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    DART RateDays Away, Restricted or Transferred

    Definition

    Days Away, Restricted or Transferred rate — qualifying cases multiplied by 200,000, divided by hours worked, using the US incidence-rate convention.

    Editorial definition: The QHSE Standard, updated 3 October 2026 · https://qhsetech.com/glossary/dart-rate

    Scope: Keep the population, period and case definitions consistent when comparing rates.

    How BLS and OSHA define the DART cases

    BLS builds the DART figure from the OSHA summary form. It names injury and illness cases with days away from work, or job transfer or restriction, or both, as the sum of two columns on the summary, cases with days away and cases with job transfer or restriction, and says the same formula as for total recordable cases applies, so the count is scaled by 200,000 and set against the hours all employees actually worked. BLS adds that hours worked exclude non-work time such as paid leave and holidays. Other recordable cases sit in a separate column and are not part of the DART numerator.

    OSHA's recording rule at 29 CFR 1904.7 supplies the case definitions. For days away from work, counting begins on the day after the injury or illness starts, calendar days count even when they fall on weekends, holidays or other days off that the employee could not have worked, and an employer may cap the count at 180 days. A case that continues into the next year is recorded once, in the year it occurred, with an estimate updated later. Restricted work means the employer keeps the employee from one or more routine functions of the job, or from the full workday, or a licensed health care professional recommends it. Routine functions are those the employee performs at least once per week.

    Details matter at the edges. A restriction imposed only for the day of the injury need not be recorded. A recommended restriction is recordable only if it affects the routine functions of that employee's job. Apart from the day of the injury, a partial shift worked because of the injury counts as a day of restriction or transfer. Because these are judgments, two sites with the same events can report different figures. The annual summary under 1904.32 totals the log columns and includes the total hours worked, so the inputs sit in one place. This page is general information on US conventions; other countries use other measures.

    Sources opened :

    What a DART record set holds in software

    • For each case, the number of calendar days away and, separately, the days of job transfer or restriction.
    • The start date, the date counting began and the date the days ended, with any 180-day cap noted.
    • The source of the restriction: the employer's decision or a named health care professional's recommendation, with the date.
    • The routine-function assessment that decided whether a recommended restriction was recordable.
    • Open cases at year end, with the estimated day count and the later update.
    • Hours worked by period and site, with the source and a flag for estimates.
    • The formula, multiplier and period stored with each reported rate.
    • Restatements, with the earlier figure kept visible.

    DART, TRIR and LTIFR

    DART is a subset of the cases behind TRIR: those with days away, job transfer or restriction. It leaves out cases that were recordable on other grounds alone, such as medical treatment beyond first aid, so it is narrower than TRIR and wider than a count of days away only. LTIFR counts lost-time cases on conventions that vary between schemes, usually on a different hours base. A table that mixes the three without labels misleads, and so does a DART figure with no statement of whether it is US-style.

    A hypothetical example: five cases, three in the DART group

    These five cases are invented to show the counting and describe no real plant. A plant records five recordable cases in a year over 500,000 hours worked. One involved 6 days away. Two involved restricted work. Two were recordable for medical treatment only. The DART group has 3 cases, so the rate is 3 x 200,000 / 500,000, which is 1.2. The total recordable rate on the same data is 5 x 200,000 / 500,000, which is 2.0.

    Two judgments sit behind the figure. A physician advises a worker with a back strain to avoid heavy lifting for three weeks. The supervisor checks whether lifting is among the employee's routine functions, meaning work done at least once a week. It is, so the case is recorded as restricted work and the day count is entered. A second worker is still off at year end, so the entry carries an estimated day count that is updated when the return date is known. Both decisions are written into the record with the reason, so a reviewer can rebuild the number.

    Common misunderstandings about the DART rate

    • DART is not a lost-time rate. Days away is only one of its two parts, because job transfer and restriction count as well.
    • A recommended restriction is not automatically recordable. It counts only if it affects the employee's routine job functions or the full workday.
    • Days away are not counted from the injury day. Counting starts the day after, and calendar days away include weekends and holidays when the employee could not have worked.
    • The hours must be hours worked. BLS says non-work time, even if paid, should not be included, so payroll hours need adjusting.
    • Industry comparisons need matching data. BLS compares a firm with similar employers by industry and size, and the same cases-with-days-away, transfer or restriction measure.

    How the DART rate relates to other glossary terms

    It belongs to a family of rates built from the same log, so its neighbours are the log's records and the rates that share its hours.

    • TRIR: the rate on all recordable cases, of which the DART group is a subset.
    • Recordable incident: the record that has to exist before a case can enter any rate.
    • LTIFR: a lost-time measure with its own day rules and hours base.
    • Lagging indicator: the category of outcome measure that DART belongs to.

    Records and evidence that usually exist for DART

    • The log entries with their days-away and restriction or transfer counts.
    • The health care professional's recommendation or the employer's restriction decision for each case.
    • Notes on the routine-function check for borderline restrictions.
    • Hours records and the method used for any estimate.
    • The annual summary, which 1904.32 requires a company executive to certify and the employer to post by 1 February and keep up until 30 April.
    • The calculation worksheet and a record of who checked it.

    What a software tool needs to capture for DART

    • Separate fields for days away and for days of restriction or transfer.
    • A day-counting rule that starts the day after, counts calendar days and applies the 180-day cap where chosen.
    • Estimates for open cases, with a prompt to update them.
    • A link to the clinician's recommendation and a note of the routine-function check.
    • Hours imported with their source, and clear handling of non-work time.
    • The multiplier and formula stored on each output, with no silent default.
    • Restatement handling and year-end rollover that keep earlier figures visible.

    Catalog profiles documenting incident recording and reporting

    A listed profile may record incidents without calculating DART at all. Ask how restricted days are counted and where the hours come from.

    Same rule for every product: tagged “Incident Management” or “Incident Reporting”, with a sourced incident reporting or management capability in its record, or one the vendor stated to us, labelled as vendor-stated. Documented and conditional capabilities qualify; check the linked scope before treating a module as included.

    Tekmon pays for a sponsored placement (above); its place in this list follows the same rule as every entry. How lists are ordered

    All 56 matching profiles are shown. Documentation review, not hands-on testing or a claim of compliance.

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    Frequently asked questions

    What does DART stand for?

    Days Away, Restricted or Transferred. BLS describes it as cases with days away from work, or job transfer or restriction, or both, divided into hours worked on the same 200,000-hour base as other incidence rates.

    Does restricted work on the day of injury count?

    OSHA's rule says a restriction or transfer imposed only for the day of the injury, or the day the illness started, need not be recorded. Later days of restriction are counted.

    Is DART used outside the United States?

    The sources opened here are US ones, and other countries use their own measures and definitions. Check the definition behind any DART figure from another jurisdiction before comparing it.

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