[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 114 (Wednesday, June 12, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50045-50046]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-12844]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

[Docket No. PHMSA-2024-0041 (Notice No. 2024-09)]


Hazardous Materials: Information Collection Activities

AGENCY: Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), 
DOT.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice announces that PHMSA is publishing a 60-day notice and providing 
an opportunity for public comment on its development of general 
investigative questions that may be used by PHMSA's Office of Hazardous 
Materials Safety (OHMS) field operations personnel when investigating 
potential general safety issues. These questions are intended to 
facilitate fact-gathering efforts during general investigations related 
to PHMSA's safety oversight responsibilities. The use of these 
questions would not impose any new reporting or recordkeeping 
requirements on regulated entities. Rather, the goal is to develop a 
pool of commonly used questions that can be tailored as appropriate 
based on the specific circumstances of a given investigation.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
August 12, 2024.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by the Docket Number 
PHMSA-2024-0041 (Notice No. 2024-09) by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
     Mail: Docket Management System; U.S. Department of 
Transportation, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Routing 
Symbol M-30, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.
     Hand Delivery: To the Docket Management System; Room W12-
140 on the ground floor of the West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue 
SE, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, except Federal holidays.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and 
Docket Number (PHMSA-2024-0041) for this notice at the beginning of the 
comment. To avoid duplication, please use only one of these four 
methods. All comments received will be posted without change to the 
Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) and will include any personal 
information you provide.
    Requests for a copy of an information collection should be directed 
to Steven Andrews or Nina Vore, Standards and Rulemaking Division, 
(202) 366-8553, [email protected], Pipeline and Hazardous Materials 
Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    Docket: For access to the dockets to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov or DOT's Docket 
Operations Office (see ADDRESSES).
    Privacy Act: In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits 
comments from the public to better inform its rulemaking process. DOT 
posts these comments, without edit, including any personal information 
the commenter provides, to www.regulations.gov, as described in the 
system of records notice (DOT/ALL-14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at 
www.dot.gov/privacy.
    Confidential Business Information: Confidential Business 
Information (CBI) is commercial or financial information that is both 
customarily and actually treated as private by its owner. Under the 
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552), CBI is exempt from 
public disclosure. If your comments responsive to this notice contain 
commercial or financial information that is customarily treated as 
private, that you actually treat as private, and that is relevant or 
responsive to this notice, it is important that you clearly designate 
the submitted comments as CBI. Please mark each page of your submission 
containing CBI as ``PROPIN.'' PHMSA will treat such marked submissions 
as confidential under the FOIA, and they will not be placed in the 
public docket of this notice. Submissions containing CBI should be sent 
to Steven Andrews or Nina Vore, Standards and Rulemaking Division and 
addressed to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety 
Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001 or [email protected]. Any commentary 
that PHMSA receives which is not specifically designated as CBI will be 
placed in the public docket for this notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steven Andrews or Nina Vore, Standards 
and Rulemaking Division, (202) 366-8553, [email protected], Pipeline and 
Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) requires federal agencies to 
minimize paperwork burden on regulated entities and receive approval 
from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for any information 
collection requirements. The development of these general investigation 
questions does not directly impose any new information collection 
requirements on the regulated community. PHMSA is seeking comments on 
the information collection burden of proposed general questions that 
agency investigators may use during general safety investigations. 
These questions would be designed to gather information about potential 
safety issues or violations without imposing significant new 
information collection burdens on the public.
    The use of such general investigative questions would allow the 
agency to carry out its statutory responsibilities to protect public 
safety while minimizing the paperwork burden on regulated entities. 
These questions would not require entities to provide specific reports 
or maintain additional records but would simply facilitate the 
gathering of relevant facts during investigations. The agency intends 
to develop a pool of commonly used questions that could be tailored as 
needed based on the specific circumstances of each investigation. 
Examples may include questions about operating procedures, training 
practices, incident reporting, hazard analysis, and other safety-
related topics. No new data collection instruments or generalized 
surveys are proposed at this time.

