TRC and DART explained

The formula

Rate = cases × 200,000 ÷ hours worked. 200,000 is 100 employees working 40 hours for 50 weeks, so every rate reads as "cases per 100 full-time workers per year". A plant with 480 workers, 960,000 hours and 12 recordable cases has a TRC of 2.5.

What is recordable

An injury or illness goes on the OSHA 300 log when it is work-related and results in death, days away from work, restricted work or job transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, loss of consciousness, or a significant diagnosis by a physician. Bandaging a cut is first aid and not recordable; stitches are. Employers with 10 or fewer employees, and those in listed low-hazard industries, keep no log at all.

TRC vs. DART

TRC (total recordable cases, sometimes TRIR) counts every nonfatal recordable case; on this site fatalities are shown separately rather than folded into the rate. DART counts only cases with Days Away, Restricted duty or job Transfer — the more serious subset. A site with TRC 5 and DART 1 mostly logs treated-and-back-to-work injuries; TRC 5 and DART 4 means most injuries kept people off their normal job.

What is typical

Among 2025 filers on this site the median establishment reported TRC 1.50 and the hours-weighted rate was 3.47. Industries differ by an order of magnitude — see the industry table. Contractor screening thresholds vary by client. TRC is not a workers' compensation experience modification factor: experience rating uses claims, payroll and the applicable rating rules, not this number.

Why a low number is not proof

The log is self-reported and OSHA reviews it only during an inspection. Under-recording — incentive programs that discourage reporting, misclassifying cases as first aid, sending injured workers to "light duty" without logging a restriction — is well documented. Read a zero at a 2,000-person manufacturing site with skepticism, and look at DART, fatalities and the three-year trend rather than one year's TRC.