[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 27 (Tuesday, February 10, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7475-7477]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-02623]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30Day-15-15EC]


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

    Improving Organizational Management and Worker Behavior through 
Worksite Communication--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 assesses best practices for communicating and 
employing a strategic health and safety management system (HSMS) to 
facilitate workers' health and safety behaviors, including ways that 
lateral communication from management influences worker perceptions and 
behaviors. Currently, ambivalence exists about how to strategically 
communicate aspects of an HSMS top-down in the mining industry. 
Research indicates that, to answer questions about effectively using an 
HSMS to improve safety, research needs to follow a sample of workplaces 
over time, measuring the introduction or utilization of an HSMS and 
then measuring outcomes of interest at the workplace level and worker 
level.
    Therefore, analyzing workers' perceptions of the organization's 
HSMS, leaders' implementation of the organization's HSMS, and 
communication gaps between these two groups, may provide more insight 
into the best, most feasible practices and approaches to worker H&S 
performance within a system. This project is initiating such an 
approach by implementing a series of multilevel intervention (MLI) case 
studies that assess the utility of a safety system that includes 
aspects of both safety management on the organizational level and 
behavior-based safety on the worker level. By studying these levels 
separately and introducing an

[[Page 7476]]

intervention to bridge these two groups together to improve safety, the 
communication practices within an HSMS may be enhanced.
    NIOSH proposes a 3 year approval for a project that seeks to 
empirically understand what HSMS communication practices are important 
for mine worker H&S and how those practices can be developed, 
implemented, and maintained over time via desired communication from 
mine site leadership. The following questions guide this study:
    What impact does the MLI communication model that was designed and 
implemented have on: (1) Workers' health/safety behaviors, including 
those that lower exposure to dust; (2) workers' perceptions of their 
organization's values; and (3) changes in managers' strategic HSMS 
communication and implementation with workers to facilitate health/
safety performance, including those that lower exposure to dust.
    To answer the above questions, NIOSH researchers developed a 
multilevel intervention (MLI) that focuses on both management and 
workers' communication about, and subsequent actions taken, to reduce 
respirable dust exposure over time. This MLI will inform how leadership 
communicates to their employees and what affect(s) this communication 
has on individual behavior such as corrective dust actions taken by 
workers. By assessing the ongoing safety/health interactions between 
individual workers and their organizational capacities (i.e. levels of 
leadership and management of safety), and how these interactions 
influence and shape personal H&S performance, we can better understand 
what aspects of both systems need attention in a merged, more balanced 
and comprehensive system of health and safety management (DeJoy, 2005).
    Specifically, this project is using mine technology, the Helmet-
CAM, as a communication medium to help merge these two worksite 
systems. Previous research indicates that the use of information 
technology can enhance lateral and horizontal communication within 
organizations, showing support for using the Helmet-CAM in the current 
study (Hinds & Kiesler, 1995). NIOSH researchers can analyze what and 
how communication practices should be implemented to influence worker 
perceptions of their organization's H&S values and how this impacts 
their subsequent H&S behavior. Eventually, practices used to influence 
behavior related to dust control can be extrapolated to inform ways to 
communicate about and manage additional health/safety problems within 
the industry via an HSMS as implemented by site leaders.
    The Helmet-CAM incorporates video footage and real-time dust 
measurements of workers while performing their job duties and tasks in 
various locations throughout the workday. This technology has been a 
viable assessment tool to provide a comparison of where and when miners 
are exposed to their highest respirable dust concentrations. As a 
result, Helmet-CAM technology is being employed at many mines as a way 
to identify dust exposures of workers and to help reduce dust hazards 
in the environment. However, we do not yet know how mine site 
management is using, if at all, this technology to communicate with 
workers about their personal health and safety behaviors. Discussions 
about the tasks workers perform when exposure levels are high and what 
actions they can take to reduce their dust exposure may be valuable to 
the industry in helping advance the way engineering-control technology 
is used from a behavioral vantage point as well.
    Previous research (Yorio et al. 2014) identified three areas that 
influence the relationship between the strategic HSMS and its overall 
success in implementing and encouraging worker behavior change: 
Worksite leadership, organizational values, and worker perceptions and 
interpretations of management. Data on these three contingencies are 
collected from the management and worker levels during three time 
points throughout a six-week intervention to assess the ongoing 
communication via the Helmet-CAM and effects of the communication on 
behavior. Data collection and analysis pertaining to these three areas 
may occur via a pre/post survey with workers and pre/mid/post 
interviews/focus groups with workers and mine site leaders, some of 
which include dialogue around Helmet-CAM footage as provided by the 
workers who choose to participate.
    NIOSH proposes this intervention design at a minimum of three and 
no more than five industrial mineral metal/nonmetal mine sites. All of 
the data collection instruments have been used in previous studies to 
examine worker and leadership variables and factors. Therefore, NIOSH 
knows that the data collection instruments are valid and reliable to 
use in studying the worker and leader levels simultaneously, within the 
same mine. Industrial mineral sites will be recruited who have inquired 
interest in learning how to use the Helmet-CAM on their site and/or 
interest in improving their site wide communication efforts. Only a 
small sample of workers will participate at each mine site because of 
the time required for completion and to ensure the longitudinal data 
can be adequately collected over the six weeks. In other words, we 
would rather collect data multiple times with the same worker and have 
fewer participants than collect data from more workers but not have the 
ability to appropriately follow-up during the subsequent two visits.
    Data collection will take place with no more than 150 mine workers 
and 30 mine site leaders over three years. The respondents targeted for 
this study includes any active mine worker and any active site leader 
at an industrial mineral metal/nonmetal mine. It is estimated that a 
sample of up to 150 mine workers will participate in the intervention, 
which includes wearing the Helmet-CAM for a portion of their job tasks 
(no more than two hours total) during three time periods (when NIOSH is 
present during the field visit). In addition to wearing the Helmet-CAM, 
workers will be asked to complete a pre and post-test survey (~15 
minutes) and an interview during three time points throughout the study 
(~30 minutes each). The interviews include a debriefing of Helmet-CAM 
footage with participants at various mining operations who agreed to 
participate. It also is estimated that a sample of up to 30 mine site 
leaders will participate in interviews/focus groups about HSMS 
practices at the same participating mining operations. The interviews/
focus groups also occur three times during each of the NIOSH field 
visits and will take no more than 45 minutes each. 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 4.5 hours 
of workers' time over the six-week intervention and no more than 2.5 
hours of site leaders' time over the six-week intervention period.
    There are 278 total burden hours. There is no cost to respondents 
other than their time.

[[Page 7477]]



                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                                      Average
                                                                     Number of       Number of      burden per
        Type of respondents                   Form name             respondents    responses per   response (in
                                                                                    respondent        hours)
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Mine Site Leaders/Managers.........  Mine Recruitment Script....              10               1            5/60
                                     Pre/Mid/Post HSMS Interview/             10               3           45/60
                                      Focus Group Questions.
Mine Worker........................  Mine Worker Recruitment                  50               1            5/60
                                      Script.
                                     Mine Worker Survey.........              50               2           15/60
                                     Pre/Mid/Post Behaviors and               50               3           90/60
                                      Helmet-CAM Interview
                                      Questions.
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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. 2015-02623 Filed 2-9-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P