[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 21 (Wednesday, January 31, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6134-6136]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-01893]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Mine Safety and Health Administration

[OMB Control No. 1219-New]


New Information Collection Request: Demographic Information 
Collection for MSHA Grants

AGENCY: Mine Safety and Health Administration, Labor.

ACTION: Request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (DOL), as part of its continuing 
effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a pre-
clearance consultation program to provide the general public and 
Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed collections 
of information, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 
This program helps to ensure that requested data can be provided in the 
desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is 
minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the 
impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly 
assessed. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is 
soliciting comments on the new information collection regarding 
Demographic Information Collection for MSHA Grants.

DATES: All comments must be received on or before April 1, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Comments concerning the information collection requirements 
of this notice may be sent by any of the methods listed below. Please 
note that late comments received after the deadline will not be 
considered.
     Federal E-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments for docket 
number MSHA-2023-0021.
     Mail/Hand Delivery: DOL-MSHA, Office of Standards, 
Regulations, and Variances, 201 12th Street South, Suite 4E401, 
Arlington, VA 22202-5452. Before visiting MSHA in person, call 202-693-
9455 to make an appointment, in keeping with the Department of Labor's 
COVID-19 policy. Special health precautions may be required.
     MSHA will post all comments as well as any attachments, 
except for information submitted and marked as confidential, in the 
docket at https://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: S. Aromie Noe, Director, Office of 
Standards, Regulations, and Variances, MSHA, at 
[email protected]

[[Page 6135]]

(email); 202-693-9440 (voice); or 202-693-9441 (facsimile). This is not 
a toll-free number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Section 103(h) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, 
as amended (Mine Act), 30 U.S.C. 813(h), authorizes MSHA to collect 
information necessary to carry out its duty in protecting the safety 
and health of miners. Further, section 101(a) of the Mine Act, 30 
U.S.C. 811(a), authorizes the Secretary of Labor (Secretary) to 
develop, promulgate, and revise as may be appropriate, improved 
mandatory health or safety standards for the protection of life and 
prevention of injuries in coal and metal and nonmetal mines.
    MSHA works to prevent death, illness, and injury from mining and to 
promote safe and healthful workplaces for U.S. miners. Section 115 of 
the Mine Act, 30 U.S.C. 825, requires MSHA to approve mine operators' 
health and safety training programs for miners. To assist mine 
operators, MSHA administers two grant programs: State Grants and 
Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety Grants. The grant programs fund training for 
individuals, miners, employers, and contractors on how to recognize, 
avoid, and prevent unsafe and unhealthful working conditions in 
accordance with section 503 of the Mine Act, 30 U.S.C. 953, and section 
14 of the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 
(MINER Act), 30 U.S.C. 965.

State Grants

    Under section 503 of the Mine Act, 30 U.S.C. 953, the Secretary may 
award grants to States to assist in developing and enforcing State mine 
health and safety laws and regulations, to improve State workers' 
compensation and mining occupational disease laws and programs, and to 
improve health and safety conditions in the Nation's mines through 
Federal-State coordination and cooperation. Any State in which mining 
takes place may apply for the State Grants. Under 30 U.S.C. 953(g), 
MSHA may fund up to 80 percent of the State Grants activities and a 
Grant recipient must provide matching funds of no less than 20 percent 
of the total costs. This State Grant program supports federally 
mandated training of miners and mine operators working at surface and 
underground coal, metal, and nonmetal mines. Under 30 U.S.C. 953(e) of 
the Mine Act, a State grant application or modification may include a 
program to train State mine inspectors.
    MSHA recognizes that State training programs are a key source of 
mine safety and health training and education for individuals who work 
or will work at mines. MSHA encourages State training programs to 
prioritize health and safety training for small mining operations and 
underserved mines and miners within the mining industry, and to 
prioritize diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. MSHA has 
recently expanded the priority to include underserved operators and 
miners, including limited English proficient (LEP) and low literacy 
individuals.
    MSHA supports programs that emphasize training on miners' statutory 
rights, including the right to work in a safe working environment, to 
refuse an unsafe task, and to have a voice in the safety and health 
conditions at the mine. In particular, MSHA encourages grant recipients 
to address the following topics in their training and education 
programs: occupational health hazards caused by exposures to respirable 
coal mine dust and respirable crystalline silica; powered haulage and 
mobile equipment safety; mine emergency preparedness; mine rescue; 
electrical safety; contract and customer truck drivers; improving 
training for new and inexperienced miners; managers and supervisors 
performing mining tasks; pillar safety for underground mines; and falls 
from heights.

Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety Grants

    Section 14 of the MINER Act, 30 U.S.C. 965, established the 
Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety Grants. This competitive grant program 
provides funding for education and training programs to better 
identify, avoid, and prevent unsafe working conditions in and around 
mines. Grantees can use these funds to establish and implement 
education and training programs or to create training materials and 
programs on MSHA-identified safety priorities. Funds can also be used 
to develop and implement training and related materials for mine 
emergency preparedness as well as for the prevention of accidents in 
underground mines.
    MSHA expects Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety grantees to develop 
training or educational materials and/or provide mine safety training 
or educational programs, to recruit mine operators and miners to 
participate in training, and to conduct and evaluate the training 
program. 30 U.S.C. 965 mandates that the Secretary emphasize programs 
and materials that target smaller mines, including programs and 
materials for training mine operators and miners about new MSHA 
standards, high risk activities, or hazards. The Brookwood-Sago Mine 
Safety Grants give priority to the funding of pilot and demonstration 
projects that will provide opportunities for broad applicability for 
mine safety. Special attention will also be given to programs and 
materials that serve underserved mines and miners within the mining 
industry, and that prioritize diversity, equity, inclusion, and 
accessibility.
    Under 30 U.S.C. 965, the Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety Grants are 
required to conduct follow-up evaluations with the people who received 
the training provided under the grants to measure how the training 
promotes the DOL's strategic goal to ``Ensure Safe Jobs, Essential 
Protections, and Fair Workplaces,'' and MSHA's goal to ``prevent 
fatalities, disease, and injury from mining, and secure safe and 
healthful working conditions for America's miners.'' Evaluations will 
focus on determining how effective the subject training was in either 
reducing hazards, improving miners' skills, or improving safety and 
health conditions in mines. Grantees must fully cooperate with MSHA 
evaluators; such cooperation may include providing MSHA evaluators 
relevant data, educational or training materials, or information on 
training methods and equipment.

