[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 133 (Tuesday, July 13, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40021-40023]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-17017]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration

[Docket No. FRA 2010-0005-N-17]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and its 
implementing regulations, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) 
hereby announces that it is seeking renewal of the following 
information collection activities that were previously approved by OMB. 
Before submitting these information collection requirements for 
clearance by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), FRA is 
soliciting public comment on specific aspects of the activities 
identified below.

DATES: Comments must be received no later than September 13, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments on any or all of the following 
proposed activities by mail to either: Mr. Robert Brogan, Office of 
Safety, RRS-21, Federal Railroad Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave., 
SE., Mail Stop 17, Washington, DC 20590, or Ms. Kimberly Toone, Office 
of Information Technology, RAD-20, Federal Railroad Administration, 
1200 New Jersey Ave., SE., Mail Stop 35, Washington, DC 20590. 
Commenters requesting FRA to acknowledge receipt of their respective 
comments must include a self-addressed stamped postcard stating, 
``Comments on OMB control number 2130---------.'' Alternatively, 
comments may be transmitted via facsimile to (202) 493-6216 or (202) 
493-6497, or via e-mail to Mr. Brogan at [email protected], or to 
Ms. Toone at [email protected]. Please refer to the assigned OMB 
control number and the title of the information collection in any 
correspondence submitted. FRA will summarize comments received in 
response to this notice in a subsequent notice and include them in its 
information collection submission to OMB for approval.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Robert Brogan, Office of Safety, 
RRS-21, Federal Railroad Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE., 
Mail Stop 17, Washington, DC 20590 (telephone: (202) 493-6292) or Ms. 
Kimberly Toone, Office of Information Technology, RAD-20, Federal 
Railroad Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE., Mail Stop 35, 
Washington, DC 20590 (telephone: (202) 493-6132). (These telephone 
numbers are not toll-free.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), 
Public Law 104-13, section 2, 109 Stat. 163 (1995) (codified as revised 
at 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), and its implementing regulations, 5 CFR Part 
1320, require Federal agencies to provide 60-days notice to the public 
for comment on information collection activities before seeking 
approval of such activities by OMB. 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A); 5 CFR 
1320.8(d)(1), 1320.10(e)(1), 1320.12(a). Specifically, FRA invites 
interested respondents to comment on the following summary of proposed 
information collection activities regarding (i) whether the information 
collection activities are necessary for FRA to properly execute its 
functions, including whether the activities will have practical 
utility; (ii) the accuracy of FRA's estimates of the burden of the 
information collection activities, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used to determine the estimates; (iii) ways 
for FRA to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information 
being collected; and (iv) ways for FRA to minimize the burden of 
information collection activities on the public by automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology (e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses). See 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)(I)-(iv); 5 CFR 
1320.8(d)(1)(I)-(iv). FRA believes that soliciting public comment will 
promote its efforts to reduce the administrative and paperwork burdens 
associated with the collection of information mandated by Federal 
regulations. In summary, FRA reasons that comments received will 
advance three objectives: (i) Reduce reporting burdens; (ii) ensure 
that it organizes information collection requirements in a ``user 
friendly'' format to improve the use of such information; and (iii) 
accurately assess the resources expended to retrieve and produce 
information requested. See 44 U.S.C. 3501.
    Below is a brief summary of the information collection activities 
that FRA will submit for renewed clearance by OMB as required under the 
PRA:
    Title: Causal Analysis and Countermeasures to Reduce Rail-related 
Suicides.
    OMB Control Number: 2130-0572.
    Abstract: Pedestrian trespassing on railroad property resulting in 
serious injury or death is one of the two most serious safety problems 
(the second being grade crossing collisions) facing the railroad 
industry and its regulators not only in the United States but also in 
other countries. It is widely believed in this country that the 
reported prevalence and incidence of railway suicide vastly under-
represents the nature and extent of the problem. There is no central 
reporting system within the railroad industry or the suicide prevention 
field that provides verifiable information about how many trespass 
deaths are accidental vs. intentional. Therefore, there are no 
verifiable measures of the extent of rail-related suicides in the 
United States.
    While railroad companies must report trespass incidents resulting 
in serious injury or death to the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration 
(FRA), injuries or deaths that are ruled by a medical examiner or 
coroner to be intentional are not reported. Preliminary figures from 
2006 indicate there were approximately 500 deaths and 360 injuries 
reported to the FRA--an increase of 100 incidents over the previous 
year--but suicides are not represented in these numbers. Unverifiable 
estimates from a number of sources range from 150 to more than 300 
suicides per year on the U.S. railways.
    Like any other incident on the rail system, a suicide on the tracks 
results in equipment and facility damage, delays to train schedules, 
and trauma to railroad personnel involved in the incidents. As a 
result, FRA last year awarded a grant for the first phase of a 5-year 
project to reduce suicides on the rail system to the Railroad Research 
Foundation (part of the Association of American Railroads) and its 
subcontractor, the American Association of Suicidology (AAS).
    In the course of five years, the research project's goals include:
     A prevalence assessment to determine verifiable numbers of 
suicides on the rail system,
     Development of a standardized reporting tool for industry 
use,
     A causal analysis and root cause analysis of suicide 
incidents that occur during the grant cycle, and

