[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 202 (Monday, October 20, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62624-62625]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-24880]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[60Day-15-15BM]
Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and
Recommendations
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of
its continuing effort to reduce public burden, invites the general
public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment
on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. To request more information on the
below proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information
collection plan and instruments, call 404-639-7570 or send comments to
Leroy A. Richardson, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-D74, Atlanta, GA 30333 or
send an email to [email protected].
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and/or included in the request for Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) approval. Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of
the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of
the burden of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be
collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of
information on respondents, including through the use of automated
collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and (e)
estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation,
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information. Burden
means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by
persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose or provide information
to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time needed to review
instructions; to develop, acquire, install and utilize technology and
systems for the purpose of collecting, validating and verifying
information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and
providing information; to train personnel and to be able to respond to
a collection of information, to search data sources, to complete and
review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise
disclose the information. Written comments should be received within 60
days of this notice.
Proposed Project
Assessing the Impact of Organizational and Personal Antecedents on
Proactive Health/Safety Decision Making--New--National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
Background and Brief Description
NIOSH, under Public Law 91-596, Sections 20 and 22 (Section 20-22,
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1977) has the responsibility to
conduct research relating to innovative methods, techniques, and
approaches dealing with occupational safety and health problems.
This research relates to the interplay of personal, organizational,
and cultural influences on risk-taking and proactive decision-making
behaviors among mine workers. Proactive behavior refers to taking
initiative to improve current conditions, adapting to present
conditions, being self-starting and taking charge, and overcoming
barriers to being safer. However, the antecedents, or characteristics,
that impact these behaviors are not well understood in mining.
Understanding the degree to which antecedents influence decisions can
inform the focus of future health and safety management interventions.
NIOSH proposes a project that seeks to empirically understand the
factors and conditions that contribute to mine workers' safe decisions
(or lack thereof) while completing job tasks. The following question
guides this study:
What are the most important organizational and personal antecedent
characteristics needed to support worker health and safety (H&S)
performance behaviors in the mining industry?
To answer the above question, NIOSH researchers developed a
psychometrically supported survey. Researchers identified seven worker
perception-based `organizational values' and four `personal
characteristics' that are presumed to be important in fostering H&S
knowledge, motivation, proactive behaviors, and safety
[[Page 62625]]
outcomes. Because these emergent, worker perception-based constructs
have a theoretical and empirical history, psychometrically tested items
exist for each of them.
The organizational values found to positively impact proactive
safety/health behavior at work include:
Supervisor Support: The degree to which supervisors value
workers' contribution to the organization and care about their personal
wellbeing.
Supervisory Detection of Safety Behaviors: The degree to
which supervisors emphasize the health and safety of their workers
during job tasks.
Organizational Detection of Safety Behaviors: The degree
of priority assigned to safety within the organization.
Perception of Adequate Safety Training: The degree to
which employees are provided occupational safety training that covers
aspects of safety-related knowledge, competence, and behavior.
Employee Involvement: The degree to which the organization
is willing to involve workers in decision-making processes about
procedures that influence their work.
Vertical Communication: The degree to which downward
sharing of safety information occurs as well as the ease with which
workers can communicate with their supervisors and managers about
workplace H&S issues.
Horizontal Communication: The degree to which employees
communicate with and trust their coworkers.
The personal characteristics found to influence safety/health
proactive work behavior include:
Change Orientation: The degree to which an individual
feels that he or she is personally obligated to bring about
constructive change.
Locus of Control: The extent to which people attribute
rewards at work to their own behavior.
Conscientiousness: The degree of self-discipline workers
possess related to their safety/health work tasks.
Risk Propensity: The individuals' general tendency to
engage in risks/risky situations at work.
Even though all scales used to complete the survey were deemed
valid, NIOSH researchers will revalidate each scale to ensure that
measurement is valid. A quantitative approach, via a short survey,
allows for prioritization, based on statistical significance, of the
antecedents that have the most critical influence on proactive
behaviors. Data collection will take place with approximately 800 mine
workers over three years. The respondents targeted for this study
include any active mine worker at a mine site, both surface and
underground. It is estimated that a sample of up to 800 surveys will be
collected from participants at various mining operations which have
agreed to participate. All participants will be between the ages of 18
and 75, currently employed, and living in the United States.
Participation will require no more than 20 minutes of workers' time (5
minutes for consent and 15 minutes for the survey). The total estimated
annualized burden hours are 90. There is no cost to respondents other
than their time.
Upon collection of the data, it will be used to answer what
organizational/personal characteristics have the biggest impact on
proactive and compliant health and safety behaviors. Dominance and
relative weights analysis will be used as the data analysis method to
statistically rank order the importance of predictors in numerous
regression contexts. Safety proactive and safety compliance will serve
as the dependent variables in these regression analyses, with the
organizational and personal characteristics as independent variables.
Findings will be used to improve the safety and health
organizational values and focus of mine organizations, as executed
through their health and safety management system for mitigating health
and safety risks at their mine site. Specifically, if organizations are
lacking in values that are of high importance among employees, site
leadership knows where to focus new, innovative methods, techniques,
and approaches to dealing with their occupational safety and health
problems. Finally, the data can be directly compared to data from other
mine organizations that are administered the same standardized methods
to provide broader context for areas in which the mining industry can
focus more attention if trying to encourage safer work behavior.
Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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Number of Average burden
Type of respondent Form name Number of responses per per response Total burden
respondents respondent (in hours) hours
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Safety/health Mine Operator... Mine Recruitment 10 1 5/60 1
Script.
Mine Worker................... Individual Miner 266 1 5/60 22
Recruitment
Script.
Mine Worker................... Survey.......... 266 1 15/60 67
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Total..................... ................ .............. .............. .............. 90
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Leroy A. Richardson,
Chief, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific
Integrity, Office of the Associate Director for Science, Office of the
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2014-24880 Filed 10-17-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P