[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 16 (Friday, January 24, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4180-4181]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-01357]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
[Docket No. OSHA-2010-0064]
OSHA-7 Form (``Notice of Alleged Safety and Health Hazard'');
Extension of the Office of Management and Budget's Approval of
Information Collection (Paperwork) Requirements
AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.
ACTION: Request for public comments.
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SUMMARY: OSHA solicits public comments concerning its proposal to
extend the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval of the
information collection requirements specified in the OSHA-7 Form.
DATES: Comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent or received) by
March 25, 2014.
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 (202) 693-
1648.
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-2010-0064, 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., ET.
Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name and the
OSHA docket number (OSHA-2010-0064) 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 materials in the
docket, go to http://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
publically available to read or download from 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: Todd Owen or Theda Kenney, Directorate
of Standards and Guidance, OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-3909,
200 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20210; telephone (202) 693-
2222.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to reduce
paperwork and respondent (i.e., workers filing occupational safety or
health complaints) burden, conducts a preclearance consultation program
to provide the public with an opportunity to comment on proposed and
continuing information collection requirements in accord 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 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 extent feasible
unnecessary duplication of efforts in obtaining information (29 U.S.C.
657).
Under paragraphs (a) and (c) of 29 CFR 1903.11 (``Complaints by
employees'') workers and their representatives may notify the OSHA area
director or an OSHA compliance officer of safety and health hazards
regulated by the Agency that they believe exist in their workplaces at
any time. These provisions state further that this notification must be
in writing and ``shall set forth with reasonable particularity the
grounds for the notice, and shall be signed by the employee or
representative of the employee.''
In addition to providing specific hazard information to the Agency,
paragraph (a) permits workers/worker representatives to request an
inspection of the workplace. Paragraph (c) also addresses situations in
which workers/worker representatives may provide the information
directly to the OSHA compliance officer during an inspection. An
employer's former workers may also submit complaints to the Agency.
To address the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (c), especially
the requirement that the information be in writing, the Agency
developed the OSHA-7 Form; this form standardized and simplified the
hazard reporting process. For paragraph (a), they may complete an OSHA-
7 Form obtained from the Agency's Web site and then send it to OSHA
online, or deliver a hardcopy of the form to the OSHA area office by
mail or facsimile, or by hand. They may also write a letter containing
the information and hand deliver it to the area office, or send it by
mail or facsimile. In addition, they may provide the information orally
to the OSHA area office or another party (e.g., a federal safety and
health committee for federal workers), in which case the area office or
other party completes the hard copy version of the form. For the
typical situation addressed by paragraph (c), a worker/worker
representative informs an OSHA compliance officer orally of the alleged
hazard during an inspection, and the compliance officer then
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completes the hard copy version of the OSHA-7 Form; occasionally, the
worker/worker representative provides the compliance officer with the
information on the hard copy version of the OSHA-7 Form.
The information on the hard copy version of the OSHA-7 Form
includes information about the employer and alleged hazards, including:
the establishment's name; the site's address and telephone and
facsimile numbers; the name and telephone number of the management
official; the type of business; a description and the specific location
of the hazards, including the approximate number of workers exposed or
threatened by the hazards; and whether or not the worker/worker
representative informed another government agency about the hazards
(and the name of the agency if so informed).
Additional information on the hard copy version of the form
concerns the complainant including: whether or not the complaintant is
a worker or a worker representative, or for information provided
orally, a member of a federal safety and health committee or another
party (with space to specify the party); the complainant's name,
telephone number, and address; and the complainant's signature
attesting that they believe a violation of an OSHA standard exists at
the named establishment; and the date of the signature. A worker
representative must also provide the name of the organization they
represent and their title.
The information contained in the online version of the OSHA-7 Form
is similar to the hard copy version. However, the online version
requests the complainant's email address, and does not ask for the
site's facsimile number or the complainant's signature and signature
date.
The Agency uses the information collected on the OSHA-7 Form to
determine whether reasonable grounds exist to conduct an inspection of
the workplace. The description of the hazards, including the number of
exposed workers, allows the Agency to assess the severity of the
hazards and the need to expedite the inspection. The completed form
also provides the employer with notice of the complaint and may serve
as the basis for obtaining a search warrant if the employer denies the
Agency access to the workplace.
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 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 relating to the OSHA-7 Form. The Agency is
requesting an increase in burden hours from 13,414 to 13,659 (a total
increase of 245 burden hours). The Agency will summarize the comments
submitted in response to this notice and will include this summary in
the request to OMB to extend the approval of the information collection
requirements.
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
Title: Notice of Alleged Safety and Health Hazards, OSHA-7 Form.
OMB Control Number: 1218-0064.
Affected Public: Individuals or households.
Number of Responses: 50,641.
Frequency of Responses: On occasion.
Average Time per Response: Varies from 15 minutes (.25 hour) to
communicate the required information orally to the Agency to 25 minutes
(.42 hour) to provide the information in writing and send it to OSHA.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 13,659.
Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $532
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://regulations.gov, which is the Federal
eRulemaking Portal; (2) by facsimile (fax); or (3) by hard copy. All
comments, attachments, and other materials must identify the Agency
name and the OSHA docket number for the ICR (Docket No. OSHA-2010-
0064). 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 (202) 693-2350, (TTY (877) 889-5627).
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 publically available to read or download from 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 from the Web site, and for assistance in using the Internet
to locate docket submissions.
V. Authority and Signature
David Michaels, Ph.D., 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. 1-2012
(77 FR 3912, January 25, 2012).
Signed at Washington, DC, on January 17, 2014.
David Michaels,
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 2014-01357 Filed 1-23-14; 8:45 am]
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