2024-06153. Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution Standards for Construction and General Industry and Electrical Protective Equipment Standards for Construction and General Industry; Extension of the Office of Management and ...

AGENCY:

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.

ACTION:

Request for public comments.

SUMMARY:

OSHA solicits public comments concerning the proposal to extend the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval of the information collection requirements specified in the Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution Standards for Construction and General Industry and Electrical Protective Equipment Standards for Construction and General Industry.

DATES:

Comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent, or received) by May 24, 2024.

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 websites. 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–2017–0005) for the Information Collection Request (ICR). OSHA will place all comments, including any personal information, in the public docket, which may be made 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, Directorate of Standards and Guidance, OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor; telephone [phone].

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, the 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 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 effort in obtaining information (29 U.S.C. 657).

The Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution Standards (29 CFR 1926 and 29 CFR 1910.269) and the Electrical Protective Equipment Standards (29 CFR 1926.97 and 29 CFR 1910.137) specify a number of collection of information requirements. The following describes the collection of information requirements contained in the standards.

Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution Standard (§§ 1926 and 1910.269).

For host employer responsibilities paragraphs 1910.269(a)(3)(i) and 1926.950(c)(1) for construction and general industry, before work begins, the host employer must inform the contract employers of: the characteristics of the host employer's installation listed; conditions listed in paragraphs of this section that are known to the host employer; information about the design and operation of the host employer's installation that the contract employer needs to make the assessments required by this section; and any other information about the design and operation of the host employer's installation that is known by the host employer, that the contract employer requests, that is related to the protection of the contract employer's employees.

For contract employer responsibilities paragraph 1910.269(a)(3)(ii) and 1926.950(c)(2) for construction and general industry, contract employers must ensure that each of the employees is instructed in the hazardous conditions relevant to the employee's work that the contract employer is aware of as a result of information communicated to the contract employer by the host employer; before work begins, the contract employer must advise the host employer of any unique hazardous conditions presented by the contract employer's work; and the contract employer must advise the host employer of any unanticipated hazardous conditions found during the contract employer's work that the host employer did not mention. The contract employer shall provide this information to the host employer within 2 working days after discovering the hazardous condition.

In job briefing the information provided by the employer in paragraphs 1910.269(1)(i) and 1926.952(a)(1) for construction and general industry, in assigning an employee or a group of employees to perform a job, the employer must provide the employee in charge of the job with all available information that relates to the determination of existing characteristics and conditions required.

For the engineering analyses to determine maximum anticipated per unit transient overvoltage in paragraphs 1910.269(l)(3)(ii) and 1926.960(c)(1)(ii) for construction and general industry, the employer must determine the maximum anticipated per-unit transient overvoltage, phase-to-ground, through an engineering analysis or assume a maximum anticipated per-unit transient overvoltage, phase-to-ground, in accordance with the tables listed. When the employer uses portable protective gaps to control the maximum transient overvoltage, the value of the maximum anticipated per-unit transient overvoltage, phase-to-ground, must provide for five standard deviations between the statistical sparkover voltage of the gap and the statistical withstand voltage corresponding to the electrical component of the minimum approach distance. The employer must make any engineering analysis conducted to determine maximum anticipated per-unit transient overvoltage available upon request to employees and to the Assistant Secretary or designee for examination and copying.

Electrical Protective Equipment Standard (§§ 1926.97 and 1910.137).

Testing Certification (§§ 1926.97(c)(2)(xii) and 1910.137(c)(2)(xii)).

Employers must certify that the electrical protective equipment used by their workers have passed the tests specified in paragraphs (c)(2)(vii)(D), (c)(2)(viii), (c)(2)(ix), and (c)(2)(xi) of the Standards. The certification must identify the equipment that passed the tests and the dates of the tests. The two standards require testing: periodically (generally, every 6 months for rubber insulating gloves and every 12 months for most other types of rubber insulating equipment); after any repairs; and before the equipment is returned to service after any inspection finds certain defects. In addition, the employer must test rubber insulating gloves before reuse after employees use them without protector gloves and must certify that testing. These performance-based standards ensure that employers maintain the most recent test records for equipment that passes the required test without specifying precisely how the employer must maintain those records.

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, and transmission techniques.

III. Proposed Actions

OSHA is requesting that OMB extends the approval of the information collection requirements specified in the Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution Standards for Construction and General Industry and the Electrical Protective Equipment Standards for Construction and General Industry. The agency is requesting an adjustment increase in burden from 380,735 to 394,614 hours, a difference of 13,879 hours. This increase in burden is due to an increase in the number of projects and an increase in the number of establishments.

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: Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution Standards for Construction and General Industry and Electrical Protective Equipment for Construction and General Industry.

OMB Control Number: 1218–0253.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profits.

Number of Respondents: 21,396.

Number of Responses: 2,067,172.

Frequency of Responses: On occasion.

Average Time per Response: Varies.

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 394,614.

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 https://www.regulations.gov, which is the Federal eRulemaking Portal; or (2) by facsimile (fax), if your comments, including attachments, are not longer than 10 pages you may fax them to the OSHA Docket Office at 202–693–1648. All comments, attachments, and other material must identify the agency name and the OSHA docket number for the ICR (OSHA–2017–0005). You may supplement electronic submission by uploading document files electronically.

Comments and submissions are posted without change at https://www.regulations.gov. Therefore, OSHA cautions commenters about submitting personal information such as social security numbers and dates of birth. Although all submissions are listed in the https://www.regulations.gov index, some information ( e.g., copyrighted material) is not publicly available to read or download from this website. All submission, including copyrighted material, are available for inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office. Information on using the https://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. 8–2020 (85 FR 58393).

Signed at Washington, DC, on March 18, 2024.

James S. Frederick,

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.