[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 132 (Friday, July 10, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39781-39783]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-16895]


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

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-15-0949; Docket No. CDC-2015-0053]


Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice with comment period.

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

SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part 
of its continuing efforts to reduce public burden and maximize the 
utility of government information, 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. This notice invites comment on the proposed 
extension of the information collection entitled Evaluating the 
Effectiveness of Occupational Safety and Health Program Elements in the 
Wholesale Retail Trade Sector. The National

[[Page 39782]]

Institute for Occupational Safety and Health seeks to continue its 
scientific intervention effectiveness research to support the evidenced 
based prevention of occupational injuries and illnesses in the 
wholesale/retail sector.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before September 8, 
2015.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2015-
0053 by any of the following methods:
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulation.gov. Follow the instructions 
for submitting comments.
    Mail: Leroy A. Richardson, Information Collection Review Office, 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE., MS-
D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and Docket Number. All relevant comments received will be posted 
without change to Regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided. For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to Regulations.gov.

    Please note: All public comment should be submitted through the 
Federal eRulemaking portal (Regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the 
address listed above.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the 
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan 
and instruments, contact the Information Collection Review Office, 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, NE., MS-
D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 404-639-7570; Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain approval from 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of 
information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires 
Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register 
concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new 
proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of 
information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information 
collection before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. To 
comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a 
proposed data collection as described below.
    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.

Proposed Project

    Evaluating the Effectiveness of Occupational Safety and Health 
Program Elements in the Wholesale Retail Trade Sector OMB No. 0920-
0949, expires 10/31/2015)--Extension--National Institute for 
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The mission of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and 
Health (NIOSH) is to promote safety and health at work for all people 
through research and prevention. Under Public Law 91-596, sections 20 
and 22 (Section 20-22, Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970), 
NIOSH has the responsibility to conduct research to advance the health 
and safety of workers. In this capacity, NIOSH proposes to conduct a 
study to assess the effectiveness of occupational safety and health 
(OSH) program elements in the wholesale/retail trade (WRT) sector. An 
extension is being requested in order to allow for additional time to 
complete the study. Data has already been collected for the first year 
of the study. Additional time is being requested in order to collect 
the remaining data for the second and third year.
    Liberty Mutual has estimated direct workers compensation costs to 
industry in the United States in 2009 to be $50 billion. The WRT 
industry sector employs over 21 million workers or 19% of the workforce 
in private industry. In 2007, the majority of non-fatal injuries and 
illnesses involving days away from work in the WRT sector involved 
musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs, 29%) or slip/trip/falls (STFs, 22%). 
For this reason, major strategic NIOSH goals in the WRT sector are to 
reduce MSDs, STFs and other injuries/illnesses in part by assessing the 
effectiveness of occupational safety and health (OSH) programs designed 
to prevent these outcomes. There is some evidence that OSH prevention 
programs built on key elements (management leadership, employee 
participation, hazard identification and control, medical management, 
training, and program evaluation) reduce losses. However, little 
evidence exists on the relative effectiveness of program elements 
compared to each other. There is a need for research to develop 
reliable OSH program metrics and determine which elements have the 
greatest impact on injuries, illnesses and work disability. A renewed 
partnership between NIOSH and the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation 
(OBWC) a timely opportunity to conduct such research in a relevant and 
efficient manner.
    A collaborative study involving NIOSH and the OBWC will examine the 
association between survey-assessed OSH program elements 
(organizational policies, procedures, practices) and workers 
compensation (WC) injury/illness outcomes in a stratified sample of 
OBWC-insured wholesale/retail trade (WRT) firms. Crucial OSH program 
elements with particularly high impact on WC losses will be identified 
in this study and disseminated to the WRT sector. This study will 
provide important information that is not currently available elsewhere 
on the effectiveness of OSH programs for the WRT sector. This project 
fits the mission of CDC-NIOSH to conduct scientific intervention 
effectiveness research to support the evidenced based prevention of 
occupational injuries and illnesses.
    For this study, the target population includes United States WRT 
firms (North American Industry Classification System codes 42, 44, 45, 
45). The sampling frame includes OBWC-insured WRT firms in Ohio. The 
study sample includes OBWC-insured WRT firms who volunteer to 
participate in the OBWC-NIOSH research project.
    The proposed research involves a firm-level survey of a series of 
organizational metrics considered to be

[[Page 39783]]

potential predictors of injury and illness WC claim rates and duration 
in a stratified sample of OBWC-insured WRT firms in Ohio. There are 
expected to be up to 4,404 participants per year; surveys will 
administered twice to the same firms in successive years (e.g. from 
January-December 2014 and again from January-December 2015).
    An individual responsible for the OSH program at each firm will be 
asked to complete survey that include a background section related to 
respondent and company demographics and a main section where 
individuals will be asked to evaluate organizational metrics related to 
their firm's OSH program. The firm-level survey data will be linked to 
five years of retrospective injury and illness WC claims data and two 
years of prospective injury and illness WC claims data from OBWC to 
determine which organizational metrics are related to firm-level injury 
and illness WC claim rates. A nested study will ask multiple 
respondents at a subset of 60 firms to participate by completing 
surveys. A five-minute interview will be conducted with a 10% sample of 
non-responders (up to 792 individuals).
    In order to maximize efficiency and reduce burden, a web-based 
survey is proposed for the majority (95%) of survey data collection. 
Collected information will be used to determine whether a significant 
relationship exists between self-reported firm OSH elements and firm WC 
outcomes while controlling for covariates. Once the study is completed, 
benchmarking reports about OSH elements that have the highest impact on 
WC losses in the WRT sector will be made available through the NIOSH-
OBWC internet sites and peer-reviewed publications.
    In summary, this study will determine the effectiveness of OSH 
program elements in the WRT sector and enable evidence-based prevention 
practices to be shared with the greatest audience possible. NIOSH 
expects to complete data collection in 2015. There is no cost to 
respondents other than their time.

                                                            Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                             Number of    Average burden
               Type of respondent                               Form name                    Number of     responses per   per response    Total burden
                                                                                            respondents     respondent      (in hours)      (in hours)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Safety and Health Managers in Wholesale/Retail   Occupational Safety and Health Program            4,404               1           20/60           1,468
 Trade (WRT) Firms in Ohio.                       Survey.
                                                 Informed Consent Form..................           4,404               1            2/60             147
                                                 Non Responder Interview................             792               1            5/60              66
                                                                                         ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total Hours................................  .......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............           1,681
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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. 2015-16895 Filed 7-9-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4163-18-P