[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 71 (Thursday, April 12, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15839-15840]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-07562]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-18-18UF; Docket No. CDC-2018-0032]


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.

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SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part 
of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the 
utility of government information, invites the general public and other 
Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a proposed and/or 
continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on a proposed 
information collection project titled Evidence to Inform Standards that 
Ensure Turnout Gear Remains Protective Throughout Its Lifecycle that 
will provide data that links turnout gear use conditions to its 
resulting performance characteristics.

DATES: CDC must receive written comments on or before June 11, 2018.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2018-
0032 by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.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. CDC will post, without change, all relevant comments 
to Regulations.gov.
    Please note: Submit all Federal comments 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 Leroy A. Richardson, 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 the OMB for approval. To 
comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a 
proposed data collection as described below.
    The OMB is particularly interested in comments that will help:
    1. 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;
    2. Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of 
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; and
    4. 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 
submissions of responses.
    5. Assess information collection costs.

Proposed Project

    Evidence to Inform Standards that Ensure Turnout Gear Remains 
Protective Throughout Its Lifecycle--New--National Institute for 
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) 
has been tasked to assure safe

[[Page 15840]]

and healthful working conditions for men and women (Occupational Safety 
and Health Act, 1970, Pub. L. 91-596 (Section 20[a][1])). The National 
Personal Protective Technology Laboratory focuses on improving personal 
protective equipment across many industries, including the fire 
services. NIOSH seeks to request a three-year Office of Management and 
Budget approval to gather data about Personal Protective Equipment 
(PPE) use conditions.
    Turnout gear is a type of PPE used by the 1.1 million U.S. fire 
fighters to shield the body from carcinogens, flames, heat, and 
chemical/biological agents. It serves as a barrier to external hazards 
while simultaneously allowing for the escape of metabolic heat to 
prevent elevated core body temperatures. To provide the necessary 
performance characteristics, turnout gear design is complex, consisting 
of three major layers that work as a composite--a thermal liner, a 
moisture barrier, and an outer shell.
    Consensus standards provide performance requirements and retirement 
criteria for turnout gear. The retirement criteria is based on visual 
inspections and a 10-year age cap with visual inspection being less 
effective for the moisture barrier and thermal liner layers. Recent 
data of turnout gear donated from fire departments demonstrates that 
turnout gear from 2 to 10 years old was unable to meet all performance 
requirements. Thus, under the current retirement criteria, turnout gear 
that may not be protective against all hazards is being used by fire 
fighters.
    Intuitively, the use conditions to which turnout gear would be 
exposed to when used by a large or medium metropolitan fire department 
would be very different from those of a smaller department. However, 
the absence of scientific data to link performance to use conditions 
(e.g., number and type of washings, number of fire-related calls) 
provides a barrier to transitioning to an alternative approach to 
retirement.
    This study will obtain a statistically meaningful sample of turnout 
gear from three fire departments. The use conditions for the sampled 
turnout gear will be determined, and the gear will be subjected to 
established performance requirements. For each set of gear, its 
performance will be directly linked to its use condition history. This 
combined lab and field data will help determine if there is a 
relationship between turnout and gear use conditions. As well as the 
ability for turnout, gear too effectively protect the user.
    The use conditions for each set of sampled gear will be determined 
by:
    (1) Reviewing fire department records, practices, and policies;
    (2) surveying the fire fighters assigned to each set of sampled 
gear to obtain one-month of retrospective information about the use 
conditions to which it was likely exposed; and
    (3) a 6-month prospective data collection where the fire fighters 
assigned to each set of sampled gear provide information about their 
shift-specific exposures.
    The survey will provide details about the use conditions (e.g., 
number and type of launderings, repair history, and exposure to fire-
related calls) specific to the fire fighters who used the sampled 
turnout gear. The data produced by this study will be used to improve 
confidence that turnout gear will remain protective throughout its 
lifecycle. Samples of 300 individuals will be collected from three fire 
departments. The time required to complete a data collection instrument 
will be about 30 minutes for the paper retrospective study and 10 
minutes for each electronic prospective survey to be completed at the 
end of each shift, which is estimated to be 60 shifts over a 6-month 
period.
    The following table provides an estimate of the annualized burden 
hours. The estimated total hours for this information collection is 
3,150, over a three-year timeframe, with a maximum of 300 people.

                                                            Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                                                              Average
                                                                                             Number of       Number of      burden per     Total burden
              Type of respondents                               Form name                   respondents    responses per   response  (in    (in hours)
                                                                                                            respondent        hours)
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Individual Fire Fighter........................  Turnout Gear Safety Survey--                        100               1           30/60              50
                                                  Retrospective Exposures for past month.
                                                 Turnout Gear Safety Survey--Prospective             100              60           10/60           1,000
                                                  Exposures for six months.
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    Total......................................  .......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............           1,050
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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. 2018-07562 Filed 4-11-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4163-18-P