02-6216. Forging Machines Standard; Extension of the Office of Management and Budget's Approval of Information-Collection (Paperwork) Requirements

AGENCY:

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.

ACTION:

Request for comment.

SUMMARY:

OSHA requests comment concerning its proposed extension of the information-collection requirements specified by its Forging Machines Standard (29 CFR 1910.218). The paperwork provisions of the Standard specify requirements for developing and maintaining inspection records. The purpose of these requirements is to reduce employees' risk of death or serious injury by ensuring that forging machines used by them are in safe operating condition.

DATES:

Submit written comments on or before May 14, 2002.

ADDRESSES:

Submit written comments to the Docket Office, Docket No. ICR-1218-0228(2002), OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-2625, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210; telephone [phone]. Commenters may transmit written comments of 10 pages or less by facsimile to [phone].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Theda Kenney, Directorate of Safety Standards Programs, OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-3609, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210; telephone [phone]. A copy of the Agency's Information-Collection Request (ICR) supporting the need for the information collections specified by the Forging Machines Standard is available for inspection and copying in the Docket Office, or by requesting a copy from Theda Kenney at [phone], or Todd Owen at [phone]. For electronic copies of the ICR, contact OSHA on the Internet at http://www.osha.gov and select “Information Collection Requests.”

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 cost) is minimal, collection instruments are understandable, and OSHA's estimate of the information-collection burden is correct.

The Forging Machines Standard (i.e., “the Standard”) specifies two paperwork requirements. The following section describes who use the information collected under each requirement, as well as how they use it.

Information of Forging Machines, Guards, and Point-of-Operation Protection Devices (paragraphs (a)(2)(i) and (a)(2)(ii)). Paragraph (a)(2)(i) requires employers to establish periodic and regular maintenance safety checks, and to develop and keep a certification record of each inspection. The certification record must include the date of inspection, the signature of the person who performed the inspection, and the serial number (or other identifier) of the forging machine inspected. Under paragraph (a)(2)(ii), employers are to schedule regular and frequent inspections of guards and point-of-operation protection devices, and prepare a certification record of each inspection that contains the date the inspection, the signature of the person who performed the inspection, and the serial number (or other identifier) of the equipment inspected. These inspection certification records provide assurance to employers, employees, and OSHA compliance officers that forging machines, guards, and point-of-operation protection devices have been inspected, thereby assuring that they will operate properly and safely, and prevent impact injury and death to employees during forging operations. These records also provide the most efficient means for the compliance officers to determine that an employer is complying with the Standard.

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 proposes to extend the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval of the collection-of-information requirements specified by the Forging Machines Standard (29 CFR 1910.218). The Agency will summarize the comments submitted in response to this notice, and will include this summary in its request to OMB to extend the approval of these information-collection requirements.

Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved information-collection requirement.

Title: Forging Machine Standard (29 CFR 1910.218).

OMB Number: 1218-0228..

Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; not-for-profit institutions; Federal government; State, local, or tribal governments.

Number of Respondents: 27,700.

Frequency of Recordkeeping: Biweekly.

Average Time per Response: Twenty minutes (.33 hour) to inspect a forging machine and its guard or point-of-operation protection, and to prepare, maintain, and disclose the inspection certification record.

Total Annual Hours Requested: 244,868.

Total Annual Costs (O&M): $0.

IV. Authority and Signature

John L. Henshaw, 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), and Secretary of Labor's Order No. 3-2000 (65 FR 50017).

Signed at Washington, DC on March 8, 2002.

John L. Henshaw,

Assistant Secretary of Labor.