[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 202 (Monday, October 20, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62624-62625]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-24880]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-15-15BM]


Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of 
its continuing effort to reduce public burden, invites the general 
public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment 
on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. To request more information on the 
below proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information 
collection plan and instruments, call 404-639-7570 or send comments to 
Leroy A. Richardson, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-D74, Atlanta, GA 30333 or 
send an email to [email protected].
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) approval. 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; (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; and (e) 
estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, 
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information. Burden 
means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by 
persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose or provide information 
to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time needed to review 
instructions; to develop, acquire, install and utilize technology and 
systems for the purpose of collecting, validating and verifying 
information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and 
providing information; to train personnel and to be able to respond to 
a collection of information, to search data sources, to complete and 
review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise 
disclose the information. Written comments should be received within 60 
days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    Assessing the Impact of Organizational and Personal Antecedents on 
Proactive Health/Safety Decision Making--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 1977) has the responsibility to 
conduct research relating to innovative methods, techniques, and 
approaches dealing with occupational safety and health problems.
    This research relates to the interplay of personal, organizational, 
and cultural influences on risk-taking and proactive decision-making 
behaviors among mine workers. Proactive behavior refers to taking 
initiative to improve current conditions, adapting to present 
conditions, being self-starting and taking charge, and overcoming 
barriers to being safer. However, the antecedents, or characteristics, 
that impact these behaviors are not well understood in mining. 
Understanding the degree to which antecedents influence decisions can 
inform the focus of future health and safety management interventions.
    NIOSH proposes a project that seeks to empirically understand the 
factors and conditions that contribute to mine workers' safe decisions 
(or lack thereof) while completing job tasks. The following question 
guides this study:
    What are the most important organizational and personal antecedent 
characteristics needed to support worker health and safety (H&S) 
performance behaviors in the mining industry?
    To answer the above question, NIOSH researchers developed a 
psychometrically supported survey. Researchers identified seven worker 
perception-based `organizational values' and four `personal 
characteristics' that are presumed to be important in fostering H&S 
knowledge, motivation, proactive behaviors, and safety

[[Page 62625]]

outcomes. Because these emergent, worker perception-based constructs 
have a theoretical and empirical history, psychometrically tested items 
exist for each of them.
    The organizational values found to positively impact proactive 
safety/health behavior at work include:
     Supervisor Support: The degree to which supervisors value 
workers' contribution to the organization and care about their personal 
wellbeing.
     Supervisory Detection of Safety Behaviors: The degree to 
which supervisors emphasize the health and safety of their workers 
during job tasks.
     Organizational Detection of Safety Behaviors: The degree 
of priority assigned to safety within the organization.
     Perception of Adequate Safety Training: The degree to 
which employees are provided occupational safety training that covers 
aspects of safety-related knowledge, competence, and behavior.
     Employee Involvement: The degree to which the organization 
is willing to involve workers in decision-making processes about 
procedures that influence their work.
     Vertical Communication: The degree to which downward 
sharing of safety information occurs as well as the ease with which 
workers can communicate with their supervisors and managers about 
workplace H&S issues.
     Horizontal Communication: The degree to which employees 
communicate with and trust their coworkers.
    The personal characteristics found to influence safety/health 
proactive work behavior include:
     Change Orientation: The degree to which an individual 
feels that he or she is personally obligated to bring about 
constructive change.
     Locus of Control: The extent to which people attribute 
rewards at work to their own behavior.
     Conscientiousness: The degree of self-discipline workers 
possess related to their safety/health work tasks.
     Risk Propensity: The individuals' general tendency to 
engage in risks/risky situations at work.
    Even though all scales used to complete the survey were deemed 
valid, NIOSH researchers will revalidate each scale to ensure that 
measurement is valid. A quantitative approach, via a short survey, 
allows for prioritization, based on statistical significance, of the 
antecedents that have the most critical influence on proactive 
behaviors. Data collection will take place with approximately 800 mine 
workers over three years. The respondents targeted for this study 
include any active mine worker at a mine site, both surface and 
underground. It is estimated that a sample of up to 800 surveys will be 
collected from participants at various mining operations which have 
agreed to participate. All participants will be between the ages of 18 
and 75, currently employed, and living in the United States. 
Participation will require no more than 20 minutes of workers' time (5 
minutes for consent and 15 minutes for the survey). The total estimated 
annualized burden hours are 90. There is no cost to respondents other 
than their time.
    Upon collection of the data, it will be used to answer what 
organizational/personal characteristics have the biggest impact on 
proactive and compliant health and safety behaviors. Dominance and 
relative weights analysis will be used as the data analysis method to 
statistically rank order the importance of predictors in numerous 
regression contexts. Safety proactive and safety compliance will serve 
as the dependent variables in these regression analyses, with the 
organizational and personal characteristics as independent variables.
    Findings will be used to improve the safety and health 
organizational values and focus of mine organizations, as executed 
through their health and safety management system for mitigating health 
and safety risks at their mine site. Specifically, if organizations are 
lacking in values that are of high importance among employees, site 
leadership knows where to focus new, innovative methods, techniques, 
and approaches to dealing with their occupational safety and health 
problems. Finally, the data can be directly compared to data from other 
mine organizations that are administered the same standardized methods 
to provide broader context for areas in which the mining industry can 
focus more attention if trying to encourage safer work behavior.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                     Number of    Average burden
      Type of respondent            Form name        Number of     responses per   per response    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent      (in hours)         hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Safety/health Mine Operator...  Mine Recruitment              10               1            5/60               1
                                 Script.
Mine Worker...................  Individual Miner             266               1            5/60              22
                                 Recruitment
                                 Script.
Mine Worker...................  Survey..........             266               1           15/60              67
                               ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............              90
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Leroy A. 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. 2014-24880 Filed 10-17-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P