[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 77 (Monday, April 24, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18932-18934]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-08228]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
[Docket No. OSHA-2010-0056]
Notice of Alleged Safety and Health Hazard (Form OSHA-7);
Extension of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Approval of
Collections of Information
AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.
ACTION: Request for public comments.
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SUMMARY: OSHA solicits public comments concerning its proposal to
extend the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval of the
collections of information contained in the OSHA-7 Form.
DATES: Comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent or received) by
June 23, 2017.
ADDRESSES:
Electronically: You may submit comments and attachments
electronically at 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-2010-0056, 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 the
OSHA docket number (OSHA-2010-0056) 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 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 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 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 contact Theda Kenney at the
address below to obtain a copy of the ICR.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Theda Kenney 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., employees filing occupational safety or
health complaints) burden, conducts a preclearance consultation program
to provide the public with an opportunity to comment on proposed and
collections of information in accord with the Paperwork Reduction Act
(PRA) (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 OSH Act) (29 U.S.C. 651 et seq.) authorizes
information collection by employers as necessary or appropriate for
enforcement of the OSH Act or for developing information regarding the
causes and prevention of occupational injuries, illnesses, and
accidents (29 U.S.C. 657). The OSH Act also requires that OSHA obtain
such information with minimum burden upon employers, especially those
operating small businesses, and to reduce to the maximum extent
feasible unnecessary duplication of efforts in obtaining information
(29 U.S.C. 657).
Under paragraphs (a) and (c) of 29 CFR 1903.11 (``Complaints by
employees''), employees and their representatives may notify the OSHA
area director or an OSHA compliance officer of safety and health
hazards regulated by the Agency that they believe exist in their
workplaces at any time. These provisions state further that this
notification must be in writing and ``shall set forth with reasonable
particularity the grounds for the notice, and shall be signed by the
employee or representative of the employee.''
In addition to providing specific hazard information to the Agency,
paragraph (a) permits employees/employee representatives to request an
inspection of the workplace. Paragraph (c) also addresses situations in
which employees/employee representatives may provide the information
directly to the OSHA compliance officer during an inspection. An
employer's former employees may also submit complaints to the Agency.
To address the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (c), especially
the requirement that the information be in writing, the Agency
developed the OSHA-7 Form; this form standardized and simplified the
hazard reporting process. For paragraph (a), they may complete an OSHA-
7 Form obtained
from the Agency's Web site and then send it to OSHA online, or deliver
a hardcopy of the form to the OSHA area office by mail or facsimile, or
by hand. They may also write a letter containing the information and
hand deliver it to the area office, or send it by mail or facsimile. In
addition, they may provide the information orally to the OSHA area
office or another party (e.g., a federal safety and health committee
for federal employees), in which case the area office or other party
completes the hard copy version of the form. For the typical situation
addressed by paragraph (c), an employee/employee representative informs
an OSHA compliance officer orally of the alleged hazard during an
inspection, and the compliance officer then completes the hard copy
version of the OSHA-7 Form; occasionally, the employee/employee
representative provides the compliance officer with the information on
the hard copy version of the OSHA-7 Form.
The information on the hard copy version of the OSHA-7 Form
includes information about the employer and alleged hazards, including:
The establishment's name; the site's address and telephone and
facsimile numbers; the name and telephone number of the management
official; the type of business; a description and the specific location
of the hazards, including the approximate number of employees exposed
or threatened by the hazards; and whether or not the employee/employee
representative informed another government agency about the hazards
(and the name of the agency if so informed).
Additional information on the hard copy version of the form
concerns the complainant, including: Whether or not the complainant is
an employee or an employee representative, or for information provided
orally, a member of a federal safety and health committee or another
party (with space to specify the party); the complainant's name,
telephone number, and address; and the complainant's signature
attesting that they believe a violation of an OSHA standard exists at
the named establishment; and the date of the signature. An employee
representative must also provide the name of the organization they
represent and their title.
The information contained in the online version of the OSHA-7 Form
is similar to the hard copy version. However, the online version
requests the complainant's email address, and does not ask for the
site's facsimile number or the complainant's signature and signature
date.
The Agency uses the information collected on the OSHA-7 Form to
determine whether reasonable grounds exist to conduct an inspection of
the workplace. The description of the hazards, including the number of
exposed employees, allows the Agency to assess the severity of the
hazards and the need to expedite the inspection. The completed form
also provides the employer with notice of the complaint and may serve
as the basis for obtaining a search warrant if the employer denies the
Agency access to the workplace.
II. Special Issues for Comment
OSHA has a particular interest in comments on the following issues:
Whether the proposed collections of information are
necessary for 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 collections of information, 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 collections
of information relating to the OSHA-7 Form. The Agency is requesting an
increase in burden hours from 13,659 to 19,258 (a total increase of
5,599 burden hours). The difference is the result of an overall
increase in complaints received annually from 50,641 complaints
estimated in the previous ICR to 70,976 complaints. There was also an
increase in operation and maintenance costs from $532 to $701. The
increase occurred due to an increase in the estimated number of written
OSHA-7 forms received, from 1,208 to 1,430 forms. The Agency will
summarize the comments submitted in response to this notice and will
include this summary in the request to OMB to extend the approval of
the collections of information.
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
Title: Notice of Alleged Safety and Health Hazards (Form OSHA-7).
OMB Control Number: 1218-0064.
Affected Public: Individuals or households.
Number of Responses: 70,976.
Frequency of Responses: On occasion.
Average Time per Response: Varies.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 19,258.
Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $701.
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 www.regulations.gov, which is the Federal
eRulemaking Portal; (2) by facsimile; or (3) by hard copy. All
comments, attachments, and other material must identify the Agency name
and the OSHA docket number for this ICR (Docket No. OSHA-2010-0056).
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 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 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 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
Dorothy Dougherty, Deputy 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 (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 13, 2017.
Dorothy Dougherty,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 2017-08228 Filed 4-21-17; 8:45 am]
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