[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 78 (Friday, April 22, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23702-23704]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-09398]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[30Day-16-0980]
Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has submitted
the following information collection request to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The notice for the proposed
information collection is published to obtain comments from the public
and affected agencies.
Written comments and suggestions from the public and affected
agencies concerning the proposed collection of information are
encouraged. Your comments should address any of the following: (a)
Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary
for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including
whether the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the
accuracy of the agencies estimate of the burden of the proposed
collection of information, including the validity of the methodology
and assumptions used; (c) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of
the information to be collected; (d) Minimize the burden of the
collection of information on those who are to respond, including
through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or
other technological collection techniques or other forms of information
technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses; and
(e) Assess information collection costs.
To request additional information on the proposed project or to
obtain a copy of the information collection plan and instruments, call
(404) 639-7570 or
[[Page 23703]]
send an email to [email protected]. Direct written comments and/or
suggestions regarding the items contained in this notice to the
Attention: CDC Desk Officer, Office of Management and Budget,
Washington, DC 20503 or by fax to (202) 395-5806. Written comments
should be received within 30 days of this notice.
Proposed Project
National Environmental Assessment Reporting System (NEARS),
formerly the National Voluntary Environmental Assessment Information
System (NVEAIS)--Revision--National Center for Environmental Health
(NCEH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Background and Brief Description
Since 2014, environmental factor data associated with foodborne
outbreaks have been reported to the National Voluntary Environmental
Assessment Information System (NVEAIS; OMB Control No. 0920-0980;
expiration date 08/31/2016). CDC is requesting a three-year Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) revision for NVEAIS, hereafter referred to
as the National Environmental Assessment Reporting System (NEARS). In
2015, it was recommended that NVEAIS be renamed as NEARS. This name
change will be an enhancement of the current surveillance system and
was recommended by CDC leadership, and other food safety partners who
desired to simplify and improve the name.
The goal of NEARS remains to collect data on foodborne illness
outbreaks and environmental assessments routinely conducted by local,
state, federal, territorial, or tribal food safety programs during
outbreak investigations. The data reported through this surveillance
system provides timely data on the causes of outbreaks, including
environmental factors associated with outbreaks, which are essential to
environmental public health regulators' efforts to respond more
effectively to outbreaks and prevent future, similar outbreaks.
NEARS was developed by the Environmental Health Specialists Network
(EHS-Net), a collaborative network of CDC, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and
local, state, territorial, and tribal food safety programs. NEARS is
designed to link to CDC's National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS,
under the National Disease Surveillance Program II--Disease Summaries;
OMB Control No. 0920-0004; expiration date 10/31/2017), a disease
outbreak surveillance system for enteric diseases transmitted by food.
When linked, NEARS and NORS data provide opportunities to
strengthen the robustness of outbreak data reported to CDC. The
foodborne outbreak environmental assessment data reported to NEARS will
be used to characterize data on food vehicles and monitor trends;
identify contributing factors and their environmental antecedents;
generate hypotheses, guide planning, and implementation; evaluate food
safety programs, and ultimately assist to prevent future outbreaks.
Collectively, these data play a vital role in improving the food safety
system, strengthening the robustness of outbreak data reported to CDC.
The first type of NEARS respondent is food safety program
officials. Although not a requirement, food safety program personnel
participating in NEARS will be encouraged to take two trainings: NEARS
food safety program personnel training and NEARS e-learning. The former
will train food safety personnel on identifying environmental factors,
logging in and entering data into the web-based NEARS data entry
system, and troubleshooting problems. The latter is an e-Learning
course on how to use a systems approach in foodborne illness outbreak
environmental assessments. It is suggested that respondents take this
training one time, for a total of 10 hours.
Next, for each outbreak, one official from each participating
program will spend a little over an hour to make establishment
observations, 30 minutes to record environmental assessment data, and
40 minutes for data entry for both NEARS's surveys into the web-based
system. Officials will not report on their programs or personnel.
Food safety programs are typically located in public health or
agriculture agencies. There are approximately 3,000 such agencies in
the United States. It is not possible to determine exactly how many
outbreaks will occur in the future, nor where they will occur. However,
based on existing data, we estimate a maximum of 1,400 foodborne
illness outbreaks will occur annually. Only programs in the
jurisdictions in which these outbreaks occur would voluntarily report
to NEARS. Thus, not every program will respond every year. We assume
each outbreak will occur in a different jurisdiction.
The second type of NEARS respondents are managers of retail
establishments. The manager interview will be conducted at each
establishment associated with an outbreak. Most outbreaks are
associated with only one establishment. We estimate that a maximum
average of four managers at each establishment will be interviewed per
outbreak. Each interview will take about 20 minutes.
The total estimated annual burden is 20,300 hours, an increase of
14,233 hours over the previously approved 6,067 burden hours. This
increase in requested burden hours is due to the addition of the NEARS
e-learning training opportunity.
There is no cost to the respondents other than their time.
Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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Average
Number of Number of burden per
Type of respondents Form name respondents responses per response
respondent (in hours)
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Food safety program personnel............ NEARS Food Safety Program 1,400 1 2
Training.
NEARS e-Learning (screen 1,400 1 10
shots).
NEARS Data Recording (paper 1,400 1 30/60
form).
NEARS Data Recording and 1,400 1 40/60
Manager Interview Web
Entry.
Retail food personnel.................... NEARS Manager Interview.... 5,600 1 20/60
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[[Page 23704]]
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. 2016-09398 Filed 4-21-16; 8:45 am]
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