[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 3, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 121-122]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-8192]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention


The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)

    The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) 
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announces the 
following public meetings and request for information:
    Name: NIOSH Opportunity to Provide Input for the National 
Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) with a special emphasis on the 
Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Sector, and the Health Care and 
Social Assistance Sector, with regional and multi-sector input.
    Meeting Dates, Times, and Places: Agriculture, Forestry, and 
Fishing (AFF) Sector, Tuesday, January 17, 2006, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. pst, 9 
a.m.-12 p.m. Multi-Sector Public Comments, 1 p.m.-5 p.m. AFF Specific 
Public Comments.
    Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI, 2700 24th Avenue East, 
Seattle, WA 98112-2099. And HealthCare and Social Assistance Sector, 
Monday, January 23, 2006, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. cst, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. Multi-
Sector Public Comments, 1 p.m.-5 p.m. HSA Specific Public Comments.
    The University of Texas School of Public Health Auditorium, 1200 
Herman Pressler, Houston, Texas 77030.
    Status: Meetings are open to the public, limited only by the space 
available.
    Background: A large part of our lives is shaped by the work we do. 
NORA is a framework to guide occupational safety and health research 
for the nation. It is an ongoing endeavor to focus research to reduce 
work-related injury and illness. As the program approaches a ten-year 
milestone, NIOSH is hosting public meetings to seek input from 
individuals and organizations on important research issues and agendas. 
Information about the public meetings and registration can be found on 
the NORA Web page at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/nora/townhall.
    Given that NORA represents a broad-based partnership involving 
government, business, the worker community, academia, and others, 
public input is essential for planning future directions for the 
initiative, which will be based on eight different industry sector 
groups. Each meeting will be structured to provide an opportunity for 
regional and multi-sector input during the morning, followed where 
appropriate by an afternoon session to focus on individual sector 
issues.
    All participants are requested to register for the free meeting at 
the NORA Web page or onsite the day of the meeting. Participants 
wishing to speak are encouraged to register early. The public meetings 
are open to everyone, including all workers, professional societies, 
organized labor, employers, researchers, health professionals, 
government officials, and elected officials. Broad participation is 
desired.
    Purpose: The public meetings will address both regional and sector-
specific priorities for research. During the morning session, 
stakeholders will be invited to speak for 5 minutes on an important 
occupational safety and health issue, including those that occur in 
multiple sectors. Where noted in the agenda, the afternoon session will 
focus on sector-specific problems facing the nation. Again, 
participants will be asked to make 5-minute presentations describing 
what they perceive to be the top concerns within their sector or sub-
sector. Participants are encouraged to attend both the regional and 
sector-specific sessions, or they may elect to participate in only one 
session.
    Types of occupational safety and health issues might include 
diseases, injuries, exposures, populations at risk, and needs of 
occupational safety and health systems. For example, falls from heights 
might be a top injury issue for the residential construction industry. 
Low back pain and related back disorders might be a top disease concern 
for the urban transit industry. If possible, please include as much 
information as might be useful for understanding the safety or health 
research priority you identify. Such information could include 
characterization of the frequency and severity with which the injury, 
illness, or hazardous exposure is occurring and of the factors you 
believe might be causing the health or safety issue. Input is also 
requested on the types of research that you believe might make a 
difference and the partners (e.g., specific industry associations, 
labor organizations, research organizations, governmental agencies) who 
should be involved in informing research efforts and in solving the 
problem.
    All presentations will be entered into the NORA Docket, which is 
maintained

[[Page 122]]

by NIOSH. All comments in the NORA Docket will be used to help shape 
sector-specific and related cross-sector research agendas for the 
nation.
    These events are part of a series of public meetings which will 
occur in the months preceding the NORA Symposium (April 18-20, 2006 in 
Washington, DC). Upcoming meetings will include: Wholesale and Retail 
Trade; Manufacturing; Mining; Services; Regional Issues; and a summary 
session. Future Federal Register announcements will provide more 
information on these meetings. Previous meetings have discussed 
Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities, and Construction.
    Contact Person for More Information: Sid Soderholm, Ph.D., NORA 
Coordinator, (202) 401-0721.
    Address: Comments may also be e-mailed to [email protected], or 
sent via postal mail to: Docket NIOSH-047, Robert A. Taft Laboratories 
(C-34), 4676 Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, OH 45226.
    Stakeholders are also invited to submit comments electronically at 
the NORA Web page http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/nora. Comments submitted to 
the Web page by others can also be viewed there.
    The Director, Management Analysis and Services Office, has been 
delegated the authority to sign Federal Register Notices pertaining to 
announcements of meetings and other committee management activities, 
for both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency 
for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

    Dated: December 27, 2005.
B. Kathy Skipper,
Acting Director, Management Analysis and Services Office, Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention.
 [FR Doc. E5-8192 Filed 12-30-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-19-P