[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 65 (Tuesday, April 6, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17391-17393]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-7670]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for Office 
of Management and Budget Review; Comment Request; Follow-Up Activities 
for Product-Related Injuries

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is announcing 
that a proposed collection of information has been submitted to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: Fax written comments on the collection of information by May 6, 
2010.

ADDRESSES: To ensure that comments on the information collection are 
received, OMB recommends that written comments be faxed to the Office 
of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Attn: CPSC Desk Officer, 
FAX: 202-395-6974, or e-mailed to [email protected]. Written 
comments should be captioned ``Product-Related Injuries.'' All comments 
should be identified with the OMB control number 3041-0029. In 
addition, written comments should also be submitted by mail/hand 
delivery/courier (for paper, disk, or CD-ROM submissions), preferably 
in five copies, to: Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety 
Commission, Room 502, 4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; 
telephone (301) 504-7923.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Linda L. Glatz, Division of Policy and 
Planning, Office of Information Technology, Consumer Product Safety 
Commission, 4330 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814, (301) 504-7671. 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In compliance with 44 U.S.C. 3507, the CPSC 
has submitted the following proposed collection of information to OMB 
for review and clearance. Follow-up Activities for Product-Related 
Injuries (OMB Control Number 3041-0029--Extension).
    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

[[Page 17392]]

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 April 
30, 2010. The Commission has submitted its request for an extension of 
approval of this collection of information to OMB.
    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 United States. 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.
    In the Federal Register of December 1, 2009 (74 FR 62753), the CPSC 
published a 60-day notice requesting public comment on the proposed 
collection of information. No comments were received.
    Burden Estimates: 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, 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

[[Page 17393]]

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).

    Dated: March 31, 2010.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2010-7670 Filed 4-5-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P