LTIFR Calculator
Work out your lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) per million hours worked, the Australian convention from AS 1885.1. Results update as you type.
Lost time injury frequency rate
LTIFR = lost time injuries × 1,000,000 ÷ hours worked
Period 1
For example, FY2025–26.
Work injuries or illnesses that caused a death, a permanent disability or at least one full day or shift lost.
Hours actually worked in the period, including overtime and excluding leave.
Don't know your hours?
Estimate them from headcount: workers × average weekly hours × weeks worked.
Enter all three values to estimate hours.
Enter the number of lost time injuries.
Total recordable injury frequency rate
TRIFR = (lost time + medically treated + restricted work injuries) × 1,000,000 ÷ hours worked
Period 1
For example, FY2025–26.
Work injuries or illnesses that caused a death, a permanent disability or at least one full day or shift lost.
Treated by a doctor or other health professional, with no full day or shift lost.
The worker stayed at work on restricted or modified duties.
Hours actually worked in the period, including overtime and excluding leave.
Don't know your hours?
Estimate them from headcount: workers × average weekly hours × weeks worked.
Enter all three values to estimate hours.
Enter the number of each type of injury, using 0 where there were none.
The calculator runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere, and there's no form to fill in first.
It uses a base of 1,000,000 hours worked. Some US sources use 200,000 hours instead, so their rates aren't directly comparable with Australian ones.
What is LTIFR?
Lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) is the number of lost time injuries in a period for every million hours worked. It's the most common lagging measure of safety performance in Australia, and usually the first injury figure a board or client asks for.
The definitions come from AS 1885.1, the Australian standard for recording workplace injury and disease. Under it, a lost time injury is a work injury or illness that results in a fatality, a permanent disability, or at least one full day or shift lost from work.
How to calculate LTIFR
Multiply the number of lost time injuries in a period by 1,000,000, then divide by the total hours worked in the same period.
LTIFR = (lost time injuries × 1,000,000) ÷ total hours worked
Count the hours your workers actually worked, including overtime and excluding leave. Use the same period for both figures, usually a financial year or a rolling 12 months.
Worked example
A distribution centre records three lost time injuries in a financial year. Its workers put in 450,000 hours over the same year.
3 ÷ 450,000 × 1,000,000 = 6.67
The site's LTIFR is 6.67, or 6.67 lost time injuries per million hours worked.
If you don't have an hours figure, the calculator can estimate one from headcount. 200 workers averaging 38 hours a week for 48 weeks comes to 364,800 hours. Treat the result as an estimate, and swap in hours from payroll when you have them.
Why "1,000,000"?
Multiplying by 1,000,000 puts the rate on a standard base of a million hours worked. A site with 5,000 workers will almost always record more injuries than a site with 50, so raw injury counts can't be compared. Per million hours, both sites sit on the same scale, whatever their size.
A million hours is roughly what 500 full-time workers put in over a year. That's why small sites see their LTIFR jump around: one injury on a site working 100,000 hours a year adds 10 to the rate.
What counts as a lost time injury, and what doesn't
A lost time injury is any work injury or illness that results in:
- a fatality
- a permanent disability
- at least one full day or shift lost from work.
These are not lost time injuries:
- Medically treated injuries. A doctor or other health professional treats the injury, but the worker doesn't lose a full day or shift.
- First aid cases. Minor injuries treated on site, such as a cleaned cut or an ice pack for a strain.
- Restricted duties. The worker stays at work on modified or lighter tasks while they recover.
These injuries still matter. Medically treated and restricted work injuries are counted in the total recordable injury frequency rate (TRIFR).
LTIFR vs TRIFR
TRIFR counts more than LTIFR. It adds medically treated injuries and restricted work injuries to lost time injuries, then uses the same formula per million hours worked. Because it picks up injuries that never cost a full shift, TRIFR shows a trend sooner and is harder to improve by keeping injured workers on site. Use the TRIFR tab in the calculator to work it out.
| Measure | LTIFR | TRIFR |
|---|---|---|
| Counts | Lost time injuries | Lost time, medically treated and restricted work injuries |
| Formula | Lost time injuries × 1,000,000 ÷ hours worked | (Lost time + medically treated + restricted work injuries) × 1,000,000 ÷ hours worked |
| First aid cases | Not counted | Not counted |
| Best for | Tracking injuries serious enough to cost time | A wider view that shows a trend sooner |
What's a good LTIFR?
There's no single good number. LTIFR varies widely by industry, by the type of work and by how each organisation records a lost time injury. A warehouse with heavy manual handling and an office won't share a benchmark, and two warehouses with different reporting rules may not either.
The most useful comparison is with yourself: the same site and the same definitions, period on period. Use "Compare another period" in the calculator to set two periods side by side.
For a national reference, Safe Work Australia's Key Work Health and Safety Statistics publish serious claim frequency rates per million hours worked, by industry and occupation. These are rates of serious Workers' Compensation claims, which involve a week or more off work, a permanent incapacity or a death. They aren't LTIFR, and they count fewer injuries than an LTIFR does, so don't compare the two directly.
The limits of LTIFR
LTIFR is a lagging indicator. It counts people after they've been hurt, and says nothing about the risk building up on today's shift.
It can also fall for the wrong reasons. Under-reporting, or pressure to bring injured workers back before they're ready, will lower the number without making work any safer. If your LTIFR is falling while medically treated injuries hold steady or rise, look closer.
Pair LTIFR with leading indicators, which show risk before anyone is hurt:
- hazard and near-miss reports
- task risk assessments completed and acted on
- early intervention rates, meaning the share of strains and sprains reported and treated before they turn into lost time.
How to lower your LTIFR
Most lost time comes from a handful of tasks, and from small injuries that weren't picked up early. Start there.
Early reporting and onsite triage
A strain reported on the day it starts can usually be managed at work. One reported after a fortnight of working through it is far more likely to cost shifts. Early intervention with an onsite physio gives workers someone to tell on their own shift, and a plan that keeps them at work where it's safe to.
Manual task risk assessments and job design
Most injuries are a work design problem, not a worker problem. Task analyses measure the risk in each manual task, such as trailer unloading or top-shelf picking, and ergonomics changes to the task, the tools or the layout remove that risk at the source.
Targeted conditioning programs
Some jobs will always be physical. Injury prevention programs build workers' strength and capacity for the demands of their actual tasks, using strength testing to focus on the people and tasks carrying the most risk.
Talk to us about reducing lost time injuries
EMP Onsite puts physios and exercise physiologists on your site, on your shifts. We'll look at your injury data with you, find the tasks behind your lost time and show you where to start.