1. What is Severity Rate?

Severity Rate (SR) is a safety metric that measures the severity of workplace injuries and illnesses. It calculates the number of days lost due to work-related incidents per 200,000 hours worked, providing insight into the seriousness of safety incidents in an organization.

2. How Does the Calculator Work?

The calculator uses the Severity Rate formula:

Where:

• \( D \) — Total days lost due to workplace injuries/illnesses
• \( H \) — Total hours worked by all employees
• 200000 — Base for 100 full-time workers (assuming 2000 hours/year)

Explanation: The formula standardizes the measurement to allow comparison across different organizations and time periods by using a common base of 200,000 hours worked.

3. Importance of Severity Rate Calculation

Details: Severity Rate is crucial for assessing workplace safety performance, identifying trends in injury severity, prioritizing safety interventions, and benchmarking against industry standards. It helps organizations focus on reducing the impact of serious incidents.

4. Using the Calculator

Tips: Enter total days lost and total hours worked. Both values must be valid (days lost ≥ 0, hours worked > 0). The result represents the severity rate per 200,000 hours worked.

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: What's the difference between Severity Rate and Frequency Rate?
A: Severity Rate measures the seriousness of incidents (days lost), while Frequency Rate measures how often incidents occur (number of incidents). Both are important safety metrics.

Q2: What is considered a good Severity Rate?
A: Lower rates are better. Industry benchmarks vary, but generally rates below 50-100 are considered good, though this depends on the specific industry and risk factors.

Q3: How are "days lost" calculated?
A: Days lost typically include calendar days the employee was unable to work due to work-related injury or illness, excluding the day of injury but including subsequent days.

Q4: Why use 200,000 hours as the base?
A: 200,000 hours represents 100 employees working 40 hours per week for 50 weeks per year, providing a standardized benchmark for comparison.

Q5: What limitations does Severity Rate have?
A: It doesn't account for near-misses, doesn't differentiate between injury types, and can be influenced by single severe incidents. Should be used alongside other safety metrics.