[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 249 (Monday, December 30, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71902-71904]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-28116]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[Docket No. CPSC-2019-0035]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Consumer Product Risk Reduction Valuation Study: 
Cognitive Interviews & Focus Groups

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is announcing an 
opportunity for public comment on a new proposed collection of 
information by the agency. Under the Paperwork

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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 proposed collection to 
conduct cognitive interviews and focus groups that will assess consumer 
comprehension of risk associated with consumer products.

DATES: Submit written or electronic comments on the collection of 
information by February 28, 2020.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2019-
0035, 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. CPSC does not accept comments 
submitted by electronic mail (email), except through 
www.regulations.gov. CPSC encourages you to submit electronic comments 
by using the Federal eRulemaking Portal, as described above.
    Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier Submissions: Submit comments by mail/
hand delivery/courier to: Division of the Secretariat, 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 by mail or hand delivery/
courier.
    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-2019-0035, into the ``Search'' box, and follow the 
prompts. A copy of the draft supporting statement titled ``Risk 
Valuation Study Supporting Statement'' is available at: https://www.regulations.gov under Docket No. CPSC-2019-0035, Supporting and 
Related Material.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bretford Griffin, Consumer Product 
Safety Commission, 4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; (301) 
504-7037, 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 cognitive interviews and focus groups. 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, CPSC is publishing notice 
of the proposed collection of information set forth in this document.

A. Consumer Product Risk Reduction Valuation Study

    CPSC 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 CPSC 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.
    CPSC issues regulations to reduce the risk of fatal injuries or 
illnesses associated with the use of consumer products. To value 
reductions in the risk of fatalities, CPSC and other federal agencies 
rely on estimates of the value per statistical life (VSL), which are 
derived from research on individuals' willingness to pay (WTP), 
consistent with the conceptual framework for benefit-cost analysis. 
Most of the studies on which these estimates are based calculate WTP by 
evaluating tradeoffs made by workers in risky occupations, and thus, 
concentrate on certain populations (working-age males). However, the 
type of risks and populations that are often addressed by CPSC 
regulations involve children. Although there are few completed studies 
that address the value of risk reductions that accrue to children, the 
available literature is limited and largely unrelated to the types of 
risks addressed by CPSC rulemakings.\1\ Due to the absence of children 
from labor markets and the lack of observable market data, the majority 
of the studies employ stated preference methods. That method asks 
individuals, usually through questionnaires, the economic value that 
they attach to a perceived risk based on constructed or hypothetical 
markets. Although the existing studies suggest higher values for 
reducing risks to children than reductions to adults, they do not 
adequately determine the extent to which values for fatal risk 
reductions differ for adults versus children for risks associated with 
consumer products or adequately explain the level of respondent 
comprehension of relevant risk concepts.
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    \1\ See, e.g., Alberini, A. and M. [Scaron][ccaron]asn[yacute]. 
2011. Context and the VSL: Evidence from a Stated Preference Study 
in Italy and Czech Republic. Environmental and Resource Economics, 
49(4): 511-538; Gerking, S., M. Dickie, and M. Veronesi. 2014. 
Valuation of Human Health: An Integrated Model of WTP for Mortality 
and Morbidity Risk Reductions. Journal of Environmental Economics 
and Management, 68(1): 20-45; Hammitt, J.K. and K. Haninger. 2010. 
Valuing Fatal Risk to Children and Adults: Effects of Disease, 
Latency and Risk Aversion. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 40: 57-
83; Hammitt, J.K. and D. Herrera. 2017. Peeling Back the Onion: 
Using Latent Class Analysis to Uncover Heterogeneous Responses to 
Stated Preference Surveys. Journal of Environmental Economics and 
Management, in press.
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    CPSC seeks to conduct additional research to evaluate whether 
reductions in consumer product-related risks are valued differently 
when the beneficiary of the reduction is a child versus an adult. In 
order to assess comprehension of risk concepts, CPSC intends to conduct 
qualitative pretesting, in the form of cognitive interviews and focus 
groups based on best practices used in stated-preference study design. 
CPSC will conduct an initial set of eight cognitive interviews aimed 
specifically at topics related to risk communication and risk 
comprehension from homeowners with at least one child under the age of 
12. Based on the results of the initial cognitive interviews, CPSC will 
inform OMB of any changes that are made for conducting a subsequent set 
of focus groups. Those focus groups will consist of 40 respondents and 
16 additional cognitive interviews that will query the respondents on 
fatal household risks related to consumer products. The interviews and 
focus groups are designed to assess respondents' comprehension of risk 
concepts and to inform the CPSC on the feasibility of developing a 
future survey instrument that will identify the best methods or 
approaches to communicate risk concepts related to consumer products.

B. Burden Hours

    The estimated annual burden hours are as follows:

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                                                                                     Estimated
                                                                     Number of      burden per     Total burden
                            Activity                                 responses      respondent        (hours)
                                                                                      (hours)
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Cognitive Interviews I (Risk Communication and Comprehension)...               8             1.5              12
Focus Group Sessions (Household Risks and Consumer Products)....              40               2              80
Cognitive Interviews II (Household Risks and Consumer Products).              16             1.5              24
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    Total.......................................................                                             116
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    We estimate the total annual dollar value of this collection to be 
$4,265. This estimate is based on an average of $36.77/hr. 
compensation, including benefits, from the National Compensation Survey 
published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (U.S. Bureau of Labor 
Statistics, ``Employer Costs for Employee Compensation by ownership,'' 
Dec. 2018, Table 1, total compensation for civilian workers: http://www.bls.gov/ncs/). The total cost to the federal government for the 
contract to design and conduct the proposed survey is $117,458.

C. Request for Comments

    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,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2019-28116 Filed 12-27-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P