82 FR 18932 - Notice of Alleged Safety and Health Hazard (Form OSHA-7); 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 82, Issue 77 (April 24, 2017)

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 OSHA-7 Form.

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 77 (Monday, April 24, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18932-18934]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-08228]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

[Docket No. OSHA-2010-0056]


Notice of Alleged Safety and Health Hazard (Form OSHA-7); 
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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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 OSHA-7 Form.

DATES: Comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent or received) by 
June 23, 2017.

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 a copy of your comments and 
attachments to the OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. OSHA-2010-0056, U.S. 
Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 
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-2010-0056) 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://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 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., employees filing occupational safety or 
health complaints) burden, conducts a preclearance consultation program 
to provide the public with an opportunity to comment on proposed and 
collections of information in accord with the Paperwork Reduction Act 
(PRA) (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).
    Under paragraphs (a) and (c) of 29 CFR 1903.11 (``Complaints by 
employees''), employees and their representatives may notify the OSHA 
area director or an OSHA compliance officer of safety and health 
hazards regulated by the Agency that they believe exist in their 
workplaces at any time. These provisions state further that this 
notification must be in writing and ``shall set forth with reasonable 
particularity the grounds for the notice, and shall be signed by the 
employee or representative of the employee.''
    In addition to providing specific hazard information to the Agency, 
paragraph (a) permits employees/employee representatives to request an 
inspection of the workplace. Paragraph (c) also addresses situations in 
which employees/employee representatives may provide the information 
directly to the OSHA compliance officer during an inspection. An 
employer's former employees may also submit complaints to the Agency.
    To address the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (c), especially 
the requirement that the information be in writing, the Agency 
developed the OSHA-7 Form; this form standardized and simplified the 
hazard reporting process. For paragraph (a), they may complete an OSHA-
7 Form obtained

[[Page 18933]]

from the Agency's Web site and then send it to OSHA online, or deliver 
a hardcopy of the form to the OSHA area office by mail or facsimile, or 
by hand. They may also write a letter containing the information and 
hand deliver it to the area office, or send it by mail or facsimile. In 
addition, they may provide the information orally to the OSHA area 
office or another party (e.g., a federal safety and health committee 
for federal employees), in which case the area office or other party 
completes the hard copy version of the form. For the typical situation 
addressed by paragraph (c), an employee/employee representative informs 
an OSHA compliance officer orally of the alleged hazard during an 
inspection, and the compliance officer then completes the hard copy 
version of the OSHA-7 Form; occasionally, the employee/employee 
representative provides the compliance officer with the information on 
the hard copy version of the OSHA-7 Form.
    The information on the hard copy version of the OSHA-7 Form 
includes information about the employer and alleged hazards, including: 
The establishment's name; the site's address and telephone and 
facsimile numbers; the name and telephone number of the management 
official; the type of business; a description and the specific location 
of the hazards, including the approximate number of employees exposed 
or threatened by the hazards; and whether or not the employee/employee 
representative informed another government agency about the hazards 
(and the name of the agency if so informed).
    Additional information on the hard copy version of the form 
concerns the complainant, including: Whether or not the complainant is 
an employee or an employee representative, or for information provided 
orally, a member of a federal safety and health committee or another 
party (with space to specify the party); the complainant's name, 
telephone number, and address; and the complainant's signature 
attesting that they believe a violation of an OSHA standard exists at 
the named establishment; and the date of the signature. An employee 
representative must also provide the name of the organization they 
represent and their title.
    The information contained in the online version of the OSHA-7 Form 
is similar to the hard copy version. However, the online version 
requests the complainant's email address, and does not ask for the 
site's facsimile number or the complainant's signature and signature 
date.
    The Agency uses the information collected on the OSHA-7 Form to 
determine whether reasonable grounds exist to conduct an inspection of 
the workplace. The description of the hazards, including the number of 
exposed employees, allows the Agency to assess the severity of the 
hazards and the need to expedite the inspection. The completed form 
also provides the employer with notice of the complaint and may serve 
as the basis for obtaining a search warrant if the employer denies the 
Agency access to the workplace.

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 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

    OSHA is requesting that OMB extend its approval of the collections 
of information relating to the OSHA-7 Form. The Agency is requesting an 
increase in burden hours from 13,659 to 19,258 (a total increase of 
5,599 burden hours). The difference is the result of an overall 
increase in complaints received annually from 50,641 complaints 
estimated in the previous ICR to 70,976 complaints. There was also an 
increase in operation and maintenance costs from $532 to $701. The 
increase occurred due to an increase in the estimated number of written 
OSHA-7 forms received, from 1,208 to 1,430 forms. The Agency will 
summarize the comments submitted in response to this notice and will 
include this summary in the request to OMB to extend the approval of 
the collections of information.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Title: Notice of Alleged Safety and Health Hazards (Form OSHA-7).
    OMB Control Number: 1218-0064.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Number of Responses: 70,976.
    Frequency of Responses: On occasion.
    Average Time per Response: Varies.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 19,258.
    Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $701.

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://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-2010-0056). 
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

    Dorothy Dougherty, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for 
Occupational Safety and Health, directed the

[[Page 18934]]

preparation of this notice. The authority for this notice is the 
Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3506 et seq.) and Secretary of 
Labor's Order No. 1-2012 (77 FR 3912).

    Signed at Washington, DC, on April 13, 2017.
Dorothy Dougherty,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 2017-08228 Filed 4-21-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4510-26-P