[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 65 (Tuesday, April 6, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17410-17411]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-7690]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30 Day-10-08BG]


Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes a 
list of information collection requests under review by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of these requests, call 
the CDC Reports Clearance Officer at (404) 639-5960 or send an e-mail 
to [email protected]. Send written comments to CDC Desk Officer, Office of 
Management and Budget, Washington, DC or by fax to (202) 395-5806. 
Written comments should be received within 30 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    Survey of NIOSH Recommended Safety and Health Practices for Coal 
Mines--NEW--National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 
(NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

[[Page 17411]]

Background and Brief Description

    Since its establishment in 1970 by the Occupational Safety and 
Health Act, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 
(NIOSH) has been at the forefront of research and innovation on methods 
to help eliminate workplace injuries, illnesses and exposures. At Mine 
Safety and Health Research laboratories in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and 
Spokane, Washington, NIOSH employs engineers and scientists with 
experience and expertise in mine safety and health issues. These 
laboratories and their researchers have gained an international 
reputation for innovative solutions to many mining safety and health 
problems.
    Although the NIOSH Mining Program widely disseminates and 
publicizes research results, recommendations, techniques and products 
that emerge from the work of these laboratories, the agency has limited 
knowledge about the extent to which their innovations in mine safety 
and health have been implemented by individual mine operators. This is 
particularly true of methods and practices that are not mandated by 
formal regulations. The overarching goal of the proposed survey of 
NIOSH Recommended Safety and Health Practices for Coal Mines is to 
gather data from working coal mines on the adoption and implementation 
of NIOSH practices to mitigate safety and occupational hazards (e.g., 
explosions, falls of ground). Survey results will provide NIOSH with 
knowledge about which recommended practices, tools and methods have 
been most widely embraced by the industry, which have not been adopted, 
and why. The survey results will provide needed insight from the 
perspective of mine operators on the practical barriers that may 
prevent wider adoption of NIOSH recommendations and practices designed 
to safeguard mine workers.
    In the Spring of 2007, NIOSH conducted a pretest of the survey 
questionnaire with nine underground coal mine operators. The pretest 
instrument contained 81 questions, including five questions which 
measured the respondents' impressions of the clarity, burden level and 
relevance of the survey. The pretest served several important 
functions, including gaining feedback on the flow of items and their 
relevance to the respondents' experience, assessing the effectiveness 
of the questionnaire instructions, and obtaining recommendations for 
improving the questions. Data captured in the pretest were used to 
identify areas for questionnaire improvement and recommendations for 
maximizing the performance of the full survey.
    The proposed survey will be based upon a probability sample of 
approximately 300 of the 675 underground coal mines in the United 
States. A stratified random sample of mines will be drawn to ensure 
representativeness on important dimensions such as mine size and region 
of the country. Sampling a large proportion of the underground coal 
mines will ensure low rates of sampling error and increase confidence 
in the resulting survey estimates. Over-sampling some kinds of mines, 
such as those operating longwall sections, will be necessary to ensure 
enough cases are available to conduct meaningful analysis of these mine 
types.
    Once the study is completed, NIOSH will provide a copy of the final 
report to each sampled mining operation, and use the survey data to 
improve the adoption of important safety and health practices 
throughout the coal mine industry. There is no cost to respondents 
other than their time. The total estimated annual burden hours are 142.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                                      Average
                                                                     Number of       Number of      burden per
                           Respondents                              respondents   responses  per   response (in
                                                                                     respondent       hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Initial telephone screening contact with coal mines.............             300               1            5/60
Respondents completing paper survey.............................             144               1           30/60
Respondents completing web survey...............................              96               1           25/60
Non-respondent follow-up........................................              60               1            5/60
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    Dated: March 29, 2010.
Maryam I. Daneshvar,
Acting Reports Clearance Officer, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2010-7690 Filed 4-5-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P