80 FR 50325 - Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) Standard; Extension of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Approval of Information Collection (Paperwork) Requirements

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 160 (August 19, 2015)

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 Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) Standard (29 CFR 1910.120).

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 160 (Wednesday, August 19, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50325-50326]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-20470]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

[Docket No. OSHA-2011-0862]


Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) 
Standard; Extension of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) 
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 Hazardous Waste 
Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) Standard (29 CFR 
1910.120).

DATES: Comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent, or received) by 
October 19, 2015.

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 your comments and attachments 
to the OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. OSHA-2011-0862, 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-2011-0862) 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 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 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 also may contact Theda Kenney at 
the address below to obtain a copy of the ICR.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Theda Kenney or Todd Owen, Directorate 
of Standards and Guidance, OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-3609, 
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., employer) 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 maximum extent feasible

[[Page 50326]]

unnecessary duplication of efforts in obtaining information (29 U.S.C. 
657).
    The HAZWOPER Standard specifies a number of collection of 
information (paperwork) requirements. Employers can use the information 
collected under the HAZWOPER rule to develop the various programs the 
Standard requires and to ensure that their workers are trained properly 
about the safety and health hazards associated with hazardous waste 
operations and emergency response to hazardous waste releases. OSHA 
will use the records developed in response to this Standard to 
determine adequate compliance with the Standard's safety and health 
provisions. The employer's failure to collect and distribute the 
information required in this standard will affect significantly OSHA's 
effort to control and reduce injuries and fatalities. Such failure 
would also be contrary to the direction Congress provided in The 
Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA).

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 the 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 the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
extend the approval of the collection of information (paperwork) 
requirements contained in the standard on Hazardous Waste Operations 
and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) (29 CFR 1910.120). The Agency is 
requesting an adjustment decrease of 988 burden hours from the previous 
submission (from 262,539 hours to 261,551 hours). This adjustment is 
due primarily to a slight decline in the number of emergency response 
organizations from 30,125 to 30,052 (a decline of 73 organizations).
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Title: Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) 
Standard (29 CFR 1910.120).
    OMB Control Number: 1218-0202.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits; Not-for-profit 
organizations; Federal Government; State, Local, or Tribal Government.
    Number of Respondents: 30,052.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion.
    Total Responses: 1,440,759.
    Average Time per Response: Time per response varies from one minute 
(.02 hour) to maintain a certification record to 23 hours to prepare a 
written safety and health program.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 261,551.
    Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $3,124,960.

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; or (3) by hard copy. All 
comments, attachments, and other material must identify the Agency name 
and the OSHA docket number for this ICR (Docket No. OSHA-2011-0862). 
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 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 August 13, 2015.
David Michaels,
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 2015-20470 Filed 8-18-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4510-26-P