2011-9569. Powered Industrial Trucks 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.

SUMMARY:

OSHA solicits public comments concerning its proposal to extend OMB approval of the information collection requirements contained in the Powered Industrial Trucks Standard (29 CFR 1910.178). The information collection requirements address truck design, construction, and modification, as well as certification of training and evaluation for truck operators.

DATES:

Comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent, or received) by June 20, 2011.

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 [phone].

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-2011-0062, 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 OSHA docket number (OSHA-2011-0062) 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 through the website. All submissions, including copyrighted material, are available for inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office. You may also 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 [phone].

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 (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 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).

Paragraph (a)(4) of the Standard requires that employers obtain the manufacturer's written approval before modifying a truck in a manner that affects its capacity and safe operation; if the manufacturer grants such approval, the employer must revise capacity, operation, and maintenance instruction plates, tags, and decals accordingly. For front-end attachments not installed by the manufacturer, paragraph (a)(5) mandates that employers provide a marker on the trucks that identifies the attachment, as well as the weight of both the truck and the attachment when the attachment is at maximum elevation with a laterally centered load. Paragraph (a)(6) specifies that employers must ensure that the markers required by paragraphs (a)(3) through (a)(5) remain affixed to trucks and are legible.

Paragraphs (l)(1) through (l)(6) of the Standard contain the paperwork requirements necessary to certify the training provided to powered industrial truck operators. Accordingly, these paragraphs specify the following requirements for employers:

• Paragraph (l)(1)—Ensure that trainees successfully complete the training and evaluation requirements of paragraph (l) prior to operating a truck without direct supervision.
• Paragraph (l)(2)—Allow trainees to operate a truck only under the direct supervision of an individual with the knowledge, training, and experience to train operators and to evaluate their performance, and under conditions that do not endanger other employees. The training program must consist of formal instruction, practical training, and evaluation of the trainee's performance in the workplace.
• Paragraph (l)(3)—Provide the trainees with initial training on each of 22 specified topics, except on topics that the employer demonstrates do not apply to the safe operation of the truck(s) in the employer's workplace.
• Paragraphs (l)(4)(i) and (l)(4)(ii)—Administer refresher training and evaluation on relevant topics to operators found by observation or formal evaluation to have operated a truck unsafely, been involved in an accident or near-miss incident, or been assigned to operate another type of truck, or if the employer identifies a workplace condition that could affect safe truck operation.
• Paragraph (l)(4)(iii)—Evaluate each operator's performance at least once every three years.
• Paragraph (l)(5)—Train rehires only in specific topics that they performed unsuccessfully during an evaluation and that are appropriate to the employer's truck(s) and workplace conditions.
• Paragraph (l)(6)—Certify that each operator meets the training and evaluation requirements specified by paragraph (l). This certification must include the operator's name, the training date, the evaluation date, and the identity of the individual(s) who performed the training and evaluation.

Requiring labels (markings) of modified equipment notifies employees of the conditions under which they can safely operate powered industrial trucks, thereby preventing such hazards as fires and explosions caused by poorly designed electrical systems, rollovers/tipovers that result from exceeding a truck's stability characteristics, and falling loads that occur when loads exceed the lifting capacities of attachments. Certification of training and evaluation provides a means of informing employers that their employees received the training and demonstrated the performance necessary to operate a truck within its capacity and control limitations. Therefore, by ensuring that employees operate only trucks that are in proper working order, and do so safely, employers prevent possible severe injury or death of truck operators and other employees who are in the vicinity of the trucks. Finally, these paperwork requirements are the most efficient means for an OSHA compliance officer to determine that an employer properly notified employees regarding the design and construction of, and modifications made to, the trucks they are operating, and that their employer provided them with the required training.

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 is requesting that OMB extend its approval of the information collection requirements contained in the Standard on Powered Industrial Trucks (29 CFR 1910.178). The Agency is requesting an increase to its current burden hour estimate of 33,706 hours (from 854,538 hours to 888,244 hours). The increase is due to updated data indicating a rise in the number of powered industrial trucks from 1,134,699 to 1,179,441 and the number of operators from 1,702,048 to 1,769,162. The Agency will summarize the comments submitted in response to this notice and will include this summary in the request to OMB.

Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Title: Powered Industrial Trucks (29 CFR 1910.178).

OMB Number: 1218-0242.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profits.

Number of Respondents: 1,769,162.

Frequency: On occasion; annually; triennially.

Average Time per Response: Ranges from two minutes (.03 hour) to mark an approved truck to 6.50 hours to train new truck operators.

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 888,244.

Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $247,695.

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-2011-0062). 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 [phone], (TTY [phone]).

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 dates 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 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 through the Web site, and for assistance in using the Internet to locate docket submissions.

V. Authority and Signature

David Michaels, PhD, 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. 4-2010 (72 FR 55355).

Signed at Washington, DC, on April 15, 2011.

David Michaels,

Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.