[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 229 (Tuesday, December 1, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62753-62754]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-28661]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION


Collection of Information; Proposed Extension of Approval; 
Comment Request--Follow-Up Activities for Product-Related Injuries

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA)(44 
U.S.C. Chapter 35), the Consumer Product Safety Commission requests 
comments on a proposed extension of approval of a collection of 
information from persons who have been involved in or have witnessed 
incidents associated with consumer products. The Commission will 
consider all comments received in response to this notice before 
requesting an extension of approval of this collection of information 
from the Office of Management and Budget.

DATES: The Office of the Secretary must receive comments not later than 
February 1, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be captioned ``Product-Related 
Injuries'' and e-mailed to the Office of the Secretary at [email protected] or mailed to Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product 
Safety Commission, 4330 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814. Written 
comments may also be sent to the Office of the Secretary by facsimile 
at (301) 504-0127.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Copies of this request for extension 
of the information collection requirements and supporting documentation 
are available from Linda Glatz, Division of Policy and Planning, Office 
of Information Technology and Technology Services, Consumer Product 
Safety Commission, 4330 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; 
telephone: (301) 504-7671 or by e-mail to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Background

    Section 5(a) of the Consumer Product Safety Act, 15 U.S.C. 2054(a), 
requires the Commission to collect information related to the causes 
and prevention of death, injury, and illness associated with consumer 
products. That section also requires the Commission to conduct 
continuing studies and investigations of deaths, injuries, diseases, 
other health impairments, and economic losses resulting from accidents 
involving consumer products. The Commission obtains information about 
product-related deaths, injuries, and illnesses from a variety of 
sources, including newspapers, death certificates, consumer complaints, 
and medical facilities. In addition, the Commission receives 
information through its Internet Web site through forms reporting on 
product-related injuries or incidents.
    From these sources, the Commission staff selects cases of interest 
for further investigation by face-to-face or telephone interviews with 
persons who witnessed or were injured in incidents involving consumer 
products. On-site investigations are usually made in cases where the 
Commission staff needs photographs of the incident site, the product 
involved, or detailed information about the incident. This information 
can come from face-to-face interviews with persons who were injured or 
who witnessed the incident, as well as contact with state and local 
officials, including police, coroners and fire investigators, and 
others with knowledge of the incident.
    The Commission uses this information to support development and 
improvement of voluntary standards, rulemaking proceedings, information 
and education campaigns, and administrative and judicial proceedings 
for enforcement of the statutes, standards, and regulations 
administered by the Commission. These safety efforts are vitally 
important to help make consumer products safer and to remove unsafe 
products from the channels of distribution and from consumers' homes.
    The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved the collection 
of information concerning product-related injuries under control number 
3041-0029. OMB's most recent extension of approval will expire on 
January 31, 2009. The Commission now proposes to request an extension 
of approval of this collection of information.
    The Commission also operates a surveillance system known as the 
National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) that provides 
timely data on consumer product-related injuries treated in a 
statistically valid sample from approximately 100 hospital emergency 
departments, as well as childhood poisonings in the U.S. The NEISS 
system has been in operation since 1971. The Commission previously has 
not included NEISS reports under the product-related injuries 
collection of information because the information obtained from 
hospital databases are obtained directly through CPSC employees and/or 
CPSC contractors, and does not involve the solicitation of any 
information from any individuals. The CPSC employee or contractor 
collects emergency department records for review which are then coded. 
The PRA exempts facts or opinions obtained through direct observation 
by an employee or agent of the sponsoring agency. 5 CFR 1320.3(h)(3). 
However, because in addition to the reports themselves, further 
information may need to be obtained which may result in telephone and/
or face-to-face communications with individuals, the proposed 
collection of information under the follow-up activities for product-
related injuries now includes the burden hours per year for the NEISS 
system in addition to the other follow-up activities conducted by the 
Commission.

