[Federal Register: June 22, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 118)][Notices] [Page 29517-29518]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr22jn09-103]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
[Docket No. OSHA-2009-0015]
The Hexavalent Chromium Standard; Extension of the Office of
Management and Budget's (OMB) Approval of Information Collection
(Paperwork) Requirements
AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.
ACTION: Request for public comment.
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SUMMARY: OSHA solicits comments concerning its proposal to extend OMB
approval of the information collection requirements contained in the
Hexavalent Chromium (VI) (29 CFR 1910.1026) Standard, and on a
potential change to burden hour and cost estimates to the Standard's
employee exposure notification requirement in response to a court
remand.
DATES: Comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent, or received) by
August 21, 2009.
ADDRESSES: Electronically: You may submit comments and attachments
electronically at http://www.regulations.gov, which is the Federal
eRulemaking Portal. Follow the instructions online for submitting
comments.
Facsimile: If your comments, including attachments, are not longer
than 10 pages, you may fax them to the OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-
1648.
Mail, hand delivery, express mail, messenger, or courier service:
When using this method, you must submit three copies of your comments
and attachments to the OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. OSHA-2009-0015,
U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health
Administration, Room N-2625, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington,
DC 20210. Deliveries (hand, express mail, messenger, and courier
service) are accepted during the Department of Labor's and Docket
Office's normal business hours, 8:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., e.t.
Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name and OSHA
docket number for the Information Collection Request (ICR) (OSHA-2009-
0015). All comments, including any personal information you provide,
are placed in the public docket without change, and may be made
available online at http://www.regulations.gov. For further information
on submitting comments see the "Public Participation" heading in the
section of this notice titled "SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION."
Docket: To read or download comments or other material in the
docket, go to http://www.regulations.gov or the OSHA Docket Office at
the address above. All documents in the docket (including this Federal
Register notice) are listed in the http://www.regulations.gov index;
however, some information (e.g., copyrighted material) is not publicly
available to read or download through the Web site. All submissions,
including copyrighted material, are available for inspection and
copying at the OSHA Docket Office. You may contact Jamaa Hill at the
address below to obtain a copy of the ICR.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jamaa N. Hill or Todd Owen,
Directorate of Standards and Guidance, OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor,
Room N-3609, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210;
telephone (202) 693-2222.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to reduce
paperwork and respondent (i.e., employer) burden, conducts a
preclearance consultation program to provide the public with an
opportunity to comment on proposed and continuing information
collection requirements in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act
of 1995 (PRA-95) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).
This program ensures that information is in the desired format,
reporting burden (time and costs) is minimal, collection instruments
are clearly understood, and OSHA's estimate of the information
collection burden is accurate. The Occupational Safety and Health Act
of 1970 (the Act) (29 U.S.C. 651 et seq.) authorizes information
collection by employers as necessary or appropriate for enforcement of
the Act or for developing information regarding the causes and
prevention of occupational injuries, illnesses, and accidents (29
U.S.C. 657).
OSHA published the final rule governing occupational exposure to
hexavalent chromium on February 28, 2006. The information collection
requirements specified in the Chromium (VI) standard protect employees
from the adverse health effects that may result from occupational
exposure to hexavalent chromium. The major information collection
requirements in the Standard include conducting employee exposure
monitoring, notifying employees of their chromium (VI) exposures,
implementing medical surveillance of employees, providing examining
physicians with specific information, implementing a respiratory
protection program, demarcating regulated areas, implementing employee
information and training programs, notifying laundry personnel of
chromium (VI) hazards, and maintaining employees' exposure monitoring
and medical surveillance records for specific periods.
A number of parties subsequently challenged several provisions of
the final CR(VI) standards in the United States Court of Appeals for
the Third Circuit (see Public Citizen and Edison Electric Institute v.
U.S. Department of Labor, XX F.3d XXXX (3d Cir. 2009)). In its
decision, the court found that OSHA failed to explain why the Cr(VI)
standards require employee notification only of chromium exposures
exceeding the permissible exposure limit, noting that prior health
standards required notification of all exposure monitoring results. The
court remanded the standards, and ordered OSHA to provide an
explanation for not including notification of all exposure monitoring
results, or to revise the standards appropriately. OSHA currently is
considering how to respond to the court's remand order.
II. Special Issues for Comment
OSHA has a particular interest in comments on the following issues:
Whether the proposed information collection requirements
are necessary for the proper performance of the Agency's functions,
including whether the information is useful;
The accuracy of OSHA's estimate of the burden (time and
costs) of the information collection requirements, including the validity
of the methodology and assumptions used;
The quality, utility, and clarity of the information
collected; and
Ways to minimize the burden on employers who must comply,
for example, by using automated or other technological information
collection and transmission techniques.
III. Proposed Actions
OSHA is requesting that OMB extend its approval of the information
collection requirements contained in the Chromium (VI) Standard (29 CFR
1910.1026).
The Agency will summarize the comments submitted in response to
this notice and will include this summary in the request to OMB.
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
Title: Hexavalent Chromium Standard (29 CFR 1910.1026).
OMB Number: 1218-0252.
Affected Public: Business or other for-profits; Federal Government;
State, Local, or Tribal Government.
Number of Respondents: 78,126.
Frequency of Response: On occasion.
Average Time per Response: Time per response ranges from 15 minutes
(.25 hour) to notify employees of exposure monitoring results to 20
hours to conduct exposure monitoring.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 725,319 hours.
Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $47,751,607.
IV. Public Participation--Submission of Comments on this Notice and
Internet Access to Comments and Submissions
You may submit comments in response to this document as follows:
(1) Electronically at http://www.regulations.gov, which is the Federal
eRulemaking Portal; (2) by facsimile (FAX); or (3) by hard copy. All
comments, attachments, and other material must identify the Agency name
and the OSHA docket number for the ICR (Docket No. OSHA-2009-0015). You
may supplement electronic submissions by uploading document files
electronically. If you wish to mail additional materials in reference
to an electronic or facsimile submission, you must submit them to the
OSHA Docket Office (see the section of this notice titled ADDRESSES).
The additional materials must clearly identify your electronic comments
by your name, date, and the docket number so the Agency can attach them
to your comments.
Because of security procedures, the use of regular mail may cause a
significant delay in the receipt of comments. For information about
security procedures concerning the delivery of materials by hand,
express delivery, messenger, or courier service, please contact the
OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-2350 (TTY (877) 889-5627).
Comments and submissions are posted without change at http://
www.regulations.gov. Therefore, OSHA cautions commenters about
submitting personal information such as social security numbers and
date of birth. Although all submissions are listed in the http://
www.regulations.gov index, some information (e.g., copyrighted
material) is not publicly available to read or download through this
Web site. All submissions, including copyrighted material, are
available for inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office.
Information on using the http://www.regulations.gov Web site to submit
comments and access the docket is available at the Web site's "User
Tips" link. Contact the OSHA Docket Office for information about
materials not available through the Web site, and for assistance in
using the Internet to locate docket submissions.
V. Authority and Signature
Jordan Barab, Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational
Safety and Health, directed the preparation of this notice. The
authority for this notice is the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
U.S.C. 3506 et seq.) and Secretary of Labor's Order No. 5-2007 (72 FR
31160).
Signed at Washington, DC, this 17th day of June 2009.
Jordan Barab,
Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. E9-14578 Filed 6-19-09; 8:45 am]
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