[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 24 (Monday, February 5, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5073-5074]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-02223]



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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[Docket No. CPSC-2018-0002]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; CPSC Playground Surfaces Survey

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or Commission) is 
announcing an opportunity for public comment on a new proposed 
collection of information by the agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 (PRA), federal agencies are required to publish notice in 
the Federal Register for each proposed collection of information and to 
allow 60 days for public comment in response to the notice. This notice 
solicits comments on a survey that will assess children's potential 
exposure to playground surfaces, including recycled tire material.

DATES: Submit written or electronic comments on the collection of 
information by April 6, 2018.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2018-
0002, 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 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 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-2018-0002, into the ``Search'' box, and follow the 
prompts. A copy of the draft survey is available at http://www.regulations.gov under Docket No. CPSC-2018-0002, Supporting and 
Related Material.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Charu Krishnan, Consumer Product 
Safety Commission, 4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; (301) 
504-7221, or by email to: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the 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. 
``Collection of information'' is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 
1320.3(c) and includes agency surveys. Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA 
(44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)) requires federal agencies to provide a 60-day 
notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of 
information before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. 
Accordingly, the CPSC is publishing notice of the proposed collection 
of information set forth in this document.

A. Playground Surfaces Survey

    The Commission is authorized under section 5(a) of the Consumer 
Product Safety Act (CPSA), 15 U.S.C. 2054(a), to conduct studies and 
investigations relating to the causes and prevention of deaths, 
accidents, injuries, illnesses, other health impairments, and economic 
losses associated with consumer products. Section 5(b) of the CPSA, 15 
U.S.C. 2054(b), further provides that the Commission may conduct 
research, studies, and investigations on the safety of consumer 
products or test consumer products and develop product safety test 
methods and testing devices.
    The use of recycled tire material or ``tire crumb'' rubber is 
commonplace for many athletic fields, as well as children's 
playgrounds. Playground surfaces derived from recycled tires are a 
popular option due to their low maintenance, variety of colors and 
designs, and ability to reduce the impacts from falls. The CPSC has 
received numerous inquiries from consumers and stakeholders regarding 
the safety of playground surfaces derived from recycled tires. In 
February 2016, the CPSC, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and 
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched the 
interagency Federal Research Action Plan on Recycled Tire Crumb Used on 
Playing Fields and Playgrounds (Plan). One of the Plan's objectives is 
to identify the potential hazardous chemical exposure to children 
derived from recycled tire material used regularly on playgrounds 
throughout the United States. The EPA and CDC will evaluate the 
chemical hazards of recycled tire materials on athletic playing fields, 
and the CPSC will assess the level of risk and the extent to which 
children may be exposed to potential hazard(s) related to recycled 
tires on playgrounds.
    As a first step, in 2016, the CPSC conducted focus groups to gather 
data from a small sample of parents, childcare providers, and personnel 
responsible for the inspection and maintenance of playgrounds on their 
experiences and observations of how children interact with various 
types of playground surfaces, including those derived from recycled 
tires.\1\ Based on information obtained from these focus groups, the 
CPSC now proposes to conduct a survey of a nationally representative 
sample of parents or guardians of children (age 0 to 5) who visit 
playgrounds to gain a better understanding of potential exposures of 
playground surfaces on children, based on children's play behaviors on 
playgrounds. Exposure may include skin contact, ingestion, and 
potential contact through open wounds. With the data received from EPA 
and CDC regarding potential chemical hazards in recycled tires, and the 
information from the survey, CPSC staff plans to evaluate the extent 
children may be exposed to potential hazards related to tire crumb 
rubber and the level of risk from that exposure. This survey will help 
inform CPSC staff's analysis regarding playground surfaces derived from 
recycled tires. CPSC staff may also design future studies based on the 
information collected from the survey.
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    \1\ Approved by OMB under Control Number 3041-0136.
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    CPSC has contracted with the Fors Marsh Group, LLC (FMG) to design 
the survey. SSRS, LLC will program and administer the final survey. 
Trained interviewers will dial and conduct the survey using a computer-
assisted telephone interview (CATI) system, in a secure location, to 
which only authorized personnel have access. Participants will be 
recruited by re-contacting respondents of the SSRS Omnibus. The SSRS 
Omnibus is a

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national, weekly, dual-frame bilingual RDD telephone survey designed to 
meet standards of quality associated with custom research studies. Each 
weekly wave of the SSRS Omnibus consists of 1,000 interviews; 600 are 
obtained with respondents on their cell phones, and approximately 35 
interviews are completed in Spanish. The topic of the surveys varies 
week to week. Interviewers will conduct follow-up re-contacts to target 
specific populations on certain issues. We will use existing data from 
this sample source to pre-screen individuals in the target population 
(parents of children who are currently 0-5 years old). These targeted 
households will be re-contacted to administer the proposed survey. 
Participants will be re-screened at the beginning of the call to make 
sure that they meet the target criteria and to identify which subset of 
questions they will be given for the survey. Participation is voluntary 
and all responses will be kept confidential.

B. Burden Hours

    Each telephone interview will take approximately 20 minutes to 
complete. We estimate the number of respondents to be 2,200. We 
estimate the total annual burden hours for respondents to be 726 hours. 
The monetized hourly cost is $35.28, as defined by the average total 
hourly cost to employers for employee compensation for employees across 
all occupations as of June 2017, reported by the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics. Accordingly, we estimate the total annual cost burden to 
all respondents to be $25,613. (726 hours x $35.28 = $25,613.28.). The 
total cost to the federal government for the contract to design and 
conduct the survey issued to FMG under contract number CPSC-D-16-0002 
is $243,593.

C. Request for Comments

    The CPSC invites comments on these topics:
     Whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of CPSC's functions, including 
whether the information will have practical utility;
     The accuracy of CPSC's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
     Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
     Ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on respondents, including through the use of automated 
collection techniques, when appropriate, and other forms of information 
technology.

Alberta E. Mills,
Acting Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2018-02223 Filed 2-2-18; 8:45 am]
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