[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 61 (Monday, March 30, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17543-17544]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-06514]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[Docket No. CPSC-2019-0035]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request; Consumer Product Risk Reduction Valuation 
Study: Cognitive Interviews & Focus Groups

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: As required under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), 
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 to conduct cognitive interviews 
and focus groups that will assess consumer comprehension of risk 
associated with consumer products. On December 30, 2019, the CPSC 
published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the agency's 
intent to seek approval of this collection of information. The CPSC 
received no comments in response to that notice. Therefore, by 
publication of this notice, the CPSC announces that it has submitted to 
the OMB a request for approval of this collection of information.

DATES: Submit written or electronic comments on the collection of 
information by May 29, 2020.

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-
2019-0035.

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 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.

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 addressed by CPSC regulations 
often involve children. Although there are a 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

[[Page 17544]]

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, nor do they 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. 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. Submission to OMB

    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. On December 30, 2019, the CPSC 
published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the agency's 
intent to seek approval of this collection of information (84 FR 
71902). The CPSC received no comments in response to that notice. 
Therefore, by publication of this notice, the CPSC announces that it 
has submitted to the OMB a request for approval of this collection of 
information.

Alberta E. Mills,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2020-06514 Filed 3-27-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6355-01-P