[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 41 (Wednesday, March 2, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11733-11735]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-04367]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
[Docket No. OSHA-2011-0008]
Commercial Diving Operations 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 comments.
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SUMMARY: OSHA solicits public comments concerning the proposal to
extend OMB approval of the information collection requirements
specified by the Commercial Diving Operations Standard.
DATES: Comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent, or received) by
May 2, 2022.
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.
Docket: To read or download comments or other material in the
docket, go to http://www.regulations.gov. Documents in the docket 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 website. All submissions, including
copyrighted material, are available for inspection through the OSHA
Docket Office. Contact the OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-2350 (TTY
(877) 889-5627) for assistance in locating docket submissions.
Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and OSHA
docket number (OSHA-2011-0008) for the Information Collection Request
(ICR). OSHA will place all comments, including personal information in
the public docket, which may be available online. Therefore, OSHA
cautions interested parties about submitting personal information such
as social security numbers and birthdates. For further information on
submitting comments, see the ``Public Participation'' heading in the
section of this notice titled SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Seleda Perryman or Theda Kenney,
Directorate of Standards and Guidance,
OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor; telephone (202) 693-2222.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Department of Labor, as part of the 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) (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 (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 incidents (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 effort in
obtaining information (29 U.S.C. 657).
The information collection requirements specified in the Commercial
Diving Operations (CDO) Standard (29 CFR part 1910, subpart T) for
general industry helps protect workers from the adverse health effects
that may result from their involvement in CDO, and provide access to
these records by OSHA, the National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health, the affected workers, and designated representatives. The
major information collection requirements of the CDO Standard include
the following elements of the Standard.
Sec. 1910.401(b). Allows employers to deviate from the
requirements of the subpart to the extent necessary to prevent or
minimize a situation that is likely to cause death, serious physical
harm, or major environmental damage. They must provide written notice
to the OSHA Area Director within 48 hours and must describe the reason
for and extent of the deviation.
Sec. Sec. 1910.410(a)(3) and (a)(4). Employers must train all dive
team members in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid (i.e., the
American Red Cross standard course or equivalent). Additionally,
employers must train dive team members exposed to hyperbaric
conditions, or who control exposure of other workers to such
conditions, in diving-related physics and physiology.
Sec. Sec. 1910.420(a) and (b). Employers must develop and maintain
a safe practices manual and make it available to each dive team member
at the dive location. For each diving mode used at the dive location,
the manual must contain: Safety procedures and checklists for diving
operations; assignments and responsibilities of the dive team members;
equipment procedures and checklists; and emergency procedures for fire,
equipment failures, adverse environmental conditions, and medical
illness and injury.
Sec. 1910.421(b). Employers are to keep at the dive location a
list of telephone or call numbers for the following emergency
facilities and services: An operational decompression chamber (if such
a chamber is not at the dive location), accessible hospitals, available
physicians and means of emergency transportation, and the nearest U.S.
Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center.
Sec. 1910.421(f). Requires employers to brief dive team members on
the diving-related tasks they are to perform, safety procedures for the
diving mode used at the dive location, any unusual hazards or
environmental conditions likely to affect the safety of the diving
operation, and any modifications to operating procedures necessitated
by the specific diving operation. Before assigning diving-related
tasks, employers must ask each dive team member about their current
state of physical fitness, and inform the member about the procedure
for reporting physical problems or adverse physiological effects during
and after the dive.
Sec. 1910.421(h). If the diving operation occurs in an area
capable of supporting marine traffic and occurs from a surface other
than a vessel, employers are to display a rigid replica of the
international code flag ``A'' that is at least one meter in height so
that it is visible from any direction; the employer must illuminate the
flag during night diving operations.
Sec. 1910.422(e). Employers must develop and maintain a depth-time
profile for each diver that includes, as appropriate, any breathing gas
changes or decompression.
Sec. Sec. 1910.423(b)(1)(ii) through (b)(2). Requires the employer
to: Instruct the diver to report any physical symptoms or adverse
physiological effects, including symptoms of decompression sickness
(DCS); advise the diver of the location of a decompression chamber that
is ready for use; and alert the diver to the potential hazards of
flying after diving. For any dive outside the no-decompression limits,
deeper than 100 feet, or that uses mixed gas in the breathing mixture,
the employer must also inform the diver to remain awake and in the
vicinity of the decompression chamber that is at the dive location for
at least one hour after the dive or any decompression or treatment
associated with the dive.
Sec. 1910.423(d). Employers are to record and maintain the
following information for each diving operation: The names of dive-team
members; date, time, and location; diving modes used; general
description of the tasks performed; an estimate of the underwater and
surface conditions; and the maximum depth and bottom time for each
diver. In addition, for each dive outside the no-decompression limits,
deeper than 100 feet, or that uses mixed gas in the breathing mixture,
the employer must record and maintain the following information for
each diver: Depth-time and breathing gas profiles; decompression table
designation (including any modifications); and elapsed time since the
last pressure exposure if less than 24 hours or the repetitive dive
designation. If the dive results in DCS symptoms, or the employer
suspects that a diver has DCS, the employer must record and maintain a
description of the DCS symptoms (including the depth and time of
symptom onset) and the results of treatment.
