[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 88 (Tuesday, May 7, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26618-26620]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-10777]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[Docket No. CPSC-2009-0102]


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

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 
U.S.C. Chapter 35), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or 
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 (OMB).

DATES: The Office of the Secretary must receive comments not later than 
July 8, 2013.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2009-
0102, by any of the following methods:
    Electronic Submissions: Submit electronic comments to the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal at: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments. The Commission does not accept 
comments submitted by electronic mail (email), except through 
www.regulations.gov. The Commission encourages you to submit electronic 
comments by using the Federal eRulemaking Portal, as described above.
    Written Submissions: Submit written submissions in the following 
way: Mail/Hand delivery/Courier (for paper, disk, or CD-ROM 
submissions), preferably in five copies, to: Office of the Secretary,

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Consumer Product Safety Commission, Room 820, 4330 East-West Highway, 
Bethesda, MD 20814; telephone (301) 504-7923.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and docket number for this notice. All comments received may be posted 
without change, including any personal identifiers, contact 
information, or other personal information provided, to: http://www.regulations.gov. Do not submit confidential business information, 
trade secret information, or other sensitive or protected information 
that you do not want to be available to the public. If furnished at 
all, such information should be submitted in writing.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to: http://www.regulations.gov, and insert the 
docket number, CPSC-2009-0102, into the ``Search'' box, and follow the 
prompts.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information contact: 
Robert H. Squibb, Consumer Product Safety Commission, 4330 East-West 
Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; (301) 504-7815, or by email 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.
    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 as well as 
U.S. childhood poisonings. NEISS data comes from a statistically valid 
sample from approximately 100 hospital emergency departments. The NEISS 
system has been in operation since 1971. NEISS emergency department 
records are reviewed by hospital employees or contractors (NEISS 
coders).
    From these sources, 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 
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 the information to support the development and 
improvement of voluntary standards; rulemaking proceedings; information 
and education campaigns; compliance and enforcement efforts and related 
administrative and judicial proceedings. Commission activities are, in 
many cases, data driven, and incident data is crucial in advancing the 
agency's mission.
    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 July 31, 2013. The Commission now 
proposes to request an extension of approval of this collection of 
information.

B. NEISS Estimated Burden

    The NEISS system collects information on consumer-product related 
injuries from about 100 hospitals in the U.S. Respondents to NEISS 
include hospitals that directly report information to NEISS, and 
hospitals that allow CPSC contractors to collect the data on behalf of 
the agency. In FY 2012, there were a maximum of 150 NEISS contracts 
(total hospitals and CPSC contractors). NEISS coders collect and review 
all emergency records daily or weekly. During that year, NEISS coders 
reviewed an estimated 4.6 million emergency department records and 
reported approximately 400,000 consumer-product related injuries, of 
which 5,100 were childhood poisoning-related injuries. Each record 
takes approximately 15 seconds to review. Coding and reporting records 
that involve consumer product related injuries takes approximately 2.5 
minutes per record. NEISS coders also spend about 36 hours per year in 
related activities (training, evaluations, and communicating with 
doctors and nurses if more detailed information is needed).
    The total burden hours for collecting, reviewing and coding 
incident records and reports during FY 2012 are estimated to be 41,300. 
The average burden hour per hospital for FY 2012 is approximately 430 
hours; however, the total burden hour on each hospital varies due to 
differences in size of the hospital (e.g., small rural hospitals versus 
large metropolitan hospitals). For example, the smallest hospital 
reported approximately 150 cases with a burden of about 50 hours, while 
the largest hospital reported more than 17,500 cases with a burden of 
almost 1,400 hours.
    The total contract costs for NEISS in FY 2012 are $1.7 million. 
Based on FY 2012 data, the average cost per respondent is estimated to 
be about $17,600. The average cost per burden hour is estimated to be 
$41 per hour (including wages and overhead); 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. Thus, the actual annual cost for any given 
respondent may vary between $1,000 at a small rural hospital and 
$78,000 at a large metropolitan hospital.

C. Other Burden Hours

    In cases that require more information regarding product-related 
incidents or injuries, the staff conducted face-to-face interviews of 
approximately 550 persons during FY 2012. Such interviews may take 
place with the injured party, or a witness to the incident. On average, 
each on-site interview took about 4.5 hours. In FY 2012 Commission 
staff also conducted about 3700 in-depth investigations by telephone 
from the injured party or, in the case of a minor, the parents or 
guardian. Each such in-depth telephone investigation required 
approximately 20 minutes. Based on the FY 2012 data, staff estimates 
that this collection of information imposes a total annual hourly 
burden of 3,708 hours on all respondents: 2,475 hours for face-to-face 
interviews and 1,233 hours for in-depth telephone interviews. 
Commission staff estimates the value of the time required for reporting 
is $27.12 an hour (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ``Employer Costs 
for Employee Compensation,'' December 2012, Table 9, Total compensation 
for all sales and office workers in goods-producing industries: http://www.bls.gov/ncs). At this valuation, the estimated annual cost of

[[Page 26620]]

the burden hours to the public is about $100,570.
    This request for the approval of an estimated 45,008 (41,300 NEISS 
and 3,708 other) burden hours per year is a decrease of 4,697 hours 
since this collection of information was last approved by OMB in 2009. 
This decrease is due, in part, to the increased proportion of 
investigations being conducted by phone rather than on-site. In 
addition, to avoid duplication, this information collection request 
excludes the burden now associated with other publicly available 
Consumer Product Safety Information Databases, such as Internet 
complaints, Hotline, and the Medical Examiner and Coroners Alert 
Project reports. These information collections have been approved by 
OMB and are now collected under OMB Control No. 3041-0146.
    The annual cost to the government of the information collection is 
estimated to be $3.3 million a year. This estimate includes 
approximately $1.7 million in contract costs to NEISS respondents 
(based on FY 2012 data). This estimate also includes $1.6 million for 
approximately 160 Commission staff months each year. The estimate of 
staff months includes the time required to oversee NEISS operations 
(e.g., administration, training, quality control); conduct face-to-face 
and telephone interviews; and evaluate responses. Each month of 
professional staff time costs the Commission about $10,175. This is 
based on a GS-12 mid-level salaried employee. The average yearly wage 
rate for a mid-level salaried GS-12 employee in the Washington, DC 
metropolitan area (effective as of January 2011) is $84,855 (GS-12, 
step 5). This represents 69.5 percent of total compensation (U.S. 
Bureau of Labor Statistics, ``Employer Costs for Employee 
Compensation,'' December 2012, Table 1, percentage of wages and 
salaries for all civilian management, professional, and related 
employees: http://www.bls.gov/ncs/). Adding an additional 30.5 percent 
for benefits brings average yearly compensation for a mid-level 
salaried GS-12 employee to $122,094.

D. 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: May 2, 2013.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2013-10777 Filed 5-6-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P