What is a good TRIR depends on who is asking. Your insurance carrier defines "good" differently than a tech company building a data center. A municipal project owner in Texas has a different threshold than a pharmaceutical manufacturer in New Jersey.

This guide establishes concrete benchmarks for general contractors, explains how different stakeholders set their thresholds, and shows what it takes to move from average to competitive.

TRIR Benchmarks by Construction Sector

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes annual incident rate data by industry code. These numbers provide the baseline for determining where your TRIR stands.

2024 BLS data for construction sectors:

Sector (NAICS Code)	TRIR	DART Rate	Fatality Rate
Construction (overall, 23)	2.8	1.6	9.4 per 100,000
Residential building (2361)	3.1	1.8	11.2 per 100,000
Commercial building (2362)	2.5	1.4	7.8 per 100,000
Heavy/civil engineering (237)	2.2	1.3	8.1 per 100,000
Specialty trades (238)	3.0	1.7	9.9 per 100,000
Electrical contractors (23821)	2.1	1.2	6.4 per 100,000
Plumbing/HVAC (23822)	3.4	2.0	5.1 per 100,000
Roofing contractors (23816)	4.2	2.5	25.1 per 100,000

What these numbers mean for GCs: If your firm focuses on commercial construction and your TRIR is 2.5, you are exactly at the industry average. That is not "good." That is the midpoint. Half the industry performs better than you.

Defining "Good" by Stakeholder

Different stakeholders apply different standards.

Owner prequalification programs: Most set TRIR thresholds at 50-75% of the industry average. For commercial construction (average 2.5), that means maximum allowed TRIRs between 1.25 and 1.875. Owners with aggressive safety cultures set cutoffs at 1.0 or lower.

Insurance carriers: A TRIR below 2.0 generally qualifies you for standard workers' compensation and general liability markets. Below 1.0 opens access to preferred programs with premium discounts of 5-15%. Above 3.5 pushes you into surplus lines markets with significantly higher costs.

Federal agencies: The Army Corps of Engineers and other federal entities evaluate TRIR as part of contractor responsibility determinations. No hard cutoff exists, but TRIRs above the industry average trigger additional scrutiny.

ISNetworld and prequalification platforms: These platforms grade contractors using letter or color ratings based on TRIR performance. A "green" or "A" rating typically requires a TRIR in the top quartile for your industry sector.

The practical definition: A good TRIR is one that qualifies you for every project you want to bid, earns favorable insurance terms, and demonstrates genuine safety performance improvement year over year.

The TRIR Performance Tiers

Based on industry data and prequalification standards, GC TRIR performance falls into five tiers.

Tier	TRIR Range	Competitive Position
Elite	0.0 - 0.5	Top 10%. Qualifies for every project. Maximum insurance discounts.
Strong	0.5 - 1.5	Top quartile. Meets most owner thresholds. Favorable insurance terms.
Competitive	1.5 - 2.5	Average to above average. Meets many but not all owner thresholds.
At Risk	2.5 - 4.0	Below average. Excluded from safety-sensitive projects. Higher premiums.
Critical	4.0+	Bottom quartile. Limited market access. Potential debarment risk.

Where to target: GCs seeking maximum market access should aim for the Strong tier (0.5 - 1.5). This range satisfies nearly all owner prequalification programs and qualifies for preferred insurance pricing.

Case Study: Moving From 3.2 to 1.1 in 24 Months

A mid-size commercial GC in the Southeast started 2023 with a three-year TRIR of 3.2. They were losing bids on safety scores alone. Their insurance renewal came with a 22% premium increase. Something had to change.

What they did:

Months 1-3: Root cause analysis. They reviewed every recordable incident from the previous three years. The data revealed that 64% of their recordable injuries involved subcontractor crews, primarily in three trades: concrete, steel erection, and demolition. The most common incident types: sprains/strains from manual handling (31%), lacerations from hand tools (24%), and falls from elevation (18%).

Months 4-6: Subcontractor accountability. They set a TRIR threshold of 2.0 for all subcontractors. Three subcontractors exceeded the threshold and were given 90-day improvement plans. One was replaced. They added weekly safety scorecard reviews for every active subcontractor on every project.

