuries only | Restricted or transferred cases without time away | Tracking time-loss severity |
| Near Miss Rate | Events where harm almost occurred | Actual injuries | Leading prevention insight |
Why DART Rate Matters for Safety Teams
DART Rate matters because it shows whether injuries are disrupting normal work, not just whether incidents are being recorded. A high DART Rate may indicate uncontrolled hazards, poor ergonomic design, inadequate machine guarding, vehicle-pedestrian conflicts, or a safety programme that is detecting risk too late.
EHS leaders use DART to:
-
Benchmark safety performance against industry peers
-
Identify operations with high injury severity
-
Prioritise corrective actions and capital improvements
-
Communicate safety performance to executives, insurers, and regulators
How AI and Computer Vision Help Lower DART Rate
Manual safety reporting often captures DART cases only after an injury has affected work capacity. AI-powered safety platforms like Safvr help teams move upstream by detecting hazardous behaviours and conditions before they lead to days away, restrictions, or transfers.
Safvr can automatically identify PPE gaps, forklift proximity risks, blocked egress routes, unsafe posture, zone breaches, and repeated near misses. Real-time logging, video evidence, trend dashboards, and predictive risk scoring help teams identify where DART risk is building.
How Safvr Helps You Reduce DART Rate
Safvr helps safety teams prevent the serious incidents that drive DART performance. Key capabilities include:
-
Computer-vision detection of unsafe acts, unsafe conditions, and high-risk interactions
-
Real-time alerts and logging for hazards linked to injury severity
-
Video evidence that improves investigation quality and root cause analysis
-
Predictive risk scoring to target interventions before injuries restrict work