[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 120 (Wednesday, June 22, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40677-40679]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-14729]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[Docket No. CPSC-2009-0102]


Collection of Information; Proposed Extension of Approval; 
Comment Request--Follow-Up Activities for Product-Related Injuries

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (``PRA'') 
(44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the Consumer Product Safety Commission 
(``CPSC'' or ``Commission'') requests comments on a proposed extension 
of approval of a collection of information from persons who have been 
involved in, or have witnessed incidents associated with, consumer 
products. The Commission will consider all comments received in 
response to this notice before requesting an extension of approval of 
this collection of information from the Office of Management and Budget 
(``OMB'').

DATES: The Office of the Secretary must receive comments not later than 
August 22, 2016.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2009-
0102, by any of the following methods:
    Electronic Submissions: Submit electronic comments to the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal at: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments. The Commission does not accept 
comments submitted by electronic mail (email), except through 
www.regulations.gov. The Commission encourages you to submit electronic 
comments by using the Federal eRulemaking Portal, as described above.
    Written Submissions: Submit written submissions in the following 
way: Mail/Hand delivery/Courier (for paper, disk, or CD-ROM 
submissions), preferably in five copies, to: Office of the Secretary, 
Consumer Product Safety Commission, Room 820, 4330 East-West Highway, 
Bethesda, MD 20814; telephone (301) 504-7923.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and docket number for this notice. All comments received may be posted 
without change, including any personal identifiers, contact 
information, or other personal information provided, to: http://www.regulations.gov. Do not submit confidential business information, 
trade secret information, or other sensitive or protected information 
that you do not want to be available to the public. If furnished at 
all, such

[[Page 40678]]

information should be submitted in writing.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to: http://www.regulations.gov, and insert the 
docket number, CPSC-2009-0102, into the ``Search'' box, and follow the 
prompts.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information contact: 
Robert H. Squibb, Consumer Product Safety Commission, 4330 East-West 
Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; (301) 504-7815, or by email to: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Background

    Section 5(a) of the Consumer Product Safety Act, 15 U.S.C. 2054(a), 
requires the Commission to collect information related to the causes 
and prevention of death, injury, and illness associated with consumer 
products. That section also requires the Commission to conduct 
continuing studies and investigations of deaths, injuries, diseases, 
other health impairments, and economic losses resulting from accidents 
involving consumer products.
    The Commission obtains information about product-related deaths, 
injuries, and illnesses from a variety of sources, including 
newspapers, death certificates, consumer complaints, and medical 
facilities. In addition, the Commission receives information through 
its Internet Web site through forms reporting on product-related 
injuries or incidents.
    The Commission also operates a surveillance system known as the 
National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (``NEISS'') that 
provides timely data on consumer product-related injuries treated as 
well as U.S. childhood poisonings. NEISS data comes from a 
statistically valid sample from approximately 100 hospital emergency 
departments. The NEISS system has been in operation since 1971. NEISS 
emergency department records are reviewed by hospital employees or 
contractors (``NEISS respondents'').
    From these sources, Commission staff selects cases of interest for 
further investigation by face-to-face or telephone interviews with 
persons who witnessed, or were injured in, incidents involving consumer 
products. The CPSC plans to begin conducting investigations through 
internet-based questionnaires in the next year to supplement telephone 
interviews. On-site investigations are usually made in cases where CPSC 
staff need photographs of the incident site, the product involved, or 
detailed information about the incident. This information can come from 
face-to-face interviews with persons who were injured or who witnessed 
the incident, as well as contact with state and local officials, 
including police, coroners, and fire investigators, and others with 
knowledge of the incident.
    The Commission uses the information to support the development and 
improvement of voluntary standards; rulemaking proceedings; information 
and education campaigns; compliance and enforcement efforts and related 
administrative and judicial proceedings. Commission activities are, in 
many cases, data driven, and incident data is crucial in advancing the 
agency's mission. In addition, the CPSC also collects information 
through NEISS for other federal agencies through Interagency Agreements 
including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (``CDC'') and 
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (``NHTSA'').
    OMB approved the collection of information concerning product-
related injuries under control number 3041-0029. OMB's most recent 
extension of approval will expire on September 30, 2016. The Commission 
now proposes to request an extension of approval of this collection of 
information.