[[Page 50046]]

    This notice outlines PHMSA's intent to develop general, commonly 
used investigative questions focused on safety that can be tailored as 
needed. It clarifies that no new reporting requirements or 
recordkeeping burdens are being imposed through this process. The 
notice demonstrates how this effort is meant to facilitate the agency's 
enforcement responsibilities while minimizing paperwork impacts, which 
can support compliance with the PRA.
    Section 1320.8(d), title 5, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 
requires PHMSA to provide interested members of the public and affected 
agencies an opportunity to comment on information collection and 
recordkeeping requests. This notice identifies an information 
collection request PHMSA will be submitting to OMB.

II. Questions

    Listed below are the general investigation questions that PHMSA 
plans to submit to OMB for approval:

1. Introduction Questions

    a. What are your typical operations? Can you provide a general 
overview?
    b. To the best of your knowledge, was a hazardous material involved 
in your operations?
    c. If yes, please provide the proper shipping name.

2. General Hazardous Materials (Hazmat) Information

    a. Can you describe the hazardous materials in transportation you 
normally see?
    i. How often do you see them?
    ii. Are you shipping them?
    iii. Are you storing them?
    b. Are there any specific requirements for the condition of the 
hazardous material that must be followed before the identified material 
is transported?
    c. Have these conditions been verified? If so, what was the method 
used?
    d. Are there modal-specific (rail/air/vessel/highway) requirements 
for this hazardous material that you follow? If so, what are they?
    e. Do the locations accepting your hazardous material have any 
concerns/special accommodations when receiving your hazardous material?
    f. Do shipping agents (e.g., insurance companies, shippers) have 
specific requirements when accepting your hazardous material?
    g. Which hazard class(es) of hazardous materials in transportation 
do you routinely see?

3. Hazardous Material Training

    a. Which employees/departments are trained to be able to handle 
this hazardous material? Who conducts this training?
    b. When was the last time training was provided?
    c. How do you determine who needs training?

4. Safety

    a. What have you or your industry done to mitigate risk around this 
hazardous material?
    b. What solutions have been found to be helpful during hazardous 
materials incidents?
    c. How would you handle a hazardous material found to be damaged or 
not properly packaged?
    d. Are there any special requirements in place or instructions when 
hazardous materials are present?

5. Emergencies/Incidents

    a. Do you have the means to contain the hazardous material if there 
is an accident or an incident?
    b. What remediation companies are potentially contracted at this 
location or by this company?
    c. Are you familiar with security plan requirements?

6. Industry Process/SOPs

    a. Can you identify other companies involved in the transportation 
of this hazardous material? Can you share their contact information?
    b. What are the locations of your hazardous materials operations?
    c. Can you share the Standard Operation Procedures (SOP) for the 
handling of hazardous materials at your company?
    d. Are you familiar with registration requirements?
    e. Who signs and prepares shipping papers?
    f. Do you transport any hazardous materials in compliance with an 
approval or special permit?
    g. Do you have any type of validation process for hazardous 
material shipping?

7. Carriers/Shippers/Testers/Manufacturers

    a. Do you manufacture any hazardous material packaging?
    b. Are any other entities involved with the preparation, handling, 
or transportation of hazardous materials?

8. Packaging

    a. Where do you purchase hazardous materials packaging?
    b. Is the product loaded at any specific temperature/pressure?
    c. What types of packaging do you routinely see/use for hazardous 
materials transportation? Including bulk, non-bulk, and/or cylinders.
    d. At what interval are you having the package tested? Who performs 
this function? Are there records?
    e. How are you closing the packages? Which tools or other equipment 
are used?

III. Data

    The estimated reporting burdens associated with this information 
collection are as follows:
    OMB Control Number: None.
    Form Number: None.
    Type of Review: Regular submission.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,000.
    Estimated Number or Responses: 1,000.
    Estimated Time per Response: 30 minutes. Information will be 
collected on a voluntary basis to address potential safety issues 
identified by PHMSA investigators.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 500.
    Estimated Burden Cost: $0.

IV. Request for Comments

    Comments are invited on: (1) whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden 
(including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of information; 
(3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on respondents, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of this information 
collection; they also will become a matter of public record.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on June 7, 2024, under authority 
delegated in 49 CFR 1.97.
Steven W. Andrews Jr.,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention Branch, Office of 
Hazardous Materials Safety, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2024-12844 Filed 6-11-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P