2017-06767. 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 its request for an extension of the collections of information specified in its standards on the Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution 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 June 5, 2017.

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-2017-0005, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-3653, 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, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., e.t.

Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name and OSHA docket number (OSHA-2017-0005) 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 Web site. All submissions, including copyrighted material, are available for inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office. You may 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 collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (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 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 efforts in obtaining information (29 U.S.C. 657).

The Electrical Protective Equipment Standard (29 CFR 1926.97 and 29 CFR 1910.137) and the Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution Standard (29 CFR 1926 and 29 CFR 1910.269) specify several collections of information. The following describes the collections of information contained in the standards and addresses who will use the information.

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 tests without specifying precisely how the employer must maintain those records.

Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution Standard (§§ 1926.950 and 1910.269)

Host Employer Responsibilities (§§ 1926.950(c)(1) and 1910.269(a)(3)(i))

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, and that is related to the protection of the contract employer's employees.

Contract Employer Responsibilities (§§ 1926.950(c)(2) and 1910.269(a)(3)(ii))

Contract employers must ensure that each of its 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 two working days after discovering the hazardous condition.

Job Briefing (§§ 1926.952(a)(1) and 1910.269(c)(1)(i))

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 by (§§ 1926.950(d) and1910.269(a)(4)).

Engineering Analyses To Determine Maximum Anticipated Per-Unit Transient Overvoltage (§§ 1926.960(c)(1)(ii) and 1910.269(l)(3)(ii))

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 available upon request to employees and to the Assistant Secretary or designee for examination and copying; any engineering analysis conducted to determine maximum anticipated per-unit transient overvoltage.

II. Special Issues for Comment

OSHA has a particular interest in comments on the following issues:

• Whether the proposed collections of information 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 collections of information, 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 collections of information contained in the Standards on Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution for Construction and General Industry (29 CFR part 1926, subpart V and 29 CFR 1910.269) and the Electrical Protective Equipment Standards for Construction and General Industry (29 CFR 1926.97 and 29 CFR 1910.137). The Agency is proposing to decrease the burden hours in the currently approved information collection request from 452,091 hours to 365,094 hours (a total decrease of 86,997 hours). The decrease is a result of a determination that the estimated number of establishments affected has declined. Also, the decrease is due to the removal of burden hours associated with OSHA requests to access records from employers. Usually, OSHA requests access to records during an inspection. Information collected by the Agency during the investigation is not subject to the PRA under 5 CFR 1320.4(a)(2). Therefore, OSHA takes no burden or cost for OSHA requests to access records in this Supporting Statement. The Agency will summarize the comments submitted in response to this notice, and will include this summary in its request to OMB.

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

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

OMB Control Number: 1218-0253.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profits.

Number of Respondents: 19,746.

Total Responses: 952,348.

Frequency of Responses: On occasion; semi-annually; annually.

Average Time per Response: Various.

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 365,094.

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-2017-0005). 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 that 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

Dorothy Dougherty, 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 March 28, 2017.

Dorothy Dougherty,

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.