Each year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) collects work-related injury and illness data from employers. This data collection is called the OSHA Data Initiative (ODI).

The data provided is used by OSHA to calculate establishment-specific injury and illness incidence rates. An incidence rate is the number of recordable injuries and illnesses occurring among a given number of full-time workers (usually 100 full-time workers) over a given period of time (usually one year).

An employer may want to evaluate its injury and illness experience over time or compare its experience with that of the industry as a whole. This is called an employer’s incidence rate. These rates can help identify problems in the workplace and progress made in preventing work-related injuries and illnesses.

Links and Resources

• OSHA workplace injury, illness and fatality statistics website
• OSHA data and statistics website

Incidence rate—Key Terms

• The total case rate (TCR) includes all cases recorded on the OSHA Form 300
• The days away, restricted and transfer (DART) includes cases recorded in Column H + Column I.
• The days away from work (DAFW) includes cases recorded in Column H.
• To determine the total number of hours all employees actually worked during the year, please refer to OSHA Form 300A.