[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 133 (Wednesday, July 11, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32126-32128]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-14797]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30Day-18-0792]


Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

    In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has submitted the information 
collection request titled Environmental Health Specialists Network 
(EHS-NET) Program to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and approval. CDC previously published a ``Proposed Data 
Collection Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations'' notice on 
April 17, 2018 to obtain comments from the public and affected 
agencies. CDC did not receive comments related to the previous notice. 
This notice serves to allow an additional 30 days for public and 
affected agency comments.

[[Page 32127]]

    CDC will accept all comments for this proposed information 
collection project. The Office of Management and Budget is particularly 
interested in comments that:
    (a) 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;
    (b) Evaluate the accuracy of the agencies estimate of the burden of 
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    (c) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected;
    (d) 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 submission of responses; and
    (e) Assess information collection costs.
    To request additional information on the proposed project or to 
obtain a copy of the information collection plan and instruments, call 
(404) 639-7570 or send an email to [email protected]. Direct written comments 
and/or suggestions regarding the items contained in this notice to the 
Attention: CDC Desk Officer, Office of Management and Budget, 725 17th 
Street NW, Washington, DC 20503 or by fax to (202) 395-5806. Provide 
written comments within 30 days of notice publication.

Proposed Project

    Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-NET) Program (OMB 
#0920-0792, expiration 9/30/2018)--Revision--National Center for 
Environmental Health (NCEH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
(CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is requesting a three-year 
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) approval for the revision to the 
Environmental Health Specialists (EHS-Net) Program. The EHS-Net program 
focuses on identifying the environmental causes of foodborne illness. 
OMB approved the generic information collection for the EHS-Net program 
in October 2008, 2012, and 2015. To date, EHS-Net has had five genICs.
    This revision will provide OMB clearance for EHS-Net data 
collections conducted in 2018 through 2021. The program is revising the 
generic information collection request in the following ways:
    (1) The burden hours have increased to allow for additional 
statistical designs. The number of restaurants per site (8 EHS-Net 
sites, which has remained the same) has been increased from 47 to 50 
restaurants (totaling 400 restaurants); the sample size was increased 
to detect a greater odds ratio and establish a stronger power.
    (2) The number of respondents has increased to gather additional 
food worker responses per establishment. Collecting data from 
additional food workers (increased to 10 food workers per restaurant 
from 1 food worker per restaurant, totaling 4,000 food workers) will 
help minimize the potential bias of only having one worker represent 
all of food workers in a given establishment.
    We expect to conduct up to three studies in a 5-year cooperative 
period; this is based on a more accurate study schedule in a 5-year 
EHS-Net cooperative agreement.
    The goal of this information collection is to improve food safety 
and reduce foodborne illness, which supports the U.S. Department of 
Health and Human Services' Health People 2020 Goal. Reducing foodborne 
illness first requires identification and understanding of the 
environmental factors that cause these illnesses. We need to know how 
and why food becomes contaminated with foodborne illness pathogens. 
This information can then be used to determine effective food safety 
prevention methods. Ultimately, these actions can lead to increased 
regulatory program effectiveness and decreased foodborne illness. The 
purpose of the information collection is to gather data that will help 
us identify and understand environmental factors associated with 
foodborne illness. Environmental factors associated with foodborne 
illness include both food safety practices (e.g., inadequate cleaning 
practices) and the factors in the environment associated with those 
practices (e.g., worker and retail food establishment characteristics). 
The information collected through this collection will be used to:
    (a) Describe retail food establishment food handling and food 
safety practices and manager/worker and establishment characteristics,
    (b) Determine how retail food establishment and worker 
characteristics are related to food handling and food safety practices.
    This program is conducted by the Environmental Health Specialists 
Network (EHS-Net), a collaborative project of CDC, FDA, USDA, and local 
and state sites. Through this collection, we will continue to collect 
data from those who prepare food (i.e., food workers) and on the 
environments in which the food is prepared (i.e., retail food 
establishment kitchens). Thus, data collection methods for this generic 
package include: (1) Screener, (2) manager and food worker interviews/
surveys, and (3) observation of kitchen/restaurant environments. Both 
methods allow data collection on food safety practices and 
environmental factors associated with those practices.
    For each data collection, we will collect data in approximately 50 
retail food establishments per site. Thus, there will be approximately 
400 establishments per data collection (an estimated 8 sites * 50 
establishments). The total estimated annual burden for each data 
collection will be 1,777 hours.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                     Number of    Average burden
        Type of respondents                   Form name              Number of     responses per   per response
                                                                    respondents     respondent      (in hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Managers...........................  EHS-Net Manager Recruiting              889               1            3/60
                                      Script.
Managers...........................  EHS-Net Manager Informed                400               1           30/60
                                      Consent and Interview.
Food Workers.......................  EHS-Net Food Worker                   4,000               1           20/60
                                      Recruiting Screener,
                                      Consent, and Interview.
HD staff...........................  EHS-Net Restaurant                      400               1           30/60
                                      Observation.
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[[Page 32128]]

Jeffrey M. Zirger,
Acting 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. 2018-14797 Filed 7-10-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4163-18-P