TCIR Rate Calculator
Calculate your OSHA Total Case Incident Rate
What is the TCIR Rate?
The TCIR (Total Case Incident Rate), often referred to simply as the TRIR (Total Recordable Incident Rate), is a standard metric used by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to measure the safety performance of a company. It quantifies the number of recordable injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time employees over a one-year period.
This metric allows companies of different sizes and across different industries to compare their safety records on an equal footing. By normalizing the data based on hours worked, a small company with 10 employees can be compared to a large corporation with 10,000 employees.
How is TCIR Calculated?
The TCIR calculation requires two primary pieces of data from your OSHA 300 logs: the total count of recordable incidents and the total number of hours worked by all employees.
Understanding the Variables:
- Total Recordable Incidents: This is the total number of work-related injuries and illnesses that result in death, loss of consciousness, days away from work, restricted work activity, or medical treatment beyond first aid.
- Total Hours Worked: The sum of all actual hours worked by all employees (including overtime, temporary staff, etc.) during the calendar year. It does not include vacation, sick leave, or holidays.
- The 200,000 Constant: This number represents the equivalent of 100 full-time employees working 40 hours per week for 50 weeks a year (100 employees × 40 hours × 50 weeks = 200,000 hours). This standardizes the rate to "per 100 employees."
Example Calculation
Let's look at a realistic example for a mid-sized construction company:
- Incidents: The company had 5 OSHA-recordable injuries this year.
- Hours Worked: The total workforce logged 450,000 hours.
Using the formula:
TCIR = (5 × 200,000) / 450,000
TCIR = 1,000,000 / 450,000
TCIR = 2.22
This means that for every 100 full-time employees, approximately 2.22 recordable incidents occurred.
Why is TCIR Important?
Monitoring your TCIR score is vital for several strategic reasons:
- Benchmarking: It allows you to compare your safety performance against industry averages published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
- Insurance Premiums: Insurance carriers use TCIR (along with EMR) to determine workers' compensation premiums. A lower rate often results in lower costs.
- Prequalification: Many clients and general contractors require a TCIR below a certain threshold (often the industry average or a set number like 1.0 or 2.0) before allowing a vendor to bid on projects.
- Internal Safety Goals: Tracking TCIR year-over-year helps management assess the effectiveness of safety training and protocols.
What is a "Good" TCIR Score?
A "good" score depends heavily on your specific industry. Construction and manufacturing generally have higher average rates than finance or administrative services due to the physical nature of the work.
Ideally, every company strives for a TCIR of 0.0. However, staying below the BLS industry average is the standard goal. For example, if the average TCIR for your NAICS code is 3.4, achieving a 2.5 is considered good performance.
TCIR vs. DART Rate
While TCIR tracks all recordable incidents, the DART (Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred) rate only tracks the more serious incidents that resulted in an employee missing work, being on restricted duty, or being transferred to another job.
DART is always a subset of TCIR and will always be lower than or equal to the TCIR. Calculating both gives a complete picture of not just the frequency of accidents, but their severity.