[[Page 40022]]

     Design and implementation of suicide prevention measures 
for the nation's rail system to reduce suicide injuries and deaths.
    This request to the Office of Management and Budget is for re-
approval in order to complete Phase II of the project, the causal 
analysis. In order to understand as much as possible about people who 
intend to die by placing themselves in the path of a train, and 
therefore to design prevention strategies, AAS has been conducting 60 
psychological autopsies over the course of two years on people who die 
by rail-related suicide.
    Psychological autopsy is a recognized and accepted method for 
obtaining information about physical, emotional and circumstantial 
contributors to a person's death. The 60 psychological autopsies for 
the FRA project involve interviews with informants to these incidents 
including family members and friends, employers and co-workers, and 
rail personnel involved in the incidents.
    After conducting a root cause analysis of this data, AAS will then 
work with the industry to design, pilot test and implement effective 
countermeasures with the goal of reducing deaths, injuries and 
psychological trauma.
    Form Number(s): FRA F 6180.125A; FRA F 6180.125B.
    Affected Public: Individuals.
    Respondent Universe: 280 Railroad Personnel/Members of the Public/
Affected Families and Friends.
    Frequency of Submission: On occasion.
    Reporting Burden:

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                                                        Total annual      Average time per   Total annual burden
     Collection instrument       Respondent universe      responses           response              hours
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Form FRA F 6180.125A..........  280 Individuals.....  5,600 responses/  5 minutes..........  467 hours.
                                                      forms...........
Form FRA F 6180.125B..........  280 Individuals.....  35 forms........  2 hours............  70 hours.
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    Total Responses: 5,670.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 537 hours.
    Status: Re-Approval under Regular Clearance Procedures.
    Title: Confidential Close Call Reporting System Evaluation-Related 
Interview Data Collection.
    OMB Control Number: 2130-0574.
    Abstract: In the U.S. railroad industry, injury rates have been 
declining over the last 25 years. Indeed, the industry incident rate 
fell from a high of 12.1 incidents per 100 workers per year in 1978 to 
3.66 in 1996. As the number of incidents has decreased, the mix of 
causes has also changed toward a higher proportion of incidents that 
can be attributed to human and organizational factors. This combination 
of trends--decrease in overall rates but increasing proportion of human 
factors-related incidents--has left safety managers with a need to 
shift tactics in reducing injuries to even lower rates than they are 
now.
    In recognition of the need for new approaches to improving safety, 
FRA has instituted the Confidential Close Call Reporting System 
(C\3\RS). The operating assumption behind C\3\RS is that by assuring 
confidentiality, employees will report events which, if dealt with, 
will decrease the likelihood of accidents. C\3\RS, therefore, has both 
a confidential reporting component, and a problem analysis/solution 
component. C\3\RS is expected to affect safety in two ways. First, it 
will lead to problem solving concerning specific safety conditions. 
Second, it will engender an organizational culture and climate that 
supports greater awareness of safety and a greater cooperative 
willingness to improve safety.
    If C\3\RS works as intended, it could have an important impact on 
improving safety and safety culture in the railroad industry. While 
C\3\RS has been developed and implemented with the participation of 
FRA, railroad labor, and railroad management, there are legitimate 
questions about whether it is being implemented in the most beneficial 
way, and whether it will have its intended effect. Further, even if 
C\3\RS is successful, it will be necessary to know if it is successful 
enough to implement on a wide scale. To address these important 
questions, FRA is implementing a formative evaluation to guide program 
development, a summative evaluation to assess impact, and a 
sustainability evaluation to determine how C\3\RS can continue after 
the test period is over. The evaluation is needed to provide FRA with 
guidance as to how it can improve the program, and how it might be 
scaled up throughout the railroad industry.
