81 FR 47440 - Asbestos in General Industry; Extension of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Approval of Collections of Information

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 140 (July 21, 2016)

OSHA solicits public comments concerning its proposal to extend the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval of the collections of information contained in the Standard on Asbestos in General Industry (29 CFR 1910.1001).

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 140 (Thursday, July 21, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47440-47442]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-17247]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

[Docket No. OSHA-2010-0018]


Asbestos in General Industry; Extension of the Office of 
Management and Budget's (OMB) Approval of Collections of Information

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 
collections of information contained in the Standard on Asbestos in 
General Industry (29 CFR 1910.1001).

DATES: Comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent, or received) by 
September 19, 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 this method, you must submit

[[Page 47441]]

your comments and attachments to the OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. 
OSHA-2010-0018, 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-2010-0018) 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 may also 
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 collections of 
information 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 unnecessary duplication of efforts in obtaining information 
(29 U.S.C. 657).
    The basic purpose of the collections of information in the Standard 
is to document that employers in general industry are providing their 
workers with protection from exposure to hazardous asbestos. Asbestos 
exposure results in asbestosis, an emphysema-like condition; lung 
cancer; mesothelioma; and gastrointestinal cancer.
    Several provisions of the Standard are collections of information, 
including: Implementing an exposure monitoring program that notifies 
workers of their exposure monitoring results, establishing a written 
compliance program, and informing laundry personnel of the requirement 
to prevent release of airborne asbestos above the time-weighted average 
and excursion limit. Other collections of information in the Standard 
include: maintaining records of information obtained concerning the 
presence, location, and quantity of asbestos-containing materials 
(ACMs) and/or presumed asbestos-containing materials (PACMs) in a 
building/facility; notifying housekeeping workers of the presence and 
location of ACMs and PACMs in areas they may occupy during their work; 
and using information, data, and analyses to demonstrate that PACMs do 
not contain asbestos. In addition, the collections of information in 
the Standard include: providing medical surveillance for workers 
potentially exposed to ACMs and/or PACMs, including administering a 
worker medical questionnaire, providing information to the examining 
physician, and providing the physician's written opinion to the worker; 
maintaining records of exposure monitoring, objective data used for 
exposure determinations, and medical surveillance; and making specified 
records (e.g., exposure monitoring and medical surveillance records) 
available to designated parties.
    These collections of information permit employers, workers and 
their designated representatives, OSHA, and other specified parties to 
determine the effectiveness of an employer's asbestos-control program. 
Accordingly, the requirements ensure that workers exposed to asbestos 
receive all of the protections afforded by the Standard.

II. Special Issues for Comment

    OSHA has a particular interest in comments on the following issues:
     Whether the proposed collections of information 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 collections of information, 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

    The Agency is requesting an adjustment decrease of 6 burden hours 
(from 11,694 to 11,688 burden hours). The decrease is due to the 
removal of burden hours associated with OSHA requests to access records 
from employers. Usually, OSHA requests access to records during an 
inspection. Information collected by the Agency during the 
investigation is not subject to the PRA under 5 CFR 1320.4(a)(2). There 
is also an estimated increase in operation and maintenance costs of 
$38,624, from $925,026 to $963,650. The increase in operation and 
maintenance costs is due to the increase in medical exam costs, offset 
by a decrease in estimated costs for contract industrial hygiene 
services to conduct exposure monitoring sampling, due to the Agency's 
use of a different data source to calculate the exposure monitoring 
sampling estimate.
    OSHA is providing the following summary information about the 
Asbestos in General Industry information collection:
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Title: Asbestos in General Industry (29 CFR 1910.1001).
    OMB Control Number: 1218-0133.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Number of Respondents: 121.
    Frequency of Responses: Varies.
    Total Responses: 32,173.
    Average Time per Response: Varies.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 11,688.

[[Page 47442]]

    Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $963,650.

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 (Docket No. OSHA-2010-0018) for this ICR. 
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 July 15, 2016.
David Michaels,
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 2016-17247 Filed 7-20-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4510-26-P