[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 47 (Friday, March 10, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15026-15028]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-04970]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-23-23CV; Docket No. CDC-2023-0014]


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 information 
collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This 
notice invites comment on a proposed information collection project 
titled Reducing Fatigue Among Taxi Drivers. The goal of this project is 
to evaluate two interventions, a training and a wrist-device that 
provide personalized daily fatigue scores, designed to enable taxi 
drivers to reduce their fatigue levels. This research study involves 
two parts: development of a fatigue management eLearning training tool 
designed for drivers-for-hire (e.g., taxi drivers; ride sourcing 
drivers); and an evaluation of the effectiveness of this training alone 
and paired with the wrist-device that provides personalized daily 
fatigue scores.

DATES: CDC must receive written comments on or before May 9, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2023-
0014 by either of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.regulations.gov. Follow 
the instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection Review 
Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road 
NE, MS H21-8, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and Docket Number. CDC will post, without change, all relevant comments 
to www.regulations.gov.
    Please note: Submit all comments through the Federal eRulemaking 
portal (www.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 Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection 
Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton 
Road NE, MS H21-8, 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;
    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; and
    5. Assess information collection costs.

Proposed Project

    Reducing Fatigue Among Taxi Drivers--New--National Institute for 
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC).

[[Page 15027]]

Background and Brief Description

    Taxi drivers routinely work long hours and late night or early 
morning shifts. Shift work and long work hours are linked to many 
health and safety risks due to disturbances to sleep and circadian 
rhythms. Fatigue is a significant contributor to transportation-related 
injuries, most notably among shift workers. Such work schedules and 
inadequate sleep likely contribute to health issues and injuries among 
taxi drivers who experience a roadway fatality rate of 3.5 times higher 
than all civilian workers and had the highest rate of nonfatal work-
related motor vehicle injuries treated in emergency departments. The 
urban and interurban transportation industry ranks the third highest in 
costs per employee for motor vehicle crashes. Tired drivers endanger 
others on the road (e.g., other drivers, passengers, bicyclists, 
pedestrians) in addition to themselves and their passengers. An 
important approach to reducing fatigue-related risks is to inform 
employers and taxi drivers about the risks and strategies to reduce 
their risks.
    The purpose of this project is to develop and evaluate a training 
program to inform taxi drivers and other drivers for hire who transport 
passengers of the risks linked to shift work and long work hours and 
evaluate strategies for taxi drivers to reduce these risks. Due to the 
pandemic, the study will be administered virtually. We are focused on 
taxi/rideshare drivers licensed in San Francisco, with approximately 
45,000 drivers. The recruitment of 180 study participants and data 
collection procedures will be performed by NIOSH project personnel with 
support from a NIOSH contractor trained by the NIOSH project personnel. 
This research study involves two parts: development of a fatigue 
management eLearning training tool designed for drivers-for-hire (e.g., 
taxi drivers; ride sourcing drivers); and an evaluation of the use of 
this tool as an intervention. The training tool will educate drivers 
about fatigue as a risk factor for motor vehicle crashes, the negative 
health and safety effects of fatigue, and how to reduce fatigue by 
improving sleep, health, nutrition and work schedules. There will be 
pre- and post-module knowledge tests to evaluate the training. The 
training will be offered online, free of charge, and will be viewable 
on multiple platforms (e.g., smartphone, tablet, laptop). All 
participants will also wear a wristband actigraph used to measure 
sleep/wake cycles, which will serve as a second intervention. The 
actigraph data will provide a personalized daily measure of fatigue 
each participant can use as an external prompt to assess individual 
fatigue levels and trigger self-reflection on fitness to drive and act 
accordingly. A randomized pre-post with control group longitudinal 
study design will evaluate the training and the driver's response to 
feedback from the actigraph. Specifically, there are two intervention 
groups: (1) training plus actigraph fatigue level feedback and (2) 
training only with wearing actigraph but no fatigue level feedback. The 
control group will receive neither training nor feedback on fatigue 
levels from their actigraph. Participants will complete a baseline and 
follow-up Work and Health survey, sleep and activities diaries, and 
sleep health knowledge questions during each of five observation 
periods. The Work and Health survey administered in the first 
observation period will be more comprehensive and the abbreviated 
follow-up Work and Health surveys administered for the remaining 
observation periods will serve to capture only responses to questions 
that can change from one observation period to the next. Only 
participants randomly selected to take the training will complete a 
training evaluation survey used to strengthen the training's 
effectiveness. Data will also be collected from company installed in-
vehicle monitoring systems on safety critical events (e.g., hard 
braking, speeding) already collected on all drivers as a direct 
measurement of fatigue-related driving performance events used to 
validate self-report data. As part of their daily sleep and health 
diaries drivers will be asked to complete three-minute psychomotor 
vigilance tests (PVTs) five times throughout the day to directly 
measure alertness using an app installed on an electronic device. At 
the end of the data collection period the training will be offered to 
the remaining study participants who will be provided an opportunity, 
but no remuneration, to complete the training and training survey.
    Study staff will use the findings from this evaluation to improve 
the training program, including content and delivery, as well as 
compare fatigue between intervention groups. Potential impacts of this 
project include improvements in work behaviors for coping with shift 
work and long work hours and an objective reduction in fatigue compared 
to the control groups. This project is poised to have considerable 
impact in the contribution of an evidence base for effective 
interventions that could be used by other taxi companies and drivers 
for ride sourcing companies to promote strategies in road safety.
    The burden table lists 120 of the 180 taxi drivers in the study 
will complete the online training and evaluation (approximately three 
hours). All drivers (180) will complete the Work and Health survey, and 
the knowledge survey each week of the study (five times each per 
participant). Each participant will complete the sleep and activity 
diary five times a day, each day for 35 days (175 times total) which 
will require approximately two minutes for each response. There will 
also be three meetings for recruitment and enrollment (once), fitting 
the actigraph (weekly), and a final meeting (weekly). The total 
estimated annualized burden hours is 2,700. There are no costs to 
participants other than their time.

                                                            Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                                             Number of    Average burden
              Type of respondents                               Form name                    Number of     responses per   per response    Total burden
                                                                                            respondents     respondent      (in hours)      (in hours)
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Taxi Drivers...................................  Online Training & Evaluation...........             120               1          180/60             360
                                                 Sleep & Activities Diary...............             180             175            2/60           1,050
                                                 Work & Health Survey...................             180               5           45/60             675
                                                 Knowledge survey.......................             180               5           15/60             225
                                                 Recruitment & Informed Consent.........             180               1           30/60              90
                                                 Initial Meeting (Fit Actigraph)........             180               5           10/60             150
                                                 10-minute meeting (turn in devices,                 180               5           10/60             150
                                                  turn in diary, receive remuneration).
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[[Page 15028]]

 
    Total......................................  .......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............           2,700
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Jeffrey M. Zirger,
Lead, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific 
Integrity, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2023-04970 Filed 3-9-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P