[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 174 (Monday, September 9, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55114-55116]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-21817]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

[Docket No. OSHA-2009-0043]


Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records; Extension of the 
Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Approval of Information 
Collection (Paperwork) Requirements

AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.

ACTION: Request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: OSHA solicits public comments concerning its proposal to 
extend the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval of the

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information collection requirements specified in the Access to Employee 
Exposure and Medical Records Standard (29 CFR 1910.1020).

DATES: Comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent, or received) by 
November 8, 2013.

ADDRESSES:
    Electronically: You may submit comments and attachments 
electronically at http://www.regulations.gov, which is the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal. Follow the instructions online for submitting 
comments.
    Facsimile: If your comments, including attachments, are not longer 
than 10 pages, you may fax them to the OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-
1648.
    Mail, Hand Delivery, Express Mail, Messenger, or Courier Service: 
When using this method, you must submit a copy of your comments and 
attachments to the OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. OSHA-2009-0043, 
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of 
Labor, Room N-2625, 200 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20210. 
Deliveries (hand, express mail, messenger, and courier service) are 
accepted during the Department of Labor's and Docket Office's normal 
business hours, 8:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., e.t.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name and OSHA 
docket number (OSHA-2009-0043) for the Information Collection Request 
(ICR). All comments, including any personal information you provide, 
are placed in the public docket without change, and may be made 
available online at http://www.regulations.gov. For further information 
on submitting comments see the ``Public Participation'' heading in the 
section of this notice titled SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
    Docket: To read or download comments or other material in the 
docket, go to http://www.regulations.gov or the OSHA Docket Office at 
the address above. All documents in the docket (including this Federal 
Register notice) are listed in the http://www.regulations.gov index; 
however, some information (e.g., copyrighted material) is not publicly 
available to read or download from the Web site. All submissions, 
including copyrighted material, are available for inspection and 
copying at the OSHA Docket Office. You may also contact Theda Kenney at 
the address below to obtain a copy of the ICR.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Theda Kenney or Todd Owen, Directorate 
of Standards and Guidance, OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-3609, 
200 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20210; telephone (202) 693-
2044.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to reduce 
paperwork and respondent (i.e., employer) burden, conducts a 
preclearance consultation program to provide the public with an 
opportunity to comment on proposed and continuing information 
collection requirements in accord with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). This program ensures that information 
is in the desired format, reporting burden (time and costs) is minimal, 
collection instruments are clearly understood, and OSHA's estimate of 
the information collection burden is accurate. The Occupational Safety 
and Health Act of 1970 (the OSH Act) (29 U.S.C. 651 et seq.) authorizes 
information collection by employers as necessary or appropriate for 
enforcement of the Act or for developing information regarding the 
causes and prevention of occupational injuries, illnesses, and 
accidents (29 U.S.C. 657). The OSH Act also requires OSHA to obtain 
such information with minimum burden upon employers, especially those 
operating small businesses, and to reduce to the maximum extent 
feasible, unnecessary duplication of efforts in obtaining information 
(29 U.S.C. 657).
    Under the authority granted by the OSH Act, OSHA published a health 
regulation governing access to employee exposure monitoring data and 
medical records. This regulation does not require employers to collect 
any information or to establish any new systems of records. Rather, it 
requires that employers provide workers, their designated 
representatives, and OSHA with access to employee exposure monitoring 
and medical records, and any analyses resulting from these records that 
employers must maintain under OSHA's toxic chemical and harmful 
physical agent standards. In this regard, the regulation specifies 
requirements for record access, record retention, worker information, 
trade secret management, and record transfer. Accordingly, the Agency 
attributes the burden hours and costs associated with exposure 
monitoring and measurement, medical surveillance, and the other 
activities required to generate the data governed by the regulation to 
the health standards that specify these activities; therefore, OSHA did 
not include these burden hours and costs in this ICR.
    Access to exposure and medical information enables employees and 
their designated representatives to become directly involved in 
identifying and controlling occupational health hazards, as well as 
managing and preventing occupationally-related health impairment and 
disease. Providing the Agency with access to the records permits it to 
ascertain whether or not employers are complying with the regulation, 
as well as the recordkeeping requirements of its other health 
standards; therefore, OSHA access provides additional assurance that 
workers and their designated representatives are able to obtain the 
data they need to conduct their analyses.

