How do you calculate TRIF?
TRIF, the total recordable injury frequency, is the number of recordable cases for every 200,000 hours worked.
TRIF = recordable cases x 200,000 / hours worked
A company that worked 145,000 hours in a year and had three recordable cases has a TRIF of 3 x 200,000 / 145,000 = 4.14. You will also see the same number called TRIR, the total recordable incident rate. TRIR is the United States OSHA name, and it is the label ISNetworld and other US-built platforms often use. The formula is identical.
Why is the formula based on 200,000 hours?
200,000 hours is what 100 full-time workers put in over a year: 40 hours a week for 50 weeks. Dividing by your own hours and multiplying by 200,000 puts a five-person crew and a five-hundred-person company on the same scale, so a TRIF of 2.0 reads as two recordable cases for every 100 full-time workers.
Some hiring clients use 1,000,000 hours instead, usually those that follow international reporting. The cases and hours are the same; the rate comes out five times larger. The calculator above has a switch for both. Check which base a form asks for before you enter a rate, because a 1,000,000-hour rate typed into a 200,000-hour field makes your record look five times worse.
What counts as a recordable injury?
A recordable case is a work-related injury or illness that goes beyond first aid. The platforms count these as recordable:
- Fatalities
- Lost time cases, where the worker missed work after the day of the injury
- Modified or restricted duty assigned by a health professional
- Medical treatment cases, with no lost time and no restrictions
These are not recordable: a case treated with first aid only, modified duty your company arranged without medical treatment, a near miss, and damage to equipment or vehicles where nobody was hurt. A WCB claim does not decide it either way. Some accepted claims are first aid only, and some recordable cases never become a claim. Each platform publishes its own definitions in its statistics section; when a case is borderline, read that definition before you file.
How do you calculate the lost time rate?
The lost time rate, often called LTIF or LTIR, counts only the cases where the worker missed work after the day of the injury.
Lost time rate = lost time cases x 200,000 / hours worked
Every lost time case is also a recordable case, so your lost time rate can never be higher than your TRIF. If a form tells you to include fatalities in the lost time count, add them before you calculate.
What is a severity rate?
TRIF shows how often people get hurt. The severity rate shows how badly, by counting the days lost instead of the cases.
Severity rate = days lost x 200,000 / hours worked
Two companies can have the same TRIF while one lost four days and the other lost ninety. Platforms and hiring clients differ on whether they want calendar days or scheduled work days, and some cap a single case at a set number of days, so read the question before you count.
What hours should you count?
Count the hours your employees actually worked in the period, regular and overtime. Payroll totals often include vacation, sick days and statutory holidays that were paid but not worked; take those out. Most forms ask for all employees, field and office. For subcontractor hours, follow the platform's instructions, because some want employee hours only.
Hours are the part most often estimated, and an estimate that is too low pushes every rate up. If your payroll system can report hours worked for the quarter, use that figure.
Why do ISNetworld and Avetta ask for quarterly statistics?
Hiring clients use your rates to compare contractors and to watch for changes between annual reviews. Asking for statistics on a schedule, often each quarter, means a hiring client sees a current rate instead of last year's. ISNetworld, Avetta and ComplyWorks each have their own statistics section and deadlines. A missed window can show as a deficiency on your account in the same way an expired insurance certificate does.
Most hiring clients also look at three years together. That is fairer to small companies, and it means every quarter you file stays on your record for a long time.
How much does one incident move the rate for a small company?
A lot. A ten-person crew works roughly 20,000 hours a year. One recordable case in that year gives a TRIF of 10.0. The same single case at a company that worked 200,000 hours gives 1.0. The calculator makes this easy to see: change the hours and watch the rate move. It is one reason hiring clients look at several years, and a good reason to get the hours right.
Do you need to report kilometres driven?
Some platforms and hiring clients ask for kilometres driven so they can work out a vehicle incident rate, usually per million kilometres.
Vehicle incident rate = vehicle incidents x 1,000,000 / km driven
If you run a fleet, pull kilometres from fuel cards, GPS or logbooks each quarter so you are not reconstructing a year of driving at renewal time.
How do you keep these numbers ready every quarter?
Keep a running log of hours, cases, days lost and kilometres as the quarter goes, and enter them on every platform as soon as the quarter closes. On-Track's Review + Stats plan does this part for you: a short form each quarter, your rates worked out, and the numbers entered on every platform you are on.