[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 229 (Tuesday, November 30, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69633-69637]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-26403]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

[Docket No. ICR 1218-0069 (2005)]


Commercial Diving Operations; 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 comment.

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SUMMARY: OSHA solicits public comment concerning its request for an 
extension of the information collection requirements contained in the 
Commercial Diving Operations Standard (29 CFR part 1910, subpart T).

DATES: Comments must be submitted by the following dates:

[[Page 69634]]

    Hard copy: Your comments must be submitted (postmarked or received) 
by January 31, 2005.
    Facsimile and electronic transmission: Your comments must be 
received by January 31, 2005.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by OSHA Docket No. ICR-
1218-0069 (2005), by any of the following methods:
    Regular mail, express delivery, hand delivery, and messenger 
service: Submit your comments and attachments to the OSHA Docket 
Office, Room N-2625, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, 
NW., Washington, DC 20210; telephone (202) 693-2350 (OSHA's TTY number 
is (877) 889-5627). OSHA Docket Office and Department of Labor hours 
are 8:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., e.t.
    Facsimile: If your comments are 10 pages or fewer in length, 
including attachments, you may fax them to the OSHA Docket Office at 
(202) 693-1648.
    Electronic: You may submit comments through the Internet at http://ecomments.osha.gov. Follow instructions on the OSHA Web page for 
submitting comments.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read or download comments or 
background materials, such as the complete Information Collection 
Request (ICR) (containing the Supporting Statement, OMB-83-I Form, and 
attachments), go to OSHA's Web page at http://www.OSHA.gov. In 
addition, comments, submissions, and the ICR are available for 
inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office at the address above. 
You also may contact Theda Kenney at the address below to obtain a copy 
of the ICR. For additional information on submitting comments, please 
see the ``Public Participation'' heading in the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Theda Kenney, Directorate of Standards 
and Guidance, OSHA, Room N-3609, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20210; telephone: (202) 693-2222.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Public Participation--Submission of Comments on This Notice and 
Internet Access to Comments and Submission

    You may submit comments and supporting materials in response to 
this notice by (1) hard copy, (2) FAX transmission (facsimile), or (3) 
electronically through the OSHA Web page. Because of security-related 
problems, a significant delay may occur in receiving comments by 
regular mail. Please contact the OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-2350 
(TTY (877) 889-5627)) for information about security procedures 
concerning the delivery of submissions by express delivery, hand 
delivery, and courier service.
    All comments, submissions, and background documents are available 
for inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office at the above 
address. Comments and submissions posted on OSHA's Web page are 
available at http://www.OSHA.gov. Contact the OSHA Docket Office for 
information about materials not available through the OSHA Web page, 
and for assistance using the Web page to locate docket submissions.
    Electronic copies of this Federal Register notice, as well as other 
relevant documents, are available on OSHA's Web page.

II. 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 clearly understood, and OSHA's 
estimate of the information collection burden is accurate. The 
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (the Act) (29 U.S.C. 651 et 
seq.) authorizes information collection by employers as necessary or 
appropriate for enforcement of the Act or for developing information 
regarding the causes and prevention of occupational injuries, 
illnesses, and accidents (29 U.S.C. 657).
    Subpart T (``the Subpart'') contains a number of paperwork 
requirements. The following paragraphs describe these reuqirements; 
specify who uses them, and what purpose they serve.
    Sec.  1910.401(b). Description of the requirement. Allows employers 
to deviate from the requirements of the Subpart to the extent necessary 
to prevent or minimize a situation that is likely to cause death, 
serious physical harm, or major environmental damage (but not 
situations in which purely economic or property damage is likely to 
occur). Employers must notify the OSHA Area Director within 48 hours of 
taking such action; this notification must describe the situation 
responsible for the deviation and the extent of the deviation from the 
requirements. On request of the Area Director, employers must submit 
this information is writing.
    Use and purpose. Employers use this provision to respond to 
unexpected and sudden emergencies that could cause serious injury and 
death to their employees, or prevent major harm to the environment. 
Notification allows OSHA to determine that the situation was serious 
and unusual, required immediate action not specified by the Subpart, 
and that the response was appropriate to prevent serious injury and 
death to employees, or major harm to the environment.
    Sec. Sec.  1910.410(a)(3) and (a)(4). Description of the 
requirements. Paragraph (a)(3) requires employers to train all dive-
team members in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid (i.e., the 
American Red Cross standard couse or equivalent), while paragraph 
(a)(4) specifies that employers train dive-team members exposed to 
hyperbaric conditions, or who control exposures of other employees to 
such conditions, in diving-related physics and physiology.
    Use and purpose. Ensures that dive-team members know how to render 
emergency first-aid to diving casualties, which improves treatment 
outcomes. Training dive-team members involved in hyperbaric operations 
in diving-related physics and physiology results in an understanding of 
how underwater barometric pressure affects the development of diving-
related medical conditions such as decompression sickness (the 
``bends;'' referred to hereafter as ``DCS'') and air embolism, thereby 
enabling theme to prevent these conditions.
    Sec. Sec.  1910.420(a). Description of the requirement. Under 
paragraph (a), employers must develop and maintain a safe-practices 
manual and make it available to each dive-team member at the dive 
location. In addition, for each diving mode used at the dive location, 
the manual must contain: safety procedures and checklists for diving 
operations; assignments and responsibilities of the dive-team members; 
equipment procedures and checklists; and emergency procedures for fire, 
equipment failures, adverse environmental conditions, and medical 
illness and injury.
    Use and purpose. The safe-practices manual ensures that dive-team 
members are familiar with the employer's safety and emergency 
procedures, the functions each member is to perform during diving 
operations conducted at the dive location, and how these procedures and 
functions relate to the requirements of the Subpart. This knowledge 
enables dive-team members

