[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 76 (Tuesday, April 21, 2015)][Notices][Pages 22223-22224]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-09077]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
[Docket No. OSHA-2011-0197]
Occupational Safety and Health State Plans; 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 comments.
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SUMMARY: OSHA solicits public comments concerning its request for an
extension of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval of
the information collection requirements associated with its regulations
and program regarding State Plans for the development and enforcement
of state occupational safety and health standards (29 CFR parts 1902,
1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956).
DATES: Comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent, or received) by
June 22, 2015.
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 a copy of your comments and
attachments to the OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. OSHA-2011-0197,
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of
Labor, 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 the
OSHA docket number (OSHA-2011-0197) for the Information Collection
Request (ICR). 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 from the Web site. All submissions,
including copyrighted material, are available for inspection and
copying at the OSHA Docket Office. You may also contact Eric Lahaie at
the address below to obtain a copy of the ICR.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Lahaie, Directorate of
Cooperative and State Programs, Office of State Programs, Occupational
Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-
3700, 200 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20210; telephone:
(202) 693-2215; email, lahaie.eric@dol.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to reduce
paperwork and respondent (i.e., the State Plans) burden, conducts a
preclearance consultation program to provide the public with an
opportunity to comment on proposed and continuing information
collection requirements in accord 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 cost)
is minimized, collection instruments are understandable, and OSHA's
estimate of the information collection burden is accurate. Currently,
OSHA is soliciting comments concerning the extension of the information
collection requirements contained in the series of regulations
establishing requirements for the submission, initial approval,
continuing approval, final approval, monitoring and evaluation of OSHA-
approved State Plans:
29 CFR part 1902, State Plans for the Development and
Enforcement of State Standards;
29 CFR part 1952, Approved State Plans for Enforcement of
State Standards;
29 CFR part 1953, Changes to State Plans for the
Development and Enforcement of State Standards;
29 CFR part 1954, Procedures for the Evaluation and
Monitoring of Approved State Plans;
29 CFR part 1955, Procedures for Withdrawal of Approval of
State Plans; and
29 CFR part 1956, State Plans for the Development and
Enforcement of State Standards Applicable to State and Local Government
Employees in States without Approved Private Employee Plans.
Section 18 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (29 U.S.C.
667) offers an opportunity to the states to assume responsibility for
the development and enforcement of state standards through the
mechanism of an OSHA-approved State Plan. Absent an approved plan,
states are precluded from enforcing occupational safety and health
standards in the private sector with respect to any issue for which
Federal OSHA has promulgated a standard. Once approved and operational,
the state adopts standards and provides most occupational safety and
health enforcement and compliance assistance in the state, under the
authority of its plan, instead of Federal OSHA. States also must extend
their jurisdiction to cover state and local government employees and
may obtain approval of State Plans limited in scope to these workers.
To obtain and maintain State Plan approval, a state must submit various
documents to OSHA describing its program structure and operation,
including any modifications thereto as they occur, in accordance with
the identified regulations. OSHA funds 50 percent of the costs required
to be incurred by an approved State Plan with the state at least
matching and providing additional funding at its discretion.
II. Special Issues for Comment
OSHA has a particular interest in comments on the following issues:
[ssquf] Whether the proposed information collection requirements
are necessary for the proper performance of the Agency's functions,
including whether the information is useful;
[ssquf] 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;
[ssquf] The quality, utility, and clarity of the information
collected; and
[ssquf] Ways to minimize the burden on participating states 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 collection
of information requirements associated with its State Plan regulations.
The Agency is requesting an adjustment increase of 173 burden hours,
from 11,196 to 11,369 hours. This burden hour increase is the result of
the anticipated increase in the submission of state plan changes
associated with one state (Maine) actively implementing a new State
Plan. The burden hour increase was partially offset by the decrease in
the estimated number of state-initiated state plan changes. The Agency
will summarize the comments submitted in response to this notice and
will include this summary in its request to OMB.
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
Title: Occupational Safety and Health State Plans.
OMB Control Number: 1218-0247.
Affected Public: Designated state government agencies that are
seeking or have submitted and obtained approval for State Plans for the
development and enforcement of occupational safety and health
standards.
Number of Respondents: 28.
Frequency: On occasion; quarterly; annually.
Total Responses: 1,279.
Average Time per Response: Varies from 30 minutes (.5 hour) to
respond to an information inquiry to 80 hours to document state annual
performance goals.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 11,369.
Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $0.
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-2011-0197). 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 OSHA 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 their social security number
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 from 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 from the Web site and for assistance in using the Internet to
locate docket submissions.
V. Authority and Signature
David Michaels, Ph.D., MPH, 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. 1-2012
(77 FR 3912).
Signed at Washington, DC, on April 15, 2015.
David Michaels,
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 2015-09077 Filed 4-20-15; 8:45 am]
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