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Work in the disaster recovery and restoration industry can be dangerous unless contractors anticipate the risks and offer their workers proper safety training. Tasks such as moving equipment, demolishing buildings, and cleaning up worksites present a variety of hazards to those working on the recovery effort plus clients, employees, and even the public.
Given these risks, potential clients should review a disaster recovery company’s safety record before contracting them for work. Otherwise, they are inviting safety risks into their facility.
Here are the key safety metrics to review before engaging a contractor for restoration or recovery work.
The TRIR measures the number of recordable incidents, injuries, or illnesses that occur per 100 employees. This figure is recorded on a company’s OSHA 300 and 300A logs.
To calculate the TRIR, multiply the number of injuries and illnesses in one year by 200,000, then divide it by the total number of employee hours worked in the year. (OSHA uses 200,000 to represent the number of hours that 100 employees working 40-hour weeks for 50 weeks out of the year would work.)
A low incident rate indicates that a company is taking appropriate safety precautions and that its workers are not being exposed to unnecessary hazards. A high incident rate, on the other hand, suggests that the company needs to take steps to improve its safety performance. The higher a company’s TRIR, the more likely for its employees to be involved in accidents, the higher its insurance premiums, and the greater the likelihood of OSHA inspections.
The experience modification rating (EMR) is a benchmark commonly used by insurance and workers’ compensation programs. The EMR measures the number of injuries a company has had and their costs. It reflects a variety of lagging indicators, such as injury costs or claim history, and offers a prediction of future risk.
The DART metric measures the number of days that workers are unable to work due to injuries or illnesses related to their work. This score measures the number of days away when an employee cannot work at all, the number of restricted days when employees can only work for a short period or perform limited parts of their job, and the number of days when employees can work but have to be transferred to a different role, such as from the field to the office.
The DART score is calculated by taking the number of incidents where employees were away, restricted, or transferred in a year, multiplying that number by 200,000, and dividing that number by the total number of hours worked by all of your employees during that year.
The LTIR is similar to DART but measures lost productive work time. It counts any time an employee must take to recover from an injury or perform modified duties. That means it covers both temporary injuries and permanent disabilities.
To calculate the LTIR, you multiply the total number of lost time incidents by 200,000, then divide by the total number of hours worked by all employees.
When looking for a restoration services contractor, these metrics can help you make a choice that will protect your company, your employees, and your reputation. A high TRIR, EMR, DART, or LTIR indicates that a disaster recovery services company needs to take steps to improve its safety performance. Low numbers suggest that the company is doing a good job of preventing injuries and illnesses.
Read our newsletter to learn more about why safety matters in disaster recovery. Then email or call us to learn more about how our safety practices can help you recover from a major event without adding risk and expense.