[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 109 (Thursday, June 6, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34103-34105]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-13434]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60-Day-13-13UW]


Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

    In compliance with the requirement of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 for opportunity for public comment on 
proposed data collection projects, the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC) will publish periodic summaries of proposed projects. 
To request more information on the proposed projects or to obtain a 
copy of the data collection plans and instruments, call 404-639-7570 or 
send comments to Ron Otten, at CDC 1600 Clifton Road, MS-D74, Atlanta, 
GA 30333 or send an email to [email protected].
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways 
to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology. Written comments should be received 
within 60 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    Enhanced Utilization of Personal Dust Monitor Feedback--New--
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    NIOSH, under Public Law 91-596, Sections 20 and 22 (Section 20-22, 
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970) has the responsibility to 
conduct research relating to innovative methods, techniques, and 
approaches dealing

[[Page 34104]]

with occupational safety and health problems.
    This research relates to occupational safety and health problems in 
the coal mining industry. Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis (CWP) or ``Black 
Lung Disease,'' caused by miners' exposure to respirable coal mine 
dust, is the leading cause of death due to occupational illness among 
U.S. coal miners. Although the prevalence of CWP was steadily 
decreasing, more recent data from NIOSH's chest x-ray surveillance data 
suggests that the prevalence of this disease is on the rise once again.
    A Personal Dust Monitor (PDM) has become commercially available 
that provides miners with near real-time feedback on their exposure to 
respirable dust. If miners and mine managers know how to properly use 
the information provided by PDMs, they may be able to make adjustments 
to the work place and work procedures to try to reduce exposure to 
respirable dust. It is, therefore, important to study how, and under 
what circumstances, feedback from PDMs can be used to reduce respirable 
dust exposure and ultimately the incidence of Black Lung disease.
    The objectives of the project are (1) to test an intervention 
designed to help miners use PDM feedback more effectively to reduce 
their exposure to respirable dust and (2) to document specific examples 
of ways that miners can use PDM feedback to alter their behaviors to 
decrease their exposure to respirable dust while working underground.
    NIOSH proposes an intervention to lower miners' respirable dust 
exposure levels by involving them in the interpretation of PDM feedback 
and the discussion of ways to change their behaviors to decrease 
exposure to respirable dust. Upon completion of a pilot test, four 
underground coal mines will be involved in this research study. Miners 
who wear PDMs will be assigned to two groups, an experimental group and 
a control group. An effort will be made to recruit two mines that are 
currently using PDMs and two mines that have not used PDMs in the past. 
Large mines will be contacted for participation to make sure that there 
will be enough individuals wearing PDMs to create both an experimental 
group and a control group and to allow participants in the experimental 
group to form sub-groups during the weekly meetings based on their job 
classification. The PDM feedback discussions will be held weekly during 
the course of the six-week intervention period. Each session is 
expected to last for 45 minutes (15 minutes to fill out the worksheet 
and 30 minutes for the discussion). To control for unintended 
``discussion'' between the control and experimental groups, selection 
of mine sites will favor mines where separate portals are used or where 
sister mines within the same company are located near one another.
    For miners in the experimental group, data will be collected 
multiple times during the six-week intervention period. For miners in 
the control group, data will only be collected at the beginning and end 
of the intervention period. The assessment tools include: Surveys, 
worksheets, and structured interviews.
    The experimental groups will receive the intervention which will 
include (1) an introduction to the project, (2) a pre-test concerning 
miners' attitude, knowledge, and behaviors toward PDM use, (3) a six-
week intervention where PDM feedback is discussed in weekly meetings 
and worksheets are collected from mine personnel about their behaviors 
the previous week, and (4) a post-test concerning miners' attitude, 
knowledge, and behaviors toward PDM use and interviews of participants 
to identify changes in behaviors that were implemented to reduce 
respirable dust exposure. The control group will wear their PDM units 
when they are working underground but will not participate in weekly 
meetings. They will only complete the pre- and post-test and be 
interviewed upon completion of the intervention period.
    The operators at each mine will provide daily respirable coal mine 
dust exposures levels (as measured by their PDMs) for all of the 
participating miners. There is already a software program in place that 
electronically records these exposure levels and exports them to a 
spreadsheet at each mine site.
    It is estimated that across the 1 pilot mine and 4 intervention 
mines, up to 209 respondents will be surveyed; up to 109 will complete 
weekly worksheets; up to 49 respondents will be interviewed; and we 
will receive PDM output from up to 209 respondents. An exact number of 
respondents are unavailable at this time because the mine sites have 
not been selected.
    After all of the information has been gathered, a variety of 
statistical and qualitative analyses will be conducted on the data to 
obtain conclusions with respect to miners' utilization of PDM feedback. 
The results from these analyses will be presented in a report 
describing what methods encourage miners to make behavior changes in 
response to their PDM output and what behavior changes work best at 
reducing miners' exposure to respirable dust. If the intervention is 
successful in reducing respirable coal mine dust exposure, details of 
the intervention will be more widely disseminated to coal mine 
operators so they can implement similar discussion groups at their 
mines.
    There is no cost to respondents other than their time. The total 
estimated annualized burden hours are 622.

                                           Estimated Annualized Burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                      Average
                                                     Number of       Number of      burden per     Total burden
      Type of respondents           Form name       respondents    responses per   response  (in       hours
                                                                    respondent        hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coal Miners in Experimental     Pre-test Survey.             109               1           15/60              27
 Groups (from five different    Week 2 Worksheet             109               1           15/60              27
 mines).
                                Week 3 Worksheet             109               1           15/60              27
                                Week 4 Worksheet             109               1           15/60              27
                                Week 5 Worksheet             109               1           15/60              27
                                Post-test Survey             109               1           15/60              27
                                PDM feedback                 109               6           30/60             327
                                 Discussions
                                 (weekly).
                                Interview.......              29               1               1              29
Mine Safety Operators for       Daily respirable               5              45            5/60              19
 Experimental Groups (from       coal mine dust
 five different mines).          exposure data.
Mine Safety Operators for       Daily respirable               4              45            5/60              15
 Control Groups (from four       coal mine dust
 different mines).               exposure data.

[[Page 34105]]

 
Coal Miners in Control Groups   Pre-test Survey.             100               1           15/60              25
 (from four different mines).
                                Post-test Survey             100               1           15/60              25
                                Interview.......              20               1               1              20
                               ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............             622
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Ron A. Otten,
Director, Office of Scientific Integrity Office of the Associate 
Director for Science, Office of the Director, Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2013-13434 Filed 6-5-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P