[[Page 69635]]

to perform their diving-related tasks effectively and safely, thereby, 
reducing the risk of serious injury and death.
    Sec.  1910.421(b). Description of the requirement. Under this 
provision, employers are to keep at the dive location a list of 
telephone or call numbers for the following emergency facilitates and 
services: An operational decompression chamber (when such a chamber is 
not at the dive location); accessible hospitals; available physicians 
and means of emergency transportation; and the nearest U.S. Coast Guard 
Rescue Coordination Center.
    Use and purpose: This list of telephone and call numbers ensures 
that emergency facilities and services and available to provide prompt 
medical care for an injured diver.
    Sec.  1910.421(f). Description of the requirement. Requires 
employers to brief dive-team members on the diving-related tasks they 
are to perform, safety procedures for the diving mode used at the dive 
location, any unusual hazards or environmental conditions likely to 
affect the safety of the diving operation, and any modifications to 
operating procedures necessitated by the specific diving operation. 
Before assigning diving-related tasks, employers must ask each dive-
team member about their current state of physical fitness, and inform 
the member about the procedure for reporting physical problems or 
adverse physiological effects during and after the dive.
    Use and purpose. This requirement updates the divers' knowledge of 
the diving operation, including new information regarding diving 
hazards and environmental conditions that may jeopardize their safety. 
The assessment of a diver's physical fitness to dive reduces the risk 
that they will experience medical problems while diving; information 
about the procedure used to report diving-related medical problems 
ensures that divers will obtain prompt treatment of these conditions, 
which will prevent the problems from becoming serious and life-
threatening.
    Sec.  1910.421(h). Description of the requirement. When the diving 
operation occurs in an area capable of supporting marine traffic and 
occurs from a surface other than a vessel, employers are to display a 
rigid replica of the international code flag ``A'' that is at least one 
meter in height so that it is visible from any direction; the employer 
must illuminate the flag during night diving operations.
    Use and purpose. The flag warns transiting vessels that diving 
operations are underway and to avoid the diving location, thereby 
protecting divers from impacting with a vessel while they are 
underwater or swimming on the surface.
    Sec.  1910.422(e). Description of the requirement. Employers must 
develop and maintain a depth-time profile for each diver that includes, 
as appropriate, any breathing gas changes or decompression.
    Use and purpose. Informs the diver regarding the depth and time 
parameters of the dive, which serves as the basis for determining the 
decompression schedule necessary to avoid diving-related medical 
problems.
    Sec. Sec.  1910.423(b)(1)(ii) through (b)(2). Description of the 
requirements. Requires the employer to: Instruct each diver to report 
any physical symptoms or adverse physiological effects, including 
symptoms of DCS; advise each diver of the location of a decompression 
chamber that is ready for use; and alert each diver to the potential 
hazards of flying after diving. For any dive outside the no-
decompression limits, deeper than 100 feet, or that uses mixed gas in 
the breathing mixture, the employer also must inform the diver to 
remain awake and in the vicinity of the decompression chamber that is 
at the dive location for at least one hour after a dive, or after any 
decompression or treatment associated with a dive.
    Use and purpose. This information allows the diver to recognize 
diving-relating medical problems, receive prompt treatment for such 
problems at the available decompression chamber, and alerts them to a 
condition (i.e., flying) that increases the risk of DCS. For divers 
involved in dives that increase the risk of DCS (i.e., dives outside 
the no-decompression limits, deeper than 100 feet, or that used mixed 
gas in the breathing mixture), informing them to remain awake and near 
the decompression chamber for one hour after a dive, or after any 
decompression or treatment associated with a dive, enables them a 
receive prompt and effective treatment for DCS should it occur.
    Sec.  1910.423(d). Description of the requirement. Paragraph (d)(1) 
specifies that employers are to record and maintain the following 
information for each diving operation: The names of dive-team members; 
date, time, and location; diving modes used; general description of the 
tasks performed; an estimate of the underwater and surface conditions; 
and the maximum depth and bottom time for each diver. In addition, for 
each dive outside the no-decompression limits, deeper than 100 feet, or 
that uses mixed gas in the breathing mixture, paragraph (d)(2) requires 
the employer to record and maintain the following information for each 
diver: Depth-time and breathing-gas profiles; decompression table 
designation (including any modifications); and elapsed time since the 
last pressure exposure when it is less than 24 hours or the repetitive 
dive designation. Under paragraph (d)(3), if the dive results in DCS 
symptoms, or the employer suspects that a diver has DCS, the employer 
must record and maintain a description of the DCS symptoms (including 
the depth and time of symptom onset) and the results of treatment.
    Use and purpose: This information permits appropriate and effective 
treatment of a diver should DCS occur after a dive or should the diver 
have a relapse of DCS after initial treatment, thereby preventing the 
condition from resulting in a serious injury or death. Maintaining 
these records ensures that the information is available for use by: the 
party involved in treatment when the diver experiences late-onset DCS 
or a subsequent relapse after treatment; and the employer for assessing 
the DCS incident (see Sec.  1910.423(e) below).
    Sec.  1910.423(e). Description of the requirement. Requires 
employers to assess each DCS incident by: investigating and evaluating 
it based on the recorded information, consideration of the past 
performance of the decompression profile used, and the diver's 
individual susceptibility to DCS; taking appropriate corrective action 
to reduce the probability of a DCS recurrence; and, within 45 days of 
the DCS incident, preparing a written evaluation of this assessment, 
including any corrective action taken.
    Use and purpose. A written assessment enables employers to identify 
salient variables in existing decompression procedures that may be 
responsible for the DCS incident, to document modifications of these 
variables that they believe will reduce the occurrence of DCS, and to 
evaluate the effectiveness of these modifications during subsequent 
diving operations. Systematic assessment of decompression procedures in 
this manner reduces the incidence of DCS, which improves the safety of 
decompression procedures used by employers and protects divers from the 
serious and deadly effects fo DCS.
    Sec.  1910.430(a), (b)(4), (c)(1)(ii), (c)(3)(i), (f)(3)(ii), and 
(g)(2). Description of the requirements. Paragraph (a) contains a 
general requirement that employers must record by means of tagging or a 
logging system any work performed on equipment, including any 
modifications, repairs, tests, calibrations, or maintenance performed 
on the equipment. This record is to