    Program evaluation is an inherently data driven activity. Its basic 
tenet is that as change is implemented, data can be collected to track 
the course and consequences of the change. Because of the setting in 
which C\3\RS is being implemented, that data must come from the 
railroad employees (labor and management) who may be affected. Critical 
data include beliefs about safety and issues related to safety, and 
opinions/observations about the operation of C\3\RS.
    The current study is a five-year demonstration project to improve 
rail safety, and is designed to identify safety issues and propose 
corrective action based on voluntary reports of close calls submitted 
to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Because of the innovative 
nature of this program, FRA is implementing an evaluation to determine 
whether the program is succeeding, how it can be improved and, if 
successful, what is needed to spread the program throughout the 
railroad industry. Interviews to evaluate the close call reporting 
system are being conducted with two groups: (1) Key stakeholders to the 
process (e.g., FRA officials, industry labor, and carrier management 
within participating railroads); and (2) Employees in participating 
railroads who are eligible to submit close call reports to the 
Confidential Close Call Reporting System. Different questions are 
addressed to each of these two groups. Interviews are semi-structured, 
with follow-up questions asked as appropriate depending on the 
respondent's initial answer.
    The confidentiality of the interview data is protected by the 
Privacy Act of 1974. FRA fully complies with all laws pertaining to 
confidentiality, including the Privacy Act. Thus, information obtained 
by or acquired by FRA's contractor, the Volpe Center, from key 
stakeholders and railroad employees will be used strictly for 
evaluation purposes. None of the information that might be identifying 
will be disseminated or disclosed in any way. In addition, the 
participating railroad sites involved will require Volpe to establish a 
non-disclosure agreement that prohibits disclosure of company 
confidential information without the carrier's authorization. Also, the 
data is protected under the Department of Transportation regulation 
Title 49 CFR Part 9, which is in part concerned with the Department 
involvement in proceedings between private litigants. According to this 
statute, if information is subpoenaed, Volpe and Volpe

[[Page 40023]]

contractors cannot ``provide testimony or produce any material 
contained in the files of the Department, or disclose any information 
or produce any material acquired as part of the performance of that 
employee's official duties or because of that employee's official duty 
status'' unless authorized by agency counsel after determining that, in 
legal proceedings between private litigants, such testimony would be in 
the best interests of the Department or that of the United States 
Government if disclosed. Finally, the name of those interviewed will 
not be requested.
    Form Number(s): FRA F 6180.126A; FRA F 6180.126B.
    Affected Public: Railroad Employees and Key Non-railroad 
Stakeholders.
    Respondent Universe: 300 Select Railroad Employees/Non-railroad 
Stakeholders.
    Frequency of Submission: On occasion.

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                                                        Total annual       Average time per      Total annual
    Collection instrument      Respondent universe       responses             response          burden hours
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Form FRA F 6180.126A.........  300 Individuals....  133.5 forms........  60 minutes.........  133.5 hours.
Form FRA F 6180.126B.........  300 Individuals....  133.5 forms........  60 minutes.........  133.5 hours.
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    Total Responses: 267.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 267 hours.
    Status: Re-Approval under Regular Clearance Procedures.
    Pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 3507(a) and 5 CFR 1320.5(b), 
1320.8(b)(3)(vi), FRA informs all interested parties that it may not 
conduct or sponsor, and a respondent is not required to respond to, a 
collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB 
control number.

    Authority:  44 U.S.C. 3501-3520.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on July 7, 2010.
Kimberly Coronel,
Director, Office of Financial Management, Federal Railroad 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2010-17017 Filed 7-12-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P