E9-14578. The Hexavalent Chromium 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 comment.

SUMMARY:

OSHA solicits comments concerning its proposal to extend OMB approval of the information collection requirements contained in the Hexavalent Chromium (VI) (29 CFR 1910.1026) Standard, and on a potential change to burden hour and cost estimates to the Standard's employee exposure notification requirement in response to a court remand.

DATES:

Comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent, or received) by August 21, 2009.

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 three copies of your comments and attachments to the OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. OSHA-2009-0015, 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 for the Information Collection Request (ICR) (OSHA-2009-0015). 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 Web site. All submissions, including copyrighted material, are available for inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office. You may contact Jamaa Hill at the address below to obtain a copy of the ICR.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jamaa N. Hill 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 (PRA-95) (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 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).

OSHA published the final rule governing occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium on February 28, 2006. The information collection requirements specified in the Chromium (VI) standard protect employees from the adverse health effects that may result from occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium. The major information collection requirements in the Standard include conducting employee exposure monitoring, notifying employees of their chromium (VI) exposures, implementing medical surveillance of employees, providing examining physicians with specific information, implementing a respiratory protection program, demarcating regulated areas, implementing employee information and training programs, notifying laundry personnel of chromium (VI) hazards, and maintaining employees' exposure monitoring and medical surveillance records for specific periods.

A number of parties subsequently challenged several provisions of the final CR(VI) standards in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (see Public Citizen and Edison Electric Institute v. U.S. Department of Labor, XX F.3d XXXX (3d Cir. 2009)). In its decision, the court found that OSHA failed to explain why the Cr(VI) standards require employee notification only of chromium exposures exceeding the permissible exposure limit, noting that prior health standards required notification of all exposure monitoring results. The court remanded the standards, and ordered OSHA to provide an explanation for not including notification of all exposure monitoring results, or to revise the standards appropriately. OSHA currently is considering how to respond to the court's remand order.

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 Chromium (VI) Standard (29 CFR 1910.1026).

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: Hexavalent Chromium Standard (29 CFR 1910.1026).

OMB Number: 1218-0252.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profits; Federal Government; State, Local, or Tribal Government.

Number of Respondents: 78,126.

Frequency of Response: On occasion.

Average Time per Response: Time per response ranges from 15 minutes (.25 hour) to notify employees of exposure monitoring results to 20 hours to conduct exposure monitoring.

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 725,319 hours.

Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $47,751,607.

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-2009-0015). 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 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 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

Jordan Barab, Acting 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. 5-2007 (72 FR 31160).

Signed at Washington, DC, this 17th day of June 2009.

Jordan Barab,

Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.