The safety section can end a bid before price is read
On a Navy construction solicitation, one offeror left two years of injury rates out of its proposal and did not say why. The evaluators found a deficiency, rated the proposal technically unacceptable under the safety factor and removed it from the competitive range. GAO denied the protest in January 2014 (Cherokee Chainlink & Construction, B-408979).
Whatever that firm's real record was, the evaluators never saw it. On a scored federal construction bid, your safety program exists only to the extent it appears on the page, in the form the solicitation asks for.
This guide covers what evaluators ask for, how to work out your numbers, how to present a year you would rather not show, and how to make the plan and the people behind it earn credit.
Start with what this solicitation asks for
Safety instructions change from one buy to the next. Read the proposal instructions and the evaluation factor side by side and write down five things: which rates, which years, whose rates, what proof, and how the rates will be judged.
The Navy solicitation in the Cherokee decision asked for three years of experience modification rates and three years of DART rates, and told offerors who could not provide the information to say so and explain why. It said the agency would look for "a history of safe work practices taking into account any upward or downward trends and extenuating circumstances." That sentence tells you how to write the section. A table of numbers is only half of it.
On a joint venture, expect evaluators to look at each member's rates. In a 2021 Navy decision, KIRA Training Services (B-419149.2), the agency looked closely at one venture member's rates.
The three numbers evaluators ask for
| Measure | What it is | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Experience modification rate (EMR) | A workers' compensation rating built from class code, payroll and loss data, normally over a three-year period. 1.00 is unity, below is a credit, above is a debit. | The National Council on Compensation Insurance or your state's rating bureau, usually through your insurance agent |
| Total recordable case rate | All OSHA-recordable injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers | Your OSHA 300 logs and hours worked |
| DART rate | Only the cases involving days away from work, restricted work or job transfer, on the same base | Your OSHA 300 logs and hours worked |
Work the rates from your records
The Bureau of Labor Statistics gives the formula: number of cases multiplied by 200,000, divided by employee hours worked. The 200,000 represents 100 employees working 40 hours a week for 50 weeks a year.
Take a firm that logged 180,000 hours in a year with two recordable cases, one of which involved days away. Its total recordable rate is 2.22 and its DART rate is 1.11. One more days-away case that year adds another 1.11 to both figures. A small firm's rates swing hard on a single injury, which is why the explanation matters as much as the number.
A case is recordable under 29 CFR 1904.7 if it results in death, days away from work, restricted work or job transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness, or if it is a significant diagnosed injury or illness. You must keep the 300 log, the annual summary and the 301 reports for five years under 29 CFR 1904.33, so a three-year request should never send you searching. Use the years the solicitation names, and keep calendar years and insurance policy years straight.
Explain a bad year in the proposal
A high number with an explanation can still score well. In KIRA, the Navy first rated a joint venture member's experience modification rates as moderate and high risk. After discussions, the agency found the offeror had "addressed and explained" the high rates and concluded they showed a downward trend. GAO found no basis to question the evaluation.
A high number with an explanation can still score well.
Write the explanation in four parts: what happened, the root cause, what you changed, and what the numbers did afterward. Tie each change to a date and a document, such as a revised fall protection procedure or a new pre-task briefing. Never soften the number itself. It has to match your logs and your insurer's letter, because the evaluator can ask for them and a wrong figure is a statement to the government.
If you have no EMR, say so and say why
Cherokee is instructive on this point too. The firm had no experience modification rate because its premiums were too low to generate one, and the evaluators treated that as only a minor weakness. The missing DART rates, with no explanation, were the deficiency that removed the proposal.
If you are new to a state or too small to be rated, get a letter from your agent or rating bureau saying so, and present your OSHA rates in full. A blank cell with no explanation is the one answer that cannot earn credit.
