[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 223 (Wednesday, November 19, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68887-68888]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-27350]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30Day-15-14APM]


Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has submitted 
the following information collection request to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The notice for the proposed 
information collection is published to obtain comments from the public 
and affected agencies.
    Written comments and suggestions from the public and affected 
agencies concerning the proposed collection of information are 
encouraged. Your comments should address any of the following: (a) 
Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary 
for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including 
whether the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the 
accuracy of the agencies estimate of the burden of the proposed 
collection of information, including the validity of the methodology 
and assumptions used; (c) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected; (d) Minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on those who are to respond, including 
through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or 
other technological collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses; and 
(e) Assess information collection costs.
    To request additional information on the proposed project or to 
obtain a copy of the information collection plan and instruments, call 
(404) 639-7570 or send an email to [email protected]. Written comments and/or 
suggestions regarding the items contained in this notice should be 
directed to the Attention: CDC Desk Officer, Office of Management and 
Budget, Washington, DC 20503 or by fax to (202) 395-5806. Written 
comments should be received within 30 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    Surveillance of Health-Related Workplace Absenteeism--[New]--
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    There is currently a high global human health risk from emerging 
novel influenza, coronavirus and similar evolving pathogens, which is 
prompting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to 
enhance situational awareness capacity for emergency preparedness and 
response.
    During the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus pandemic, NIOSH/CDC did a 
pilot study to test the feasibility of using national surveillance of 
workplace absenteeism to assess the pandemic's impact on the workplace 
to plan for preparedness and continuity of operations and to contribute 
to health awareness during the emergency response. As part of this 
emergency effort, CDC contracted with the American College of 
Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM), which has access to a 
large network of affiliated medical directors and corporate health 
units that routinely compile absenteeism data, to conduct enhanced 
passive surveillance of absenteeism using weekly data from a 
convenience sample of sentinel worksites.
    Due the emergency situation at that time, OMB approval was 
erroneously not requested for the data collection activities associated 
with the pilot study. The current request seeks to build off of the 
data collected from the pilot and accounts for the burden involving all 
of the participants.
    From September 28, 2009, through March 31, 2010, 79 sentinel 
worksites representing 16 different employers participated in the pilot 
study. Each week, ACOEM collected reports of aggregated absenteeism 
data from the medical directors of the participating companies using an 
emailed, standardized form. ACOEM replaced company names with coded 
unique identifiers, and sent the aggregated data to CDC/NIOSH for 
analysis.
    The major strengths of the sentinel worksite approach to 
absenteeism surveillance were the use of existing, routinely collected 
data and timeliness. The use of existing, routinely collected data made 
the burden on participating companies negligible. Data were routinely 
compiled and thus could be collected and analyzed in near real time, 
making this approach useful, in principle, for providing current 
situational awareness and actionable intelligence that could be used to 
inform, prioritize, and evaluate intervention efforts during the 
pandemic. On the other hand, there were several limitations to the 
sentinel worksite surveillance done in 2009-2010, and the activity was 
not maintained after the H1N1 pandemic ended.
    At present, two new emerging infectious diseases, novel H7N9 
influenza virus and a coronavirus circulating in the Middle East, have 
demonstrated the need to build additional capacity for national 
surveillance for health-related workplace absenteeism so that it can be 
used to monitor the impact of these or any other disease that might 
reach pandemic potential and spread to the U.S.
    NIOSH/CDC requests permission to collect company absenteeism data, 
to be able to assess the impact of disease on a company and to identify 
trends in the spread of influenza or other novel disease states. This 
will provide an additional monitoring system to CDC. The proposed 
project builds on the 2009/10 initiative and modifies the reporting 
format to collect information on a daily versus weekly basis. The 
companies in the program will be those that routinely collect 
absenteeism data thus the burden will be minimal. We will be asking 
companies to record their daily absenteeism numbers into an excel file 
which can be emailed to ACOEM on a weekly or monthly basis. The excel 
file will be pre-populated with company name, site and dates to ease 
the reporting burden on companies.
    ACOEM will transmit de-identified information on a weekly or 
monthly basis to NIOSH/CDC who will in turn conduct analysis on an 
aggregate basis. Data will be compiled by state and HHS region, as well 
as nationally to allow for trend analysis.
    The initial 16 respondents in the 2009/10 study will be asked to 
participate and an additional 12 companies have indicated an interest 
in participating in the data collection activity. The employee 
population among these 28 companies is approximately 293,000.
    The annualized estimated burden of time is 607 hours for the 28 
respondents in the study. Respondents will complete the form daily; no 
more than 5 minutes per day/per respondent which translates to 25 
minutes per week/per respondent or 700 minutes per week for all 
respondents. This results in an

[[Page 68888]]

annualized burden of 607 hours per year.
    There are no costs to participants other than the time.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                   Number of      Average burden
         Type of respondent                  Form name            Number of      responses per     per response
                                                                 respondents       respondent       (in hours)
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Private companies...................  EXCEL data template....              28              260             5/60
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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. 2014-27350 Filed 11-18-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P