OSHA Maritime Safety Records

What is OSHA Maritime Safety Data?

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires employers in high-hazard industries -- including maritime cargo handling -- to electronically submit workplace injury and illness data through the Injury Tracking Application (ITA). Establishments with 20 or more employees in designated NAICS codes (including 4883, Marine Cargo Handling) must report annually. This data covers recordable injuries, days away from work, job transfers, and fatalities at stevedoring operations, container terminals, and marine cargo facilities.

The Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) is the standard metric for comparing safety performance across establishments. It normalizes injury counts per 200,000 hours worked (roughly 100 full-time employees for a year), making it possible to compare a 50-person terminal against a 500-person operation. A TRIR below 4.0 is generally considered strong for maritime cargo handling; the industry average typically falls between 4.0 and 6.0.

Ship agents, terminal operators, compliance teams, and insurers use this data to benchmark facility safety, assess risk during vendor qualification, and identify establishments with elevated incident rates. For port authorities and labor organizations, it provides transparency into working conditions at cargo handling facilities across US ports.