[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 166 (Tuesday, August 27, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55035-55036]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-21759]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

[Docket No. ICR-1218-0202(2002)]


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

AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.

ACTION: Request for comment.

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SUMMARY: OSHA requests comment concerning its proposed extension of the 
information-collection requirements specified by its Standard on 
Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) (29 CFR 
1910.120). Section 126(e) of the ``Superfund Amendments and 
Reauthorization Act of 1986'' (SARA)(Pub. L. 99-499) which became law 
on October 17, 1986, required the Secretary of Labor, pursuant to 
section 6(b) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (the 
Act), to promulgate standards for the safety and health protection of 
employees engaged in hazardous waste operations and emergency response. 
Section 126(a) of SARA also specified that those standards were to 
become effective a year after publication. Section 126(b) lists 11 
worker protections provisions that the Secretary of Labor had to 
include in OSHA's final standard. Those provisions require OSHA to 
address the preparation of various written programs, plans and records; 
the training of employees; the monitoring of airborne hazards; the 
conduct of medical surveillance; and the distribution of information to 
employees. The provisions also require the collection of information 
from employers engaged in hazardous waste operations and their 
emergency response to such operations. The final standard covers the 
provisions mandated in SARA.

DATES: Submit written comments on or before October 28, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments to the Docket Office, Docket No. 
ICR-1218-0202(2002), OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-2625, 200 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20201; telephone: (202) 693-
2350. Commenters may transmit written comments of 10 pages or less by 
facsimile to (202) 693-1648.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Theda Kenney, Directorate of Safety 
Standards Programs, OSHA, U.S.

[[Page 55036]]

Department of Labor, Room N-3609, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20210; telephone (202) 693-2222. A copy of the Agency's 
Information-Collection Request (ICR) supporting the need for the 
collections of information collection specified by the Standard on 
Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) is 
available for inspection and copying in the Docket Office, or by 
requesting a copy from Theda Kenney at (202) 693-2222, or Todd Owen at 
(202) 693-2444. For electronic copies of the ICR, contact OSHA on the 
Internet at http://www.osha.gov and select ``Information Collection 
Requests.''

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

1. 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 accordance 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 understandable, and OSHA's 
estimate of the information-collection burden is correct.
    The 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 employees 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 compliance with the 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 of 1986 (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 proposes to extend the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) 
approval of the collection-of-information requirements specified by the 
Standard on Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response 
(HAZWOPER) (29 CFR 1910.120). 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 these information-
collection requirements.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently-approval information-
collection requirement.
    Title: Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (29 CFR 
1910.120).
    OMB Number: 1218-0202.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; not-for profit 
institutions, Federal government; State, local, or tribal governments.
    Number of Respondents: 37,762.
    Frequency of Recordkeeping: Varies (on occasion; annually).
    Average Time per Response: Varies from five minutes (.08 hours) to 
64 hours.
    Total Annual Hours Requested: 1,404,369.
    Total Annual Costs (O&M): $4,668,300.

IV. Authority and Signature

    John L. Henshaw, 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), and Secretary of Labor's Order No. 3-2000 (65 FR 50017).

    Dated: Signed at Washington, DC on August 21, 2002.
John L. Henshaw,
Assistant Secretary of Labor.
[FR Doc. 02-21759 Filed 8-26-02; 8:45 am]
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