II. Special Issues for Comment

    OSHA has a particular interest in comments on the following issues:
     Whether the proposed information collection requirements 
are necessary for the proper performance of the Agency's functions, 
including whether the information is useful;
     The accuracy of OSHA's estimate of the burden (time and 
costs) of the information collection requirements, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
     The quality, utility, and clarity of the information 
collected; and
     Ways to minimize the burden on employers who must comply; 
for example, by using automated or other technological information 
collection and transmission techniques.

III. Proposed Actions

    The Agency is requesting an adjustment increase of 65,522 burden 
hours from 664,993 to 730,515 hours. This increase is the result of an 
adjustment in the number of establishments used in this analysis 
increasing from 690,591 to 759,668, a total adjustment of 69,077. The 
Agency will summarize the comments submitted in response to this 
notice, and will include this summary in its response to OMB.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Title: Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records (29 CFR 
1910.1020).
    OMB Control Number: 1218-0065.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profits; Not-for-profit 
organizations; Federal Government; State, Local, or Tribal Government.
    Number of Respondents: 759,668.
    Total Responses: 6,548,554.
    Frequency of Responses: Initially, Annually, On occasion.
    Average Time per Response: Varies from 5 minutes (.08 hour) for a 
manager

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to respond to a request to 1 hour (1.0) for a manager to prepare 
necessary documentation.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 730,515.
    Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $0.

IV. Public Participation--Submission of Comments on this Notice and 
Internet Access to Comments and Submissions

    You may submit comments in response to this document as follows: 
(1) Electronically at http://www.regulations.gov, which is the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal; (2) by facsimile (fax); or (3) by hard copy. All 
comments, attachments, and other material must identify the Agency name 
and the OSHA docket number for the ICR (Docket No. OSHA-2009-0043). You 
may supplement electronic submissions by uploading document files 
electronically. If you wish to mail additional materials in reference 
to an electronic or facsimile submission, you must submit them to the 
OSHA Docket Office (see the section of this notice titled ADDRESSES). 
The additional materials must clearly identify your electronic comments 
by your name, date, and the docket number so the Agency can attach them 
to your comments.
    Because of security procedures, the use of regular mail may cause a 
significant delay in the receipt of comments. For information about 
security procedures concerning the delivery of materials by hand, 
express delivery, messenger, or courier service, please contact the 
OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-2350, (TTY (877) 889-5627). Comments 
and submissions are posted without change at http://www.regulations.gov. Therefore, OSHA cautions commenters about 
submitting personal information such as social security numbers and 
dates of birth. Although all submissions are listed in the http://www.regulations.gov index, some information (e.g., copyrighted 
material) is not publicly available to read or download through this 
Web site.
    All submissions, including copyrighted material, are available for 
inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office. Information on using 
the http://www.regulations.gov Web site to submit comments and access 
the docket is available at the Web site's ``User Tips'' link. Contact 
the OSHA Docket Office for information about materials not available 
through the Web site, and for assistance in using the Internet to 
locate docket submissions.

V. Authority and Signature

    David Michaels, Ph.D., MPH, Assistant Secretary of Labor for 
Occupational Safety and Health, directed the preparation of this 
notice. The authority for this notice is the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995 (44 U.S.C. 3506 et seq.) and Secretary of Labor's Order No. 1-2012 
(77 FR 3912, January 25, 2012).

    Signed at Washington, DC, on September 3, 2013.
David Michaels,
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 2013-21817 Filed 9-6-13; 8:45 am]
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