[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 17 (Wednesday, January 27, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4672-4673]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-01537]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
[Docket No. OSHA-2011-0197]
Occupational Safety and Health State Plans; Extension of the
Office of Management and Budget's (OMB'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 request for an
extension of the OMB's approval of the collections of information
associated with its regulations and program regarding State Plans for
the development and enforcement of state occupational safety and health
standards (29 CFR parts 1902, 1953, 1954 and 1956).
DATES: Comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent, or received) by
March 28, 2016.
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 these methods, you must submit a copy of your comments and
attachments to the OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. OSHA-2011-0197,
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of
Labor, 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. e.t.
Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name and the
OSHA docket number (OSHA-2011-0197) 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 from the Web site. All submissions,
including copyrighted material, are available for inspection and
copying at the OSHA Docket Office. You may also contact Douglas
Kalinowski at the address below to obtain a copy of the ICR.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Douglas Kalinowski, Directorate of
Cooperative and State Programs, Occupational Safety and Health
Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-3700, 200 Constitution
Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20210; telephone: (202) 693-1978; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to reduce
paperwork and respondent (i.e., the State Plans) 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 minimized, collection instruments are understandable, and OSHA's
estimate of the information collection burden is accurate. Currently,
OSHA is soliciting comments concerning the extension of the information
collection requirements contained in the series of regulations
establishing requirements for the submission, initial approval,
continuing approval, final approval, monitoring, and evaluation of
OSHA-approved State Plans:
29 CFR part 1902, State Plans for the Development and
Enforcement of State Standards;
29 CFR part 1953, Changes to State Plans for the
Development and Enforcement of State Standards;
29 CFR part 1954, Procedures for the Evaluation and
Monitoring of Approved State Plans; and
29 CFR part 1956, State Plans for the Development and
Enforcement of State Standards Applicable to State and Local Government
Employees in States Without Approved Private Employee Plans.
Section 18 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (29 U.S.C.
667) offers an opportunity to the states to assume responsibility for
the development and enforcement of state standards through the
mechanism of an OSHA-approved State Plan. Absent an approved plan,
states are precluded from enforcing occupational safety and health
standards in the private sector with respect to any issue for which
Federal OSHA has promulgated a standard. Once approved and operational,
the state adopts standards and provides most occupational safety and
health enforcement and compliance assistance in the state under the
authority of its plan, instead of Federal OSHA. States also must extend
their jurisdiction to cover state and local government employees and
may obtain approval of State Plans limited in scope to these workers.
To obtain and maintain State Plan approval, a state must submit various
documents to OSHA describing its program structure and operation,
including any modifications thereto as they occur, in accordance with
the identified regulations. OSHA funds 50 percent of the costs required
to be incurred by an approved State Plan, with the state at least
matching and providing additional funding at its discretion.
II. Special Issues for Comment
OSHA has a particular interest in comments on the following issues:
[ssquf] Whether the proposed information collection requirements
are necessary for the proper performance of the
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Agency's functions, including whether the information is useful;
[ssquf] 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;
[ssquf] The quality, utility, and clarity of the information
collected; and
[ssquf] Ways to minimize the burden on participating states 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 collection
of information requirements associated with its State Plan regulations.
The Agency is requesting an adjustment increase to adjust the number of
burden hours associated with the developmental steps necessary for
states in the developmental process, including Maine, Illinois and the
Virgin Islands. Maine received initial approval on August 5, 2015 and
has been moved to the developmental category. As a result, the total
burden hours have increased slightly from 11,369 to 11,519 burden hours
(an increase of 150 burden hours). 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 collection.
Title: Occupational Safety and Health State Plans.
OMB Control Number: 1218-0247.
Affected Public: Designated state government agencies that are
seeking or have submitted and obtained approval for State Plans for the
development and enforcement of occupational safety and health.
standards.
Number of Respondents: 28.
Frequency of Response: On occasion; quarterly; annually.
Total Responses: 1,309.
Average Time per Response: Varies from 30 minutes (.5 hour) to
respond to an information inquiry to 80 hours to document state annual
performance goals.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 11,519.
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-2011-0197). 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 OSHA 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 their social security number
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 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).
Signed at Washington, DC, on January 21, 2016.
David Michaels,
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 2016-01537 Filed 1-26-16; 8:45 am]
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