Sec. 1910.423(e). Requires employers to assess each DCS incident
by: Investigating and evaluating it based on the recorded information,
consideration of the past performance of the decompression profile
used, and the diver's individual susceptibility to DCS; taking
appropriate corrective action to reduce the probability of a DCS
recurrence; and, within 45 days of the DCS incident, preparing a
written evaluation of this assessment, including any corrective action
taken.
Sec. Sec. 1910.430(a), (b)(4), (c)(1)(i) through (c)(1)(iii),
(c)(3)(i), (f)(3)(ii), and (g)(2). Employers must record by means of
tagging or a logging system any work performed on equipment, including
any modifications, repairs, tests, calibrations, or maintenance
performed on the equipment. This record is to include the date and
description of the work, as well as the name or initials of the
individual who performed the work.
Employers must test two specific types of equipment, including,
respectively: The output of air compressor systems used to supply
breathing air to divers for air purity every six months by means of
samples taken at the connection to the distribution system; and
breathing-gas hoses at least annually at one and one-half times their
working pressure. Employers must mark each umbilical (i.e., separate
lines supplying air and communications to a diver, as well as a safety
line, tied together in a bundle), beginning at the diver's end, in 10-
foot increments for 100 feet, then in 50-foot increments thereafter.
Employers must also regularly inspect and maintain mufflers located in
intake and exhaust lines on decompression chambers and test depth
gauges using dead-weight testing, or calibrate the gauges against a
master reference gauge; such testing or calibration is to occur every
six months or if the employer finds a discrepancy larger than two
percent of the full scale between any two equivalent gauges. Employers
must make a record of the tests, calibrations, inspections, and
maintenance performed on the equipment.
Sec. Sec. 1910.440(a)(2) and (b). Employers must record any
diving-related injuries or illnesses that result in a dive-team member
remaining in the hospital for at least 24 hours. This record is to
describe the circumstances of the incident and the extent of any
injuries or illnesses.
Employers must make any record required by the Subpart available,
on request, for inspection and copying to an OSHA compliance officer or
to a representative of the National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health (NIOSH). Employers are to provide workers, their designated
representatives, and OSHA compliance officers with exposure and medical
records generated under the Subpart in accordance with Sec. 1910.1020
(``Access to worker exposure and medical records''); these records
include safe practices manuals, depth-time profiles, diving records,
DCS incident assessments, and hospitalization records. Additionally,
employers must make equipment inspection and testing records available
to workers and their designated representative on request.
Employers must retain these records for the following periods: Safe
practices manuals, current document only; depth-time profiles, until
completing the diving record or the DCS incident assessment; diving
records, one year, except five years if a DCS incident occurred during
the dive; DCS incident assessments, five years; hospitalization
records, five years; and equipment inspections and testing records,
current tag or log entry until the employer removes the equipment from
service.
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 to
protect workers, 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
The agency is requesting an adjustment increase in burden from
67,168 hours to 170,806 hours, a difference of 103,638 hours. The
increase in burden is due to the increase in the number of professional
divers going from 3,280 to 3,460 in which increased the number of
affected facilities.
OSHA 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 information collection requirements.
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
Title: Commercial Diving Operations Standard (29 CFR part 1910,
subpart T).
OMB Control Number: 1218-0069.
Affected Public: Business or other for-profits.
Number of Respondents: 1,153.
Number of Responses: 1,397,799.
Frequency of Responses: On occasion.
Average Time per Response: Varies.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 170,806.
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; or (3) by hard copy. Please note:
While OSHA's Docket Office is continuing to accept and process
submissions by hand, express mail, messenger, and courier service, all
comments, attachments, and other material must identify the agency name
and the OSHA docket number for the ICR (Docket No. OSHA-2011-0008). You
may supplement electronic submissions by uploading document files
electronically. If you wish to mail additional materials in reference
to an electronic or a 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 that the agency can attach
them to your comments.
Due to security procedures, the use of regular mail may cause a
significant delay in the receipt of comments.
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
website. All submissions, including copyrighted material, are available
for inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office. Information on
using the http://www.regulations.gov website to submit comments and
access the docket is available at the website's ``User Tips'' link.
Contact the OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-2350, (TTY (877) 889-5627)
for information about materials not available from the website, and for
assistance in using the internet to locate docket submissions.
V. Authority and Signature
James S. Frederick, 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 of
1995 (44 U.S.C. 3506 et seq.) and Secretary of Labor's Order No. 1-2012
(77 FR 3912).
Signed in Washington, DC, on February 15, 2022.
James S. Frederick,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 2022-04367 Filed 3-1-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-26-P
