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City Employee Safety - Days Away Restricted or Transferred (DART) Rate YTD

Desired Result:  Below Target

 
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Analysis of Performance

Note: This historical data of this metric changes in subsequent time periods because injury data is tied to the date of injury regardless of when treatment occurs or the case changes from recordable to time away restricted, or transferred. For example, if an employee has an injury in March but he does not seek medical treatment until June, it will be captured on March's OSHA log and it will not show up on the June log. National benchmark data for any year is only available in September of the following year. There is an approximate 18 month lag time in current available national benchmark data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The City has been under its DART goal for 2020. A reduction in the DART rate shows a reduction in injury cases that require modified duty or time away from work. Injury cases that require either, or both, are the most sever type of injury claim.

The City also continues to evaluate the number of days that employees are at modified duty as well as lost time days.





Reducing the DART is the goal of this metric, but the City's focus goes beyond the rate. DART includes both modified work injuries as well as lost time injuries. The City views lost time injuries as the most significant, and works hard to reduce that number. This is done by working with departments to find suitable modified work for the injured employee. Studies have shown that employees who are brought back to work have shorter recovery times and are more likely to return to their job once they are at maximum medical improvement.

SRM is working with departments to identify work that employees on modified duty can perform within their restrictions. This has been a challenge due to the change in where work is done for the City, as well as the type of work done. We will continue to gather opportunities for modified duty work.

Metric Definition
The Days Away Restricted or Transferred (DART) rate calculation is based upon the number of work related injuries and illnesses severe enough to cause an employee to be temporarily reassigned or miss work completely in relation to the total number of employee hours worked. This is a nationally recognized standard safety metric. Current-year benchmarks are not available as they are published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and have an approximate 18 month lag time.
Why Is This Important?
DART rate is important because it is a nationally benchmarkeable measure widely accepted as representative of injury severity in the workplace.  It is important for the City to provide a safe workplace for all employees and the only way to achieve that is by driving a culture of proactive safety built on continuous improvement.  As safety efforts drive down injuries and injury severity, the costs associated with workers' compensation claims can be driven down as well.  The reduction of days away, restricted or transferred is directly related to reduction in lost productivity as well as lost efficiency because only workgroups that are whole can operate at optimal performance.
City Organization Impact on Performance

High – Reducing the DART rate requires the City to reduce the number of injuries that result in days away, restricted or transferred. Getting employees back to work quickly and efficiently following injuries enables to the City to spend less money on benefits used to keep employees who are off or on modified duty whole. Many studies have led to the well accepted fact that employees who return to work quickly following an injury rehab faster, better, and more completely than those who do not.  Driving down injuries that impact the DART rate requires workgroups to be engaged and to actively interact with injured workers to get them back to work as efficiently as medically possible.  This engagement in conjuction with other ongoing proactive safety efforts has concrete and continuous impact on improving the City's safety culture.

Benchmark Information
This metric contains General Industry and Public Entities benchmark data. The General Industry benchmark gives overall context to the City's performance, while the Public Entities benchmark allows for a closer comparison that accounts for the unique challenges that face local governments.