[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 56 (Thursday, March 24, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15123-15124]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-5802]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of the Secretary


Submission for OMB Review: Comment Request

March 10, 2005.
    The Department of Labor (DOL) has submitted the following public 
information collection request (ICR) to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. chapter 35). A copy of 
this ICR, with applicable supporting documentation, may be obtained by 
contacting Darrin King on 202-693-4129 (this is not a toll-free number) 
or e-mail: [email protected].
    Comments should be sent to Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Attn: OMB Desk Officer for the Occupational Safety and Health 
Administration (OSHA), Office of Management and Budget, Room 10235, 
Washington, DC 20503, 202-395-7316 (this is not a toll-free number), 
within 30 days from the date of this publication in the Federal 
Register.
    The OMB is particularly interested in comments which:
     Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
     Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the 
burden of the proposed collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
     Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
     Minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate 
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting 
electronic submission of responses.
    Agency: Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
    Type of Review: Extension of currently approved collection.
    Title: Commercial Diving Operations (29 CFR part 1910, subpart T).
    OMB Number: 1218-0069.
    Frequency: On occasion and Annually.
    Type of Response: Recordkeeping; Reporting; and Third party 
disclosure.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Federal Government; 
and State, local, or tribal government.
    Number of Respondents: 3,000.
    Number of Annual Responses: 4,002,966.
    Estimated Time Per Response: Varies from 3 minutes to replace the 
safe practices manual to 1 hour to develop a new manual.
    Total Burden Hours: 205,397.
    Total Annualized Capital/Startup Costs: $0.
    Total Annual Costs (operating/maintaining systems or purchasing 
services): $0.
    Description: 29 CFR part 1910, subpart T (``the Subpart'') contains 
a number of paperwork requirements. The following paragraphs describe 
these requirements; specify who uses them, and what purpose they serve.
    Section 910.401(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 in writing.
    Sections 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 course or equivalent), while paragraph 
(a)(4) specifies that employers train dive-team members exposed to 
hyperbaric conditions, or who control exposure of other employees to 
such conditions, in diving-related physics and physiology.
    Section 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.
    Section 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 facilities 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.
    Section 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.
    Section 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

[[Page 15124]]

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.
    Section 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.
    Sections 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.
    Section 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.
    Section 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.
    Sections 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 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-weight 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).
    Sections 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.

Ira L. Mills,
Departmental Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 05-5802 Filed 3-23-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-26-P