[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 127 (Monday, July 2, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30921-30922]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-14140]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[Docket No. CPSC-2018-0002]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request--Survey on Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarms

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announces 
that CPSC has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a 
new proposed collection of information by the agency on a survey that 
will estimate the use of smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms in 
United States households. In the Federal Register of March 20, 2018 (83 
FR 12178), CPSC published a notice announcing the agency's intent to 
seek approval of this collection of information. CPSC received several 
comments in response to that notice. After review and consideration of 
the comments, by publication of this notice, the Commission announces 
that CPSC has submitted to the OMB a request for approval of this 
collection of information.

DATES: Written comments on this request for approval of information 
collection requirements should be submitted by August 1, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments about this request by email: 
[email protected] or fax: 202-395-6881.
    Comments by mail should be sent to the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Attn: OMB Desk Officer for the CPSC, Office of 
Management and Budget, Room 10235, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 
20503. In addition, written comments that are sent to OMB also should 
be submitted electronically at http://www.regulations.gov, under Docket 
No. CPSC-2018-0002.

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:

A. Comments

    On March 20, 2018, the CPSC published a notice in the Federal 
Register announcing the agency's intent to seek approval of a new 
collection of information on a national in-home survey that will 
estimate the use and functionality of smoke and CO alarms in 
households, as well as user hazard perceptions regarding such alarms. 
(83 FR 12178). CPSC received three comments in response to that notice. 
Two commenters did not address the survey or any issues related to the 
survey, but instead, raised concerns about climate change. One 
commenter, the International Code Council (ICC), supported the 
information collection. The ICC stated that it promulgates residential 
and commercial building safety codes and that having reliable data to 
analyze the scope of use and effectiveness of the detection devices 
will improve public safety.

[[Page 30922]]

    Accordingly, after consideration of these comments, CPSC will 
request approval from OMB for this collection of information.

B. Survey

    CPSC has entered into a contract with Eureka Facts to conduct a 
national in-home survey that will estimate the use and functionality of 
smoke and CO alarms in households, as well as user hazard perceptions 
regarding such alarms. The information collected from this survey will 
provide CPSC updated national estimates regarding the use of smoke 
alarms and CO alarms in households, based on direct observation of 
alarm installations. The survey also will help CPSC identify the groups 
that do not have operable smoke alarms and/or CO alarms and the reasons 
they do not have such alarms. With this information, CPSC will be able 
to target its messaging better and improve consumer use and awareness 
regarding the operability of these alarms. In addition, the survey 
results will help to inform CPSC's recommendations to voluntary 
standards groups and state/local jurisdictions regarding their codes, 
standards, and/or regulations on smoke and CO alarms.
    The survey seeks to collect information from 1,185 households 
within the United States, with an initial group of 50 households that 
will be processed and analyzed to identify any issues regarding the 
survey instrument and data collection procedures. The survey will use a 
mixed-mode, multistage approach to data collection. The data will be 
collected through two modes: Face-to-face in-home interviews and 
telephone surveys. The survey instrument will be programmed on Vovici 
software and will be administered via in-home interviews using a 
Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) format, or by telephone, 
using a Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) format.
    Smoke alarms are more prevalent in homes than CO alarms are. 
Accordingly, during the screening process, if respondents indicate that 
they have a smoke alarm that may be tested directly, the respondents 
will be scheduled for an in-home interview for the full survey. 
However, if the smoke alarm cannot be tested directly because the 
household does not have a smoke alarm installed, or the smoke alarms 
are connected to a central alarm system that will notify the police or 
fire department, the respondent is not eligible for the in-home survey. 
Instead of the in-home survey, these households would be given a subset 
of survey questions about safety attitudes and demographics that would 
be collected over the telephone. For participants eligible for in-home 
interviews, a two-member survey team will ask household residents 
questions related to installed smoke and CO alarms. The survey team 
will then test residents' smoke and CO alarms. If any of the alarms do 
not work, the survey team will offer to replace the alarms free of 
charge.

C. Burden Hours

    The survey interview will take 20 to 60 minutes to conduct, 
depending on whether the survey is administered by telephone (about 20 
minutes), or by an in-home interview (60 minutes). We estimate the 
number of survey respondents to be 1,185. We estimate the total annual 
burden hours for respondents to be 1,422 hours, based on the total time 
required to respond to the invitation, screener, and the actual survey. 
The monetized hourly cost is $35.64, as defined by the average total 
hourly cost to employers for employee compensation for employees across 
all occupations as of September 2017, reported by the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics. Accordingly, we estimate the total annual cost burden to 
all respondents to be $50,680. (1,422 hours x $35.64 = $50,680.). The 
total cost to the federal government for the contract to design and 
conduct the survey is $721,773.

Alberta E. Mills,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2018-14140 Filed 6-29-18; 8:45 am]
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