[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 248 (Thursday, December 26, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78361-78362]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-30671]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

[60-Day 14-14FA]


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 LeRoy Richardson, 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

    State Surveillance under the National Toxic Substance Incidents 
Program (NTSIP)--NEW--Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry 
(ATSDR).

Background and Brief Description

    The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is 
sponsoring the National Toxic Substance Incidents Program (NTSIP) to 
gather information from many resources to protect people from harm 
caused by spills and leaks of toxic substances. The NTSIP information 
will be used to help prevent or reduce the harm caused by toxic 
substance incidents. The NTSIP is modeled partially after the Hazardous 
Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES) Program which ran from 
1992 to 2012 [OMB number: 0923-0008; expiration date 01/31/2012], with 
additions suggested by stakeholders to have a more complete program. 
The NTSIP has three components: a national database, state 
surveillance, and the response team. This information collection 
request is focused on the state surveillance component.
    The NTSIP is the only federal public health-based surveillance 
system to coordinate the collection, collation, analysis, and 
distribution of acute toxic substance incidents data to public health 
and safety practitioners. Because thousands of acute spills occur 
annually around the country, it is necessary to establish this 
surveillance system to describe the public health impacts on the 
population of the United States. The ATSDR is seeking a three-year 
approval for the ongoing collection of information for the state 
surveillance system.
    The main objectives of this information collection are to:
    1. describe toxic substance releases and the public health 
consequences associated with such releases within the participating 
states,
    2. identify and prioritize vulnerabilities in industry, 
transportation, and communities as they relate to toxic substance 
releases, and
    3. identify, develop, and promote strategies that could prevent 
ongoing and future exposures and resultant health effects from toxic 
substance releases.
    The NTSIP surveillance system will be incident-driven and all acute 
toxic substance incidents occurring within the participating states 
will be included. Upon Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval, 
participating states will include Alaska, California, Louisiana, 
Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, 
and Wisconsin.
    A standardized set of data will be collected by the NTSIP 
coordinator for

[[Page 78362]]

each incident. The NTSIP coordinator may be a federal employee assigned 
to the state or an employee of the state health department. State, but 
not federal, NTSIP coordinators will incur recordkeeping burden during 
two phases.
    During the first phase, the NTSIP coordinators will rapidly collect 
and enter data from a variety of existing data sources. Examples of 
existing data sources include, but are not limited to, reports from the 
media, the National Response Center, the U.S. Department of 
Transportation Hazardous Materials Information Reporting System, and 
state environmental protection agencies. Approximately 65% of the 
information is expected to be obtained from existing data sources.
    The second phase of the information collection will require the 
NTSIP coordinators to alert other entities of the incident when 
appropriate and to request additional information to complete the 
remaining unanswered data fields. Approximately 35% of the information 
is expected to be obtained from calling, emailing, or faxing additional 
types of respondents by the NTSIP coordinators.
    These additional respondents will incur reporting burden and 
include, but are not limited to, the on-scene commander of the 
incident, emergency government services (e.g., state divisions of 
emergency management, local emergency planning committees, fire or 
Hazmat units, police, and emergency medical services), the responsible 
party (i.e., the ``spiller''), other state and local government 
agencies, hospitals and local poison control centers.
    The NTSIP coordinator will enter data directly into an ATSDR 
internet-based data system. NTSIP materials, including a public use 
data set, annual report, and published articles will be made available 
on the ATSDR NTSIP Web page at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ntsip/.
    There are no costs to respondents besides their time. The total 
burden hours requested is 1,821.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     Number of      Avg. burden
      Type of respondents           Form name        Number of     responses per   per response    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent       (in hrs.)       (in hrs.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State NTSIP Coordinators......  NTSIP State Data               3             426               1           1,278
                                 Collection Form.
On-scene commanders...........  NTSIP State Data             110               1           30/60              55
                                 Collection Form.
Emergency government services.  NTSIP State Data             810               1           30/60             405
                                 Collection Form.
Responsible party.............  NTSIP State Data              15               1           30/60               8
                                 Collection Form.
Other state and local           NTSIP State Data              60               1           30/60              30
 governments.                    Collection Form.
Hospitals.....................  NTSIP State Data              10               1           30/60               5
                                 Collection Form.
Poison Control Centers........  NTSIP State Data              80               1           30/60              40
                                 Collection Form.
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............           1,821
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


LeRoy Richardson,
Chief, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific 
Integrity, Office of the Associate Director for Science, Office of the 
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2013-30671 Filed 12-24-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P