Months 7-12: Training overhaul. They required OSHA 30-hour for all supervisors (not just their own employees). They implemented daily safety huddles replacing weekly toolbox talks. Near-miss reporting increased 340% in six months, catching hazards before they produced injuries.

Months 13-24: Sustained improvement. Their rolling TRIR dropped to 1.8 by month 12 and reached 1.1 by month 24. Insurance premiums decreased 14% at their next renewal. They qualified for three owner prequalification programs that had previously rejected them.

Key takeaway: The TRIR drop was not driven by one initiative. It came from layered interventions targeting their specific incident patterns.

Use our TRIR Calculator to benchmark your current performance.

The Small-Firm TRIR Challenge

Smaller GCs face a statistical disadvantage. With fewer total hours worked, each individual incident has a disproportionate impact on TRIR.

Example:

Firm Size	Hours Worked	1 Incident TRIR	2 Incidents TRIR
25 employees	50,000	4.0	8.0
100 employees	200,000	1.0	2.0
500 employees	1,000,000	0.2	0.4

A 25-person GC with a single recordable incident has a TRIR of 4.0, placing them in the "Critical" tier. The same single incident at a 500-person firm produces a TRIR of 0.2.

How small firms manage this:

Focus on prevention. One incident is catastrophic to your rate. Invest in training, PPE, and hazard identification as if each incident costs $500,000 (because in terms of lost bids, it might).
Communicate context. When submitting prequalification, include your total hours worked alongside your TRIR. Sophisticated owners and platforms account for firm size in their evaluations.
Use three-year averages. A single-year spike smooths out over a three-year rolling average. Maintain multiple years of zero-incident data to buffer against future incidents.

Frequently Asked Questions

What TRIR do I need for ISNetworld? ISNetworld does not publish a single TRIR cutoff. Each subscribing owner sets their own thresholds. Common ranges for "acceptable" status are TRIRs below 2.0-2.5. "Exceptional" ratings typically require TRIRs below 1.0. Check with each owner for their specific requirements within the ISNetworld platform.

Is a TRIR of zero achievable long-term? For small firms with limited hours, yes. For large firms with millions of hours worked annually, sustaining zero for multiple consecutive years is statistically rare. The goal is not necessarily zero but consistent performance in the Strong tier (0.5-1.5) over a rolling three-year period.

How does my TRIR affect my EMR? TRIR and EMR are related but calculated differently. TRIR measures incident frequency. EMR (calculated by NCCI or your state rating bureau) factors in claim severity, payroll, and industry classification. A high TRIR generally leads to higher claims, which increases your EMR. Learn more about EMR.

Should I report borderline incidents to keep my TRIR low? Never. Under-reporting OSHA-recordable incidents violates 29 CFR 1904 and carries penalties up to $16,131 per violation. OSHA's recordkeeping enforcement has intensified, with targeted audits comparing incident reports against emergency room records. Accurate reporting combined with genuine safety improvement is the only sustainable strategy.

What is the difference between TRIR and EMR for prequalification? TRIR measures injury frequency per 200,000 hours worked. EMR measures your workers' compensation loss experience relative to similar employers. Most prequalification programs evaluate both. TRIR tells the owner how often your workers get hurt. EMR tells the insurer how much those injuries cost relative to expectations.

How quickly can I improve my TRIR? TRIR responds to two factors: reducing incidents and increasing hours worked. Since most prequalification uses a three-year rolling average, a bad year takes three years to fully cycle out. However, demonstrating a strong downward trend year over year can satisfy some owners even before your rolling average reaches their threshold.

Track Your TRIR Performance Automatically

Knowing what constitutes a good TRIR is step one. Maintaining that performance across projects, subcontractors, and reporting periods requires a system.

SubcontractorAudit calculates your TRIR in real time, benchmarks it against industry averages, and populates prequalification submissions automatically. No spreadsheet math. No outdated data.

Request a demo to see how GCs track and improve their TRIR performance.