[[Page 69636]]

include a description of the work, the name or initials of the 
individual who performed the work, and the date they completed the 
work. Paragraphs (b)(4) and (c)(1)(iii) require employers to test two 
specific types of equipment, including, respectively: the output of air 
compressor systems used to supply breathing air to divers for air 
purity every six months by means of samples taken at the connection to 
the distribution system; and breathing-gas hoses at least annually at 
one and one-half times their working pressure. Under paragraph 
(c)(3)(i), employers must mark each umbilical (i.e., separate lines 
supplying air and communications to a diver, as well as a safety line, 
tied together in a bundle), beginning at the diver's end, in 10-foot 
increments for 100 feet, then in 50-foot increments. Paragraph 
(f)(3)(ii) mandates that employers regularly inspect and maintain 
mufflers located in intake and exhaust lines on decompression chambers. 
According to paragraph (g)(2), employers are to test depth gauges using 
dead-weigh testing, or calibrate the gauges against a master reference 
gauge; such testing or calibration is to occur every six months and 
when the employer finds a discrepancy larger than two percent of the 
full scale between any two equivalent gauges. Employers must make a 
record of the tests, calibrations, inspections, and maintenance 
performed on the equipment specified by these paragraphs in accordance 
with Sec.  1910.430(a).
    Use and purpose. The records required by paragraph (a) (and 
generated by work performed under paragraphs (b)(4), (c)(1)(ii), 
(f)(3)(ii), and (g)(2)) permit employers and employees to determine the 
operating condition of diving equipment before placing it in service. 
By using only equipment that these records demonstrate is in safe 
working order, employers and employees will prevent severe injury and 
death during diving operations. Additionally, marking umbilicals as 
required by paragraph (c)(3)(i) permits diving supervisors and the 
employees who are tending a diver to determine the diver's depth, which 
ensures that the diver undergoes proper decompression as specified by 
the depth-time profile of the dive; by undergoing proper decompression, 
the diver avoids DCS.
    Sec. Sec.  1910.440(a)(2) and (b). Description of the requirements. 
Under paragraph (a)(2) of this provision, employers must record any 
diving-related injuries and illnesses that result in a dive-team member 
remaining in hospital for at least 24 hours. This record is to describe 
the circumstances of the incident and the extent of any injuries or 
illnesses.
    Paragraph (b) of this provision regulates the availability of the 
records required by the Subpart, including who has access to these 
records, the retention periods for various records, and in some cases, 
the final disposition of the records. Under paragraph (b)(1), employers 
must make any record required by the Subpart available, on request, for 
inspection and copying by an OSHA compliance officer or to a 
representative of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and 
Health (NIOSH). Paragraph (b)(2) specifies that employers are to 
provide employees, their designated representatives, and OSHA 
compliance officers with exposure and medical records generated under 
the Subpart in accordance with Sec.  1910.1020 (``Access to employee 
exposure and medical records''); these records include safe-practices 
manuals, depth-time profiles, diving records, DCS incident assessments, 
and hospitalization records. This paragraph also mandates that 
employers make equipment inspection and testing records available to 
employees and their designated representative on request.
    According to paragraph (b)(3), employers must retain these records 
for the following periods: Safe-practices manuals, current document 
only; depth-time profiles, until completing the diving record or the 
DCS incident assessment; diving records, one year, except five years 
