[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 216 (Thursday, November 7, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 88346-88349]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-25875]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
[Docket No. PHMSA-2024-0041 (Notice No. 2024-13)]
Hazardous Materials: Information Collection Activities
AGENCY: Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, PHMSA
is publishing a 60-day supplemental notice and providing an additional
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. Answering these questions
would be voluntary and not impose any new reporting or recordkeeping
requirements on regulated entities. Rather, the goal is to develop a
pool of questions that can be tailored as appropriate based on the
specific circumstances of a general investigation that is not related
to the inspection of an individual company or entity for compliance
with the hazardous materials regulations.
DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before
January 6, 2025.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by the Docket Number
PHMSA-2024-0041 (Notice No. 2024-13) 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:
[[Page 88347]]
I. Background
A. Initial 60-Day Notice
On June 12, 2024,\1\ PHMSA published a 60-day notice to give the
public the opportunity to comment on an information collection request
seeking approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a
list of general investigation questions. PHMSA received seven (7) sets
of comments from six (6) commenters on the 60-day notice. PHMSA is
publishing this supplemental 60-day notice to address stakeholder
comments (received from the initial 60-day notice), revise certain
questions below based on feedback received, and clarify the intent of
the information collection request. Specifically, PHMSA received
comments from the following entities:
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\1\ 89 FR 50045 (Jun. 12, 2024)
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Commenter name Docket No.
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Airline Pilots Association (ALPA)...... https://www.regulations.gov/comment/PHMSA-2024-0041-0008.
Council on Safe Transportation of https://www.regulations.gov/
Hazardous Articles (COSTHA). comment/PHMSA-2024-0041-0005.
Dangerous Goods Advisory Council (DGAC) https://www.regulations.gov/comment/PHMSA-2024-0041-0002.
https://www.regulations.gov/comment/PHMSA-2024-0041-0003.
Household & Commercial Products https://www.regulations.gov/
Association (HCPA). comment/PHMSA-2024-0041-0007.
International Vessel Operators https://www.regulations.gov/
Dangerous Goods Association (IVODGA). comment/PHMSA-2024-0041-0006.
Smart TD............................... https://www.regulations.gov/comment/PHMSA-2024-0041-0004.
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B. Response to Comments
ALPA provided comments suggesting that PHMSA should include
questions about the adoption of a Safety Management System (SMS) and
Safety Risk Assessment (SRA). COSTHA and IVODGA emphasized that some of
the proposed questions might be beyond the shipper's operational scope,
potentially asking for information outside the shipper's expertise, or
lacking in clarity regarding the information sought by PHMSA. COSTHA
and IVODGA also provided comments and proposed edits to the individual
general investigation questions. DGAC expressed concerns that the
general investigation questions lacked specificity and clarity in
identifying the information PHMSA aims to collect to address safety
issues. However, after receiving clarification from PHMSA on the intent
of the information collection request, DGAC expressed willingness to
review and comment on a supplemental notice. HCPA stated that PHMSA did
not specify the selection criteria for respondents or how they should
respond and questioned the relevance of the questions to
investigations. HCPA also questioned PHMSA's assertion that there is no
`burden cost' associated with this information collection request.
Lastly, Smart TD expressed support for a streamlined inspection and
standardized investigation process.
In this 60-day supplemental notice, PHMSA is reaffirming that the
questions outlined in this information collection request are intended
to be used to engage in voluntary discussions with stakeholders
regarding important safety issues that are not related to any specific
inspection or enforcement actions. The purpose of this information
collection request is to allow PHMSA to engage with our stakeholders on
a voluntary basis to discuss potential safety issues across a
particular industry sector (e.g., the transportation of hazardous
materials by vessel, etc.) or process (e.g., the production of organic
peroxides, etc.). Compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) is
required even if an information collection request is voluntary. One
example of a scenario where PHMSA might use these general investigation
questions is when there are unexplained incidents on vessels suspected
of involving the transportation of hazardous materials. Having a list
of pre-approved questions would enable PHMSA to proactively engage with
the shippers associated with those vessels, and still comply with PRA
requirements. Information obtained from this outreach could assist
PHMSA in identifying potential actions to help safeguard the operators
of these vessels.
PHMSA is also clarifying that the questions presented in this
information collection request are not intended to be used by field
operations staff when conducting routine investigations or inspections
of individual companies for compliance with the Hazardous Materials
Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR parts 171 through 180). Questions involving
inspections and investigations used to determine compliance with the
HMR are not subject to the PRA (see 5 CFR 1320.4). This exception to
the PRA excludes information collected in response to, among other
things, a federal civil action or ``during the conduct of an
administrative action, investigation, or audit involving an agency
against specific individuals or entities.''
Finally, in this 60-day supplemental notice PHMSA has reviewed and
revised--where appropriate--the questions that are part of this
information collection request based on internal review and comments
received to the initial 60-day notice. PHMSA is also clarifying the
HCPA comment on ``burden cost,'' explaining that this term refers to
the upfront capital costs the public incurs to comply with a Federal
information collection request. This includes expenses for equipment,
software, or other resources necessary to fulfill the requirements of
an information collection request. As the responses to the questions
outlined in this information collection request are voluntary and
simply involve answering questions presented, there are no upfront
capital costs associated with this information collection request. In
this 60-day supplemental notice, PHMSA is proposing a maximum number of
respondents, responses, and burden hours associated with this
information collection request. PHMSA may reach out to respondents via
telephone or email to voluntarily request answers to relevant questions
mentioned in this notice.