Additional Authorities

    Executive Order (E.O.) 13985 on ``Advancing Racial Equity and 
Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government'' 
aims to advance equity and provide everyone with the opportunity to 
reach their full potential. The E.O. requires each agency to assess 
whether, and to what extent, its programs and policies perpetuate 
systemic barriers to opportunities and benefits for people of color and 
other underserved groups.
    In response to E.O. 13985, the Department of Labor developed an 
``Equity Action Plan'' which highlighted several of MSHA's planning 
efforts to reach workers with limited English proficiency, including:
     MSHA is planning several initiatives to expand its reach 
to Spanish language-speaking populations, including by recruiting for 
new bilingual positions in regions where there is a mining community 
that is predominantly Spanish-speaking, developing more bilingual signs 
to inform mine workers of health and safety risks in languages they can 
read and understand, and introducing new bilingual training assistance, 
including for mine operators and contractors, to

[[Page 6136]]

ensure that health and safety training initiatives reach all mine 
workers.
     In addition, MSHA is tracking progress toward its new 
performance milestone of making half of MSHA signs available in 
Spanish.
    To fulfill these goals and to carry out MSHA's initiatives, the 
Agency creates the ``MSHA Participant Demographic Information Form.'' 
This optional form will be distributed among training participants by 
grantees after completing training. The new survey form will ask 
training participants to identify their age, gender, ethnicity, race, 
and primary language spoken. This information will be kept confidential 
(i.e., the responses are not associated with a specific participant) 
and will be reported only in the aggregate.
    By collecting this demographic and primary language data, MSHA will 
improve its ability to identify barriers that prevent underserved rural 
and minority communities from benefitting from MSHA grantees' training 
and compliance assistance programs and thereby accessing safe and 
healthy jobs in the mining industry. The collected data may identify 
training needs for women and individuals with limited English 
proficiency in underserved communities in rural and minority areas. 
Equipped with this data, MSHA will be better able to take steps to 
overcome these barriers and lay out targeted activities, such as 
increasing the number of MSHA-approved non-English speaking instructors 
and training materials to assist individuals with low literacy and 
limited English proficiency.
    Additionally, State grantees will submit to MSHA a modified form 
called ``State Grants Demographic Information Progress Report.'' This 
form will report a summary of training participants' aggregate 
responses by the end of each quarter.

II. Desired Focus of Comments

    MSHA is soliciting comments concerning the proposed information 
collection related to Demographic Information Collection for MSHA 
Grants. MSHA is particularly interested in comments that:
     Evaluate whether the collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Agency, 
including whether the information has practical utility;
     Evaluate the accuracy of MSHA's estimate of the burden of 
the collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
     Suggest methods to enhance the quality, utility, and 
clarity of the information to be collected; and
     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.
    The information collection request will be available on http://www.regulations.gov. MSHA cautions the commenter against providing any 
information in the submission that should not be publicly disclosed. 
Full comments, including personal information provided, will be made 
available on www.regulations.gov and www.reginfo.gov.
    The public may also examine publicly available documents at DOL-
MSHA, 201 12th Street South, Suite 4E401, Arlington, VA 22202-5452. 
Sign in at the receptionist's desk on the 4th floor via the East 
elevator. Before visiting MSHA in person, call 202-693-9455 to make an 
appointment, in keeping with the Department of Labor's COVID-19 policy. 
Special health precautions may be required.
    Questions about the information collection requirements may be 
directed to the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION section of 
this notice.

III. Current Actions

    This information collection request concerns Demographic 
Information Collection for MSHA Grants, including two new data 
collection forms. MSHA has provided the data with respect to the number 
of respondents, responses, burden hours, and burden costs supporting 
this new information collection request.
    Type of Review: New collection.
    Agency: Mine Safety and Health Administration.
    OMB Number: 1219-New.
    Affected Public: Individuals, state, tribal, and territorial 
governments, business or other for-profits, and non-profit 
institutions.
    Number of Annual Respondents: 150,706.
    Frequency: On occasion, quarterly, and annually.
    Number of Annual Responses: 150,930.
    Annual Burden Hours: 8,093.
    Annual Respondent or Recordkeeper Cost: $0.
    MSHA Forms: MSHA Participant Demographic Information Collection 
Form; MSHA State Grants Demographic Information Progress Report.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and included in the request for Office of Management and Budget 
approval of the proposed new information collection request; they will 
become a matter of public record and will be available at https://www.reginfo.gov.

Song-ae Aromie Noe,
Certifying Officer, Mine Safety and Health Administration.
[FR Doc. 2024-01893 Filed 1-30-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-43-P