when a DCS incident occurred during the dive; DCS incident assessments, 
five years; hospitalization records, five years; and equipment 
inspections and testing records (i.e., current tag or log entry), until 
the employer removes the equipment from service. Paragraphs (b)(4) and 
(b)(5) specify the requirements for disposing of these records. Under 
paragraph (b)(4), employers are to forward to NIOSH any record with an 
expired five-year retention period. Paragraph (b)(5) states that 
employers who cease to do business must transfer records without 
unexpired retention dates to the successor employer who will retain 
them for the required period; however, when employers cease to do 
business without a successor employer, they must transfer the records 
to NIOSH.
    Use and purpose. The hospitalization records required under 
paragraph (a)(2) will assist employers and employees, and eventually 
NIOSH, in determining which depth-time diving profiles and associated 
decompression procedures are especially hazardous, thereby permitting 
employers to modify these procedures to prevent DCS and other medical 
problems. Regarding the record-availability requirements of paragraphs 
(b)(1) and (b)(2), OSHA compliance officers use these records as an 
efficient means of assessing employer compliance with the major 
requirements of the Subpart, while NIOSH may compile these records for 
research purposes. Employees and their designated representatives use 
the records to assess the safety of an employer's diving procedures, 
and to determine if equipment is in safe working order.
    The record-retention periods specified by paragraph (b)(3) 
reinforce the requirements of paragraphs (b)(1) and (b)(2) by allowing 
an adequate period to inspect records for compliance purposes, to 
review them in determining if equipment is in safe working order, and 
to analyze them when assessing the safety of existing diving procedures 
or developing improved procedures. Sending the records to NIOSH as 
required by paragraph (b)(4) makes them available for research purposes 
(e.g., assessing the medical effects of decompression procedures); in 
addition, employers and employees will have continuous access to the 
records when they need them to evaluate the safety of diving 
procedures, identify the causes of latent health effects, or for other 
reasons. The requirements of paragraph (b)(5) ensure that a responsible 
party (i.e., a successor employer or NIOSH) will make the records 
available as mandated by paragraphs (b)(1) and (b)(2).

III. 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, 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.

IV. Proposed Actions

    OSHA proposes to extend the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) 
approval of the collection of information (paperwork) requirements 
necessitated by the Commercial Diving Operations Standard, 29 CFR part 
1910, subpart T. The Agency will include this summary

[[Page 69637]]

in its request to OMB to extend the approval of these collections of 
information requirements.
    Type of Review: Extension of currently approved information 
collection requirements.
    Title: Commercial Diving Operations.
    OMB Number: 1218-0069.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profits; not for profit 
organizations, Federal government; State, local or tribal government.
    Number of Respondents: 3,000.
    Frequency: On occasion, annually.
    Average Time Per Response: Varies from 3 minutes (.05 hour) to 
replace the safe practices manual to 1 hour to develop a new manual.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 205,397.
    Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $0.

V. 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 et seq.), and Secretary of Labor's Order No. 5-2002 (67 FR 
65008).

    Signed in Washington, DC, on November 23, 2004.
John L. Henshaw,
Assistant Secretary of Labor.
[FR Doc. 04-26403 Filed 11-29-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-26-M