B. Estimated Burden

    The NEISS system collects information on consumer-product related 
injuries from approximately 100 hospitals in the United States. 
Respondents to NEISS include hospitals that directly report information 
to NEISS, and hospitals that allow access to a CPSC contractor who 
collects the data. In FY2008, there were 157 NEISS respondents (total 
hospitals and CPSC contractors). These NEISS respondents reviewed an 
estimated 3.4 million emergency department records and reported 371,507 
consumer product-related injuries and 5,030 childhood poisoning-related 
injuries. Based on FY2008 data, the total burden hours to respondents 
are estimated to be 41,497 hours. The average burden hour per hospital 
is 415 hours. However, the total burden hour on each hospital varies by 
the size (small or large) and location (rural or metropolitan) of the 
hospital. The smallest hospital reported less than 200 cases with a 
burden of approximately 100 hours, while the largest hospital reported 
over 16,000 cases with a burden of about 1,300 hours.
    The total costs to NEISS respondents based on FY2008 data are 
estimated to be $1.5 million per year. NEISS respondents enter into 
contracts with CPSC and are compensated for these costs. The average 
cost per respondent is estimated to be about $15,000. The average cost 
per burden hour is estimated to be $36 per hour (including wages and 
overhead) (Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2009, Total Compensation 
Civilian workers,

[[Page 62754]]

Hospitals). However, the actual cost to each respondent varies due to 
the type of respondent (hospital versus CPSC contractor), size of 
hospital, and regional differences in wages and overhead. Therefore, 
the actual annual cost for any given respondent may vary between $2,600 
at a small rural hospital and $75,000 at a large metropolitan hospital 
which are compensated by the CPSC.
    The Commission staff also obtains information about incidents 
involving consumer products from approximately 17,415 persons annually. 
The staff conducts face-to-face interviews at incident sites with 
approximately 915 persons each year. On average, an on-site interview 
takes approximately 5 hours. The staff will also conduct approximately 
3,500 in-depth investigations by telephone. Each in-depth telephone 
investigation requires approximately 20 minutes. Additionally, the 
Commission's hotline staff interviews approximately 4,000 persons each 
year about incidents involving selected consumer products. These 
interviews take an average of 10 minutes each. Each year, the 
Commission also receives information from about 9,000 persons who 
complete forms requesting information about product-related incidents 
or injuries. These forms appear on the Commission's Internet Web site, 
http:www.cpsc.gov, and are printed in the Consumer Product Safety 
Review and other Commission publications. The staff estimates that 
completion of a form takes about 12 minutes.
    The Commission staff estimates that this collection of information 
imposes a total annual burden of 7,724 hours on all respondents: 4,118 
hours for face-to-face interviews; 1,155 hours for in-depth telephone 
interviews; 661 hours for responses to Hotline interviews; and 1,790 
hours for completion of written forms.
    The Commission staff estimates the value of the time of respondents 
to this collection of information at $29.31 per hour (Bureau of Labor 
Statistics, June 2009, Total Compensation, All workers). At this 
valuation, the estimated annual cost to the public of this information 
collection will be approximately $226,390.
    The annual cost to the Federal government for this collection of 
information is estimated to be approximately $6.4 million per year. 
This estimate includes $1.5 million in compensation to NEISS 
respondents. The estimate also includes approximately $4.9 million for 
354 professional staff months to oversee NEISS operation, prepare 
questionnaires, interviewer guidelines, and other instruments and 
instructions used to collect the information, conduct face-to-face and 
telephone interviews; and evaluate responses obtained from interviews 
and completed forms. Each staff month is estimated to cost the 
Commission approximately $13,859. This is based on an average wage rate 
of $55.97 (the equivalent of a GS-14 Step 5 employee) with an addition 
30 percent added for benefits (Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2009, 
percentage total benefits for all civilian management, professional, 
and related employees).

C. Request for Comments

    The Commission solicits written comments from all interested 
persons about the proposed collection of information. The Commission 
specifically solicits information relevant to the following topics:
     Whether the collection of information described above is 
necessary for the proper performance of the Commission's functions, 
including whether the information would have practical utility;
     Whether the estimated burden of the proposed collection of 
information is accurate;
     Whether the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected could be enhanced; and
     Whether the burden imposed by the collection of 
information could be minimized by use of automated, electronic or other 
technological collection techniques, or other forms of information 
technology.

    Dated: November 24, 2009.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. E9-28661 Filed 11-30-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P