Subcontractors are part of your safety record
The Unified Facilities Guide Specification used by the Army Corps of Engineers, NAVFAC and the Air Force, section 01 35 26 (May 2024, Change 2, August 2026), sets a floor for subcontractors at any tier. In that guide text, a subcontractor must have an effective EMR of 1.10 or lower and a DART rate of 3.4 or lower, from its most recent complete calendar year, when it enters the subcontract. Relief is considered case by case, and the site safety and health officer keeps the ratings on file.
Project specifications are edited from that guide, so check yours. Then use it: collect your key trades' rates during the bid and say in the proposal how you screen subcontractors. The same specification requires the accident prevention plan to describe your methods for evaluating subcontractors' past safety performance.
Make the accident prevention plan specific to the site
Under the guide specification, the accident prevention plan must be job-specific, prepared by a competent person in the format of EM 385-1-1 and ENG Form 6293, and submitted for government acceptance at least 15 calendar days before work starts. An activity hazard analysis is required before each activity that presents hazards not experienced earlier on the project, or where a new crew or subcontractor takes over the work. It is signed by the safety officer, the superintendent, the quality control manager and the foreman.
The full plan comes after award, but the proposal can show that you have already thought about this site. Name the three or four hazards that define the project: work near an active runway, an occupied building, a deep excavation by a live utility. State the control for each, and who owns it.
Name a safety officer who meets the requirement
The guide specification sets three levels. Check your project specification for which applies, then make the résumé show each element in the order it is listed.
- Level 1, full time: OSHA 30-hour general industry or construction training or an approved equivalent, 24 hours of documented safety training within the past 5 years and every 3 years after, and at least 5 years of cumulative safety experience within the past 10 years on projects of similar type, size and complexity
- Level 2, collateral duty: the same training, with at least 3 years of cumulative safety experience within the past 10 years
- Level 3, task-specific: designated as the required qualified or competent person for the work being performed
Show the program running, with records behind it
Evaluators read a lot of safety language that could describe any firm. What separates yours is evidence that the program already operates. Describe the rhythm of it: who runs the pre-task briefing, how often the jobsite is inspected, what happens when a crew member stops work, and how a corrective action is tracked until it is closed.
Then point to the record that proves each one, such as a signed briefing log or a closed corrective action from a recent job. Your own recordkeeping is the cheapest evidence you have, and few proposals use it.
Where EM 385-1-1 applies and where OSHA governs
FAR clause 52.236-13, Accident Prevention, goes into fixed-price construction contracts expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold, currently $350,000. It requires compliance with OSHA standards in 29 CFR parts 1926 and 1910. For Department of Defense construction it also requires compliance with the latest version of EM 385-1-1 in effect on the solicitation date. The current edition, titled Safety and Occupational Health Requirements, took effect March 15, 2024.
The clause also lets the contracting officer stop work for noncompliance that goes uncorrected, with no price or schedule adjustment. Long-duration or hazardous work adds Alternate I, which requires a written plan analyzing significant hazards before work begins. A proposal that names the correct standard for its customer reads as a firm that has done this work.
Mistakes that cost safety points
- Rates for the wrong years, or a blank year with no explanation
- Boilerplate from a corporate safety manual with no mention of this site
- Citing EM 385-1-1 on a civilian job, or omitting it on a Department of Defense job
- A safety officer résumé that does not show the required training hours and years of experience
- A superintendent named as the safety officer where the specification requires full-time duty
Frequently asked questions
It depends on the solicitation. The Unified Facilities Guide Specification sets 1.10 or lower for subcontractors, and evaluators may also weigh trends and explanations. Read your specification and the evaluation factor before assuming a number passes or fails.
Yes, if the solicitation asks for that year. Report the accurate number and explain the cause, the correction and the result. An omission with no explanation is what removed the offeror in the Cherokee decision.
Usually not, unless the instructions ask for it. Under the guide specification it is a submittal after award. The proposal should show the plan's structure and the hazards and controls specific to your site.
The FAR clause applies it to Department of Defense construction. Other agencies rely on OSHA standards unless their own specifications add it, so read the safety section of your specifications for the governing document.