[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 71 (Thursday, April 12, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18946-18947]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-9072]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30 DAY-24-01]


Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes a 
list of information collection requests under review by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35). To request a copy of these requests, call 
the CDC Reports Clearance Officer at (404) 639-7090. Send written 
comments to CDC, Desk Officer; Human Resources and Housing Branch, New 
Executive Office Building, Room 10235; Washington, DC 20503. Written 
comments should be received within 30 days of this notice.
    Proposed Project: NIOSH Research Study for the Prevention of Work-
related Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs)--New--National Institute for 
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC). The mission of the National Institute for 
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is to promote safety and health 
at work for all

[[Page 18947]]

people through research and prevention. There is evidence of causal 
relationships between physical job stressors (e.g., repetitive or 
static exertion, forcefulness, awkward postures) and MSDs, and some 
quantitative information is available on how much rates of MSDs change 
at varying levels of exposure to each stressor and combination of 
stressors (exposure-response relationships). Additional information 
would foster the further development of effective strategies for 
prevention.
    A research project is proposed to conduct a prospective cohort 
study to quantify the risk for upper limb and low back MSDs at varying 
levels of exposure to physical job stressors (repetitive, forceful 
exertion, awkward postures, vibration, manual handling, etc.). This 
research will involve multiple work sites from the service and 
manufacturing industries with job tasks that represent a range of 
exposures to physical job stressors that can result in musculoskeletal 
disorders of the upper limb (e.g., carpal tunnel syndrome, hand-wrist 
tendinitis, medial and lateral epicondylitis, hand-arm vibration 
syndrome (HAVS)) and low back disorders. Because of the limitations of 
cross-sectional and retrospective studies, it is widely agreed that a 
prospective study design is the best approach for the investigation of 
this problem. Up to 2000 workers will be enrolled into the study and 
will participate in three annual data collection surveys. The surveys 
will be comprised of a self-administered questionnaire and standard 
health tests to identify MSDs, including HAVS. Job tasks will be 
studied using uniform exposure assessment methods to quantify physical 
stressors. The study data will be used to test and expand existing 
guidelines for limiting exposure to physical job stressors, and for 
developing new guidelines where none exist. The results from this 
research study will provide practitioners in occupational health 
critical data that will facilitate their ability to quickly and 
reliably discriminate job tasks that represent low, moderate and high 
risk for MSDs among workers employed across different industries. In 
addition, the results of this study will provide guidance on effective 
job design to reduce the burden of work-related MSDs. The total 
estimated annual burden for this data collection is 1,993 hours.

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                                                                                     Number of
                    Data collection activity                         Number of     responses per   Response  per
                                                                    respondents     respondents        hour
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Study Announcement Response.....................................             100               1           15/60
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                                          Questionnaire Administration:
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Core Questionnaire..............................................           2,100               3           45/60
Work Environment Module.........................................           2,100               3           15/60
Back Module.....................................................             200               3            6/60
HAVS Module.....................................................             400               2           45/60
Intervention Module.............................................             225               4            6/60
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                                              Physical Examination:
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Upper Limb MSDs.................................................           1,000               3           45/60
Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome.....................................             400               2            2.00
Lumbar Motion Functional Assessment.............................             200               3           30/60
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    Dated: April 6, 2001.
Nancy E. Cheal,
Acting Associate Director for Policy, Planning and Evaluation, Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
[FR Doc. 01-9072 Filed 4-11-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P