2019-19356. Personal Protective Equipment for General Industry; Extension for the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Approval of the Information Collection (Paperwork) Requirements

AGENCY:

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.

ACTION:

Request for public comments.

SUMMARY:

OSHA solicits comments concerning this proposal to extend the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval of the information collection requirements contained in the Personal Protective Equipment Standard for General Industry.

DATES:

Comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent, or received) by November 8, 2019.

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-2009-0028, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Room N-3653, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20210. Deliveries (hand, express mail, messenger, and courier service) are accepted during the OSHA Docket Office's normal business hours, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., ET.

Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and OSHA docket number for the ICR (OSHA-2009-0028) 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 above address. 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 contact Theda Kenney at the phone number below to obtain a copy of the ICR.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Seleda Perryman, Directorate of Standards and Guidance, OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, DC 20210; telephone [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

The Department of Labor, as part of a 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).

Subpart I specifies several paperwork requirements. The following describes the information collection requirements in subpart I and addresses who will use the information.

Hazard Assessment and Verification (§ 1910.132(d) & (g))

Paragraph 1910.132(d)(1) and the Personal Fall Protection standard require that employers perform a hazard assessment of the workplace to determine whether hazards are present, or likely to be present, that make the use of PPE necessary.^[1] Where such hazards are present, employers must select and have each affected worker use PPE that protects them from the identified hazards (§ 1910.132(d)(1)(i)), and communicate PPE selection decisions to each affected worker (§ 1910.132(d)(1)(ii)).

Paragraph 1910.132(d)(2) requires that employers certify in writing they have performed the required hazard assessment. The certification must include the date, the name of the person certifying that the hazard assessment was conducted, and identification of the workplace evaluated (area or location). The Personal Fall Protection standard expands the hazard assessment requirement to personal fall protection systems (§ 1910.132(g)).

Conducting a PPE hazard assessment ensures that potential workplace hazards necessitating PPE use have been identified and that the PPE selected is appropriate for those hazards and the affected workers. Communicating information on PPE selection decisions to affected workers ensures they are aware that the PPE selected will protect them from the hazards that the assessment identified. The certification of the hazard assessment verifies that employers have conducted the required assessment.

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 approval of the information collection requirements contained in the Personal Protective Equipment Standard for General Industry (29 CFR part 1910, subpart I). OSHA is proposing to decrease the burden hours in the currently approved information collection request from 3,745,218 hours to 3,673,168, a total adjustment decrease of 72,050 hours. This decrease is due to updated data showing a decrease in the number of establishments using fall protection systems by the standard. 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: Personal Protective Equipment for General Industry (PPE) (29 CFR part 1910, subpart I).

OMB Number: 1218-0205.

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

Number of Respondents: 3,039,775.

Frequency of Response: On occasion.

Average Time per Response: Various.

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 3,673,168.

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 (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-2009-0028). 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 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 for information about materials not available through the website, and for assistance in using the internet to locate docket submissions.

V. Authority and Signature

Loren Sweatt, Principal 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 at Washington, DC, on September 3, 2019.

Loren Sweatt,

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.

Footnotes

1.  Section 1910.132(g) specifies that the hazard assessment (§ 1910.132(d)) requirements only apply to PPE for the eyes, face, head, feet, and hands. The final rule revised § 1910.132(g) to also apply the hazard assessment requirement to personal fall protection systems.