B. NEISS Estimated Burden

    The NEISS system collects information on consumer-product related 
injuries from about 100 hospitals in the U.S. Respondents to NEISS 
include hospitals that directly report information to NEISS and 
hospitals that allow CPSC contractors to collect the data on behalf of 
the agency. In FY 2015, there were 137 NEISS respondents (total 
hospitals and CPSC contractors). The NEISS respondents reviewed an 
estimated 5.05 million emergency department records and reported 
739,673 total cases.
    Collecting emergency department records for review each day takes 
about 10 minutes. Each record takes about 30 seconds to review. Coding 
and reporting records that involve consumer products or other injuries 
takes about 2 minutes per record. Coding and reporting additional 
special study information takes about 90 seconds per record. 
Respondents also spend about 36 hours per year in related activities 
(training, evaluations, and communicating with other hospital staff).
    The total burden hours for all NEISS respondents are estimated to 
be 81,210 for FY2015. The average burden hour per respondent is 593 
hours. However, the total burden hour on each respondent varies due to 
differences in size of the hospital (e.g., small rural hospitals versus 
large metropolitan hospitals). The smallest hospital reported 202 cases 
with a burden of about 111 hours, while the largest hospital reported 
60,405 cases with a burden of about 4,222 hours.
    The total costs to NEISS respondents for FY2015 are estimated to be 
$3,271,621 per year. NEISS respondents enter into contracts with CPSC 
and are compensated for these costs. The average cost per respondent is 
estimated to be about $23,880. The average cost per burden hour is 
estimated to be $40.29 per hour (including wages and overhead). 
However, the actual cost to each respondent varies due to the type of 
respondent (hospital versus CPSC contractor), size of hospital, and 
regional differences in wages and overhead. Therefore, the actual 
annual cost for any given respondent may vary between $1,199 at a small 
rural hospital and $281,953 at the largest metropolitan hospital.

C. Other Burden Hours

    In cases that require more information regarding product-related 
incidents or injuries, the CPSC staff conducted face-to-face interviews 
of approximately 220 persons each year. On average, an on-site 
interview takes about 4.5 hours. The CPSC staff also conducts about 
1760 in-depth investigations by telephone. Each in-depth telephone 
investigation requires about 20 minutes. In addition, the staff is 
planning to conduct about 200 internet-based questionnaires per year 
that require about 20 minutes each. The CPSC staff estimates 1,643 
annual burden hours on these respondents: 989 hours for face-to-face 
interviews; 587 hours for in-depth telephone interviews, and 67 hours 
for internet-based questionnaires. The burden required for reporting is 
estimated at $32.82 an hour (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 
``Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,'' March 2016, Table 9, 
Total compensation for all sales and office workers in goods-producing 
industries: http://www.bls.gov/ncs). At this valuation, the estimated 
annual cost to the public is about $53,923.
    This request for the approval of an estimated 82,853 (81,210 NEISS 
and 1,643 other) burden hours per year is an increase of 37,845 hours 
since this collection of information was last approved by OMB in 2013. 
The increase in the burden hours is largely due to the inclusion of 
information collected through NEISS for other federal agencies through 
Interagency Agreements including CDC and NHTSA, which were not 
otherwise accounted for by those agencies. In order to account for all 
the

[[Page 40679]]

burden hours associated with the NEISS information collection, we have 
added those hours to the collection of information. The increase in 
burden hours also includes the increase associated with offering 
internet-based questionnaires in addition to in-person and telephone 
interviews.
    This information collection request excludes the burden associated 
with other publicly available Consumer Product Safety Information 
Databases, such as internet complaints, Hotline, and Medical Examiners 
and Coroners Alert Project (``MECAP'') reports, which are approved 
under OMB control number 3041-0146. This information collection request 
also excludes the burden associated with follow-up investigations 
conducted by other federal agencies.
    The annual cost to the government of the collection of the NEISS 
information is estimated to be about $4.9 million a year. This estimate 
includes $3.3 million in compensation to NEISS respondents described in 
section 12(a) above. This estimate also includes $1.603 million for 
about 150 CPSC professional staff months each year. The estimate of 
professional staff months includes the time required to: Oversee NEISS 
operations (e.g., administration, training, quality control); prepare 
questionnaires, interviewer guidelines, and other instruments and 
instructions used to collect the information; conduct face-to-face and 
telephone interviews; and evaluate responses obtained from interviews 
and completed forms. Each month of professional staff time costs the 
Commission about $10,683.83. This is based on a GS-12 mid-level 
salaried employee. The average yearly wage rate for a mid-level 
salaried GS-12 employee in the Washington, DC metropolitan area 
(effective as of January 2016) is $87,821 (GS-12, step 5). This 
represents 68.5 percent of total compensation (U.S. Bureau of Labor 
Statistics, ``Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,'' March 2016, 
Table 1, percentage of wages and salaries for all civilian management, 
professional, and related employees: http://www.bls.gov/ncs/). Adding 
an additional 31.5 percent for benefits brings average yearly 
compensation for a mid-level salaried GS-12 employee to $128,206.

D. Request for Comments

    The Commission solicits written comments from all interested 
persons about the proposed collection of information. The Commission 
specifically solicits information relevant to the following topics:
     Whether the collection of information described above is 
necessary for the proper performance of the Commission's functions, 
including whether the information would have practical utility;
     Whether the estimated burden of the proposed collection of 
information is accurate;
     Whether the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected could be enhanced; and
     Whether the burden imposed by the collection of 
information could be minimized by use of automated, electronic or other 
technological collection techniques, or other forms of information 
technology.

    Dated: June 17, 2016.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2016-14729 Filed 6-21-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6355-01-P