[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 235 (Friday, December 6, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73504-73506]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-29148]
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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION
[Docket No. CPSC-2010-0055]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Standard for the Flammability of Mattresses and
Mattress Pads and Standard for the Flammability (Open Flame) of
Mattress Sets
AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
Chapter 35), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or
Commission) requests comments on a proposed extension of approval of a
collection of information from manufacturers and importers of
mattresses and mattress pads. The collection of information is set
forth in the Standard for the Flammability of Mattresses and Mattress
Pads, 16 CFR part 1632 and the Standard for the Flammability (Open
Flame) of Mattress Sets, 16 CFR part 1633. These regulations establish
testing and recordkeeping requirements for manufacturers and importers
subject to the standards. The Commission will consider all comments
received in response to this notice, before requesting an extension of
approval of this collection of information from the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB).
DATES: The Office of the Secretary must receive comments not later than
February 4, 2014.
[[Page 73505]]
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2010-
0055, by any of the following methods:
Electronic Submissions
Submit electronic comments in the following way:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
The Commission is no longer accepting comments submitted by
electronic mail (email), except through www.regulations.gov.
Written Submissions
Submit written submissions in the following way:
Mail/Hand delivery/Courier (for paper, disk, or CD-ROM
submissions), preferably in five copies, to: Office of the Secretary,
Consumer Product Safety Commission, Room 820, 4330 East West Highway,
Bethesda, MD 20814; telephone (301) 504-7923.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name
and docket number for this notice. All comments received may be posted
without change, including any personal identifiers, contact
information, or other personal information provided, to http://www.regulations.gov. Do not submit confidential business information,
trade secret information, or other sensitive or protected information
electronically. Such information should be submitted in writing.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information contact:
Robert H. Squibb, Consumer Product Safety Commission, 4330 East West
Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; (301) 504-7815, or by email to:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Background
There are approximately 671 establishments producing mattresses:
Approximately 571 produce conventional mattresses and approximately 100
establishments produce nonconventional mattresses (such as futons,
sleep sofa inserts, hybrid water mattresses) in the United States. The
Standard for the Flammability of Mattresses and Mattress Pads, 16 CFR
part 1632, (part 1632 standard) was promulgated under section 4 of the
Flammable Fabrics Act (FFA), 15 U.S.C. 1193, to reduce unreasonable
risks of burn injuries and deaths from fires associated with mattresses
and mattress pads. The part 1632 standard prescribes requirements to
test whether a mattress or mattress pad will resist ignition from a
smoldering cigarette. The part 1632 standard requires manufacturers to
perform prototype tests of each combination of materials and
construction methods used to produce mattresses or mattress pads and to
obtain acceptable results from such testing. Manufacturers and
importers must maintain the records and test results specified under
the standard. OMB previously approved the collection of information
under control number 3041-0014, with an expiration date of December 31,
2013.
The Commission also promulgated the Standard for the Flammability
(Open Flame) of Mattress Sets, 16 CFR part 1633, (part 1633 standard)
under section 4 of the FFA to reduce deaths and injuries related to
mattress fires, particularly those ignited by open flame sources, such
as lighters, candles, and matches. The part 1633 standard requires
manufacturers to maintain certain records to document compliance with
the standard, including maintaining records concerning prototype
testing, pooling, and confirmation testing, and quality assurance
procedures and any associated testing. The required records must be
maintained for as long as mattress sets based on the prototype are in
production and must be retained for three years thereafter. Although
some larger manufacturers may produce mattresses based on more than 100
prototypes, most mattress manufacturers base their complying production
on 15 to 20 prototypes. OMB previously approved the collection of
information for 16 CFR part 1633 under Control Number 3041-0133, with
an expiration date of May 31, 2016. The information collection
requirements under the part 1633 standard do not duplicate the testing
and recordkeeping requirements under the part 1632 standard.
Because the collection of information required under the part 1632
and part 1633 standards relate to reducing fire hazards associated with
mattresses and mattress pads, the Commission now proposes to request an
extension of approval for the collection of information for both
standards under a single control number, 3041-0014.
B. Burden Hours
Respondents' Costs
For testing and recordkeeping under the part 1632 standard, based
on data collected from the rulemaking proceeding, CPSC staff estimates
that 671 respondents will each spend 26 hours for testing and
recordkeeping annually for a total of 17,446 hours (671 establishments
x 26 hours). Staff bases the hourly compensation for the time required
for a technical employee to test prototypes and record test results on
an hourly compensation of $61.80 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,
``Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,'' June 2013, Table 9, total
compensation of all management, professional, and related occupations
in goods-producing industries: http://www.bls.gov/ncs). Staff estimates
the annualized cost to respondents would be $1,078,162 (17,446 hours x
$61.80).
In addition, under the part 1633 standard, based on data collected
from the rulemaking proceeding, CPSC staff estimates additional testing
and recordkeeping requirements will take approximately 4 hours and 44
minutes per establishment, per qualified prototype. Assuming that
establishments qualify their production with an average of 20 different
qualified prototypes, about 94.6 hours (4.73 hours x 20 prototypes) per
establishment per year would be required for testing and recordkeeping
for the part 1633 standard. (Note that pooling among establishments or
using a prototype qualification for longer than one year will reduce
this estimate.) This translates to an annual recordkeeping time cost to
all mattress producers of 63,477 hours (671 establishments x 94.6
hours) for the part 1633 standard. Based on an hourly compensation for
the time required of $61.80 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,
``Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,'' June 2013, Table 9, total
compensation of all management, professional, and related occupations
in goods-producing industries: http://www.bls.gov/ncs), total estimated
costs for recordkeeping for both mattress standards are about $3.9
million (63,477 hours x $61.80).
Thus, the total cost to the estimated 671 respondents for the
information collection requirements under 16 CFR part 1632 and 16 CFR
part1633 is estimated to be approximately $4.9 million.
Federal Government's Costs
The estimated annual cost of the information collection
requirements to the federal government to review 16 CFR part 1632 is
approximately $101,890. This sum includes 10 staff months and travel
costs expended for examination of the information in records required
to be maintained by the part 1632 standard. This estimate is based on
an annual wage of $84,855 (the equivalent of a GS-12 Step 5 employee)
with an additional 30.6 percent added
[[Page 73506]]
for benefits (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ``Employer Costs for
Employee Compensation,'' June 2013, Table 1, percentage of wages and
salaries for all civilian management, professional, and related
employees) for total annual compensation $122,269 per full time
employee.
The estimated annual cost of information collection requirements to
the federal government to review 16 CFR part 1633 is approximately
$2,939. This represents 50 staff hours for record review. This estimate
uses an average hourly wage of $40.80 (the equivalent of a GS-12 Step 5
employee) with an additional 30.6 percent added for benefits (U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, ``Employer Costs for Employee
Compensation,'' June 2013, Table 1, percentage of wages and salaries
for all civilian management, professional, and related employees) for
total hourly compensation $58.78.
Staff estimates the total cost to the federal government for
information collections for both mattress standards is $104,829.
C. Request for Comments
The Commission solicits written comments from all interested
persons about the proposed collection of information. The Commission
specifically solicits information relevant to the following topics:
Whether the collection of information described above is
necessary for the proper performance of the Commission's functions,
including whether the information would have practical utility;
Whether the estimated burden of the proposed collection of
information is accurate;
Whether the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected could be enhanced; and
Whether the burden imposed by the collection of
information could be minimized by use of automated, electronic or other
technological collection techniques, or other forms of information
technology.
Dated: December 3, 2013.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2013-29148 Filed 12-5-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P