Looking at the number of days employees stay at home due to a work-related illness or injury is one piece of the safety puzzle, but what about the others? There are two other components that should be considered: restricted work and transferred work. Companies can get a better idea of the total impact with the DART calculation which includes Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred work.
Because this number is so important for employers, it’s a great hook for your prospecting efforts (as well as servicing your existing clients).
Importance of DART rate
The DART calculation developed by OSHA will determine the number of days of missed, restricted, or transferred work due to a recordable incident. All of these factors should be measured because they all impact productivity and profitability. By better understanding the full impact of each incident, it’s easier to locate and resolve safety hazards in the workplace.
By looking at all factors it’s easy to see, for example, how an incident impacts an organization’s output when a worker’s duties are restricted or someone is moved to another department. Each incident affects the company in a different way, and understanding the DART calculation is the first step in better handling them.
How to calculate DART
The DART calculation was created by OSHA to help companies better grasp the full impact of an employee-involved incident. It considers three metrics:
- Days an employee is absent because of a work-related illness/injury
- Days an employee is placed under work restrictions (no heavy lifting, must sit while working, etc.)
- Days an employee is transferred to another job because they cannot fulfill normal duties
To determine a DART calculation, companies can use this formula from OSHA. Note that the number 200,000 is based on the number of hours worked by 100 employees annually, which helps employees see the number of incidents per 100 employees.
(Total incidents resulting in missed work, restricted duty, or transfer to another role x 200,000) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The total number of hours worked by all employees in that time frame
Interested in learning more essential OSHA calculations? Grab this free infographic that breaks them down and explains why they’re important.
Positioning DART in prospecting efforts
A company’s DART calculation and insurance rates go together—the lower their DART, the lower their costs and vice versa. Looking at their DART rate on a regular basis is an easy way to measure safety performance. By comparing their year-over-year incident rate, they can easily see the effectiveness of their risk management program.
This rate can also be used to benchmark their safety rates to others in their industry. Although clients in the same industry can all be so different, the DART calculation is a good first step in determining whether employees are in a safe place to work and if the risk management program is effective.
The best agents go beyond just selling insurance and help clients mitigate risk, lower costs, and learn about important concepts like risk management and safety. Talking about DART rate to a prospect is a great way to offer some actionable advice and show off your expertise.
Understanding and positioning the DART calculation is just part of the equation to help clients grasp the full impact of workplace injuries. It’s one thing to track the number of injuries, but it’s another to calculate the full cost impact. Workplace injuries are a scary unknown—it’s more than just the cost of a claim but so many other components. Help your prospects and clients understand what’s behind the DART calculation and just how recordable incidents impact the bottom line.
DART rate is only part of the equation, as OSHA also uses a number of other calculations in analyzing workplace incidents. Get a rundown of the most important calculations (and why they’re important to employers) in this free infographic.