C. Summary of Revised Questions in This 60-Day Supplemental Notice
PHMSA received comments from ALPA, COSTHA, HCPA, and IVODGA
suggesting revisions to the questions in the initial 60-day notice.
ALPA proposed adding air-related questions to the safety section,
focusing on Safety Risk Assessment (SRA) and mitigating the risks
associated with transporting hazardous materials by air. Both COSTHA
and IVODGA provided comments suggesting revisions to the individual
questions in the initial 60-day notice. Examples of these revisions
included inquiring about the elements of a security plan, clarifying a
question about validation processes, and specifying what PHMSA means by
[[Page 88348]]
``entities.'' Lastly, HCPA suggested replacing the word ``see'' in the
list of questions with ``ships or receives.''
In response to comments from ALPA, PHMSA has added questions on
SRAs and mitigating the risk of transporting hazardous materials by air
to this 60-day supplemental notice. PHMSA has also revised questions
based on input received from COSTHA and IVODGA to account for multiple
incidents, inquire about elements of a security plan, and clarify a
question about validating processes. PHMSA has chosen to retain the
current terminology for ``entities,'' as it offers a comprehensive
framework that ensures inclusivity and broad applicability. In response
to the HCPA comment, PHMSA has in this 60-day supplemental notice
replaced the word ``see'' with ``ships or receives'' to provide greater
clarity to these questions. Additionally, in this 60-day supplemental
notice PHMSA has included a question at the end of each section to
allow entities being questioned to provide any additional information
that may help identify the circumstances of the safety issue. Finally,
in this 60-day supplemental notice PHMSA has also revised the
registration question to ask about both PHMSA and Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration (FMCSA) registration.
D. Supplementary Information
The PRA requires Federal agencies to minimize paperwork burden on
regulated entities and receive approval from 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
voluntary questions would be designed to gather information about
potential safety issues without imposing significant new information
collection burdens on the public.
The use of such general investigation 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 general safety investigations not
associated with determining compliance with the HMR for a specific
entity. The agency intends to develop a pool of questions that could be
tailored as needed based on the specific circumstances of each general
safety investigation. Examples may include questions about general
industry 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.
This notice outlines PHMSA's intent to develop general
investigation 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. General Investigation Questions To Be Submitted to OMB for Approval
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.
d. Is there any other information you would like to share on this
topic?
2. General Hazardous Materials (Hazmat) Information
a. Can you describe the hazardous materials in transportation you
normally ship or receive?
i. How often do you ship or receive them?
ii. Are you shipping them?
iii. Are you storing them?
iv. Is there any other information you would like to share on this
topic?
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 carriers accepting your hazardous material have any
concerns/special accommodations when receiving your hazardous material?
f. Do shipping agents (e.g., insurance companies, shippers, freight
forwarders, etc.) have specific requirements when accepting your
hazardous material?
g. Which hazard class(es) of hazardous materials in transportation
do you routinely ship or receive?
h. Is there any other information related to the hazardous
materials that you ship and/or receive that you would like to share?
3. Hazardous Material Training
a. Which employees/departments are trained to be able to handle
this hazardous material?
b. Who conducts this training?
c. When was the last time training was provided?
d. How do you determine who needs training?
e. Is there any other information you would like to share on this
topic?
4. Safety
a. What have you or your industry done to mitigate risk around the
hazardous material involved in the incident?
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?
e. Do you implement a Safety Management System (SMS) at your
facility?
f. Do you implement a Safety Risk Assessment (SRA) at your
facility? For example, for items being transported in the cargo
compartment of an aircraft, do you implement the recommendations found
in Advisory Circular 120-121 ``Safety Risk Management Involving Items
in Aircraft Cargo Compartments'' published September 1, 2021?
g. What have you or your industry done to mitigate risk around the
hazardous material being shipped?
h. Is there any other information you would like to share on this
topic?
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?
[[Page 88349]]
c. Does your operation require a hazmat security plan? If so, what
elements of a security plan are implemented?
d. Is there any other information you would like to share on this
topic?
6. Industry Process/SOPs
a. What other companies are you utilizing when transporting
hazardous materials? Can you offer a point of contact to gather
information about this company's transportation of this hazardous
material (or materials)?
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. Are you required to obtain a PHMSA or Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration (FMCSA) registration?
f. Who signs and prepares shipping papers?
g. Do you transport any hazardous materials in compliance with an
approval or special permit?
h. Do you have any type of validation process that confirms
compliance with the HMR prior to making hazardous material shipments?
i. Is there any other information you would like to share on this
topic?
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?
c. Is there any other information you would like to share on this
topic?
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 ship or receive 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?
f. Is there any other information you would like to share on this
topic?
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 to This 60-Day Supplemental Notice
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 60-day supplemental 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 November 4, 2024, under authority
delegated in 49 CFR 1.97.
Alexander Ronald Wolcott,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention Branch, Office of
Hazardous Materials Safety. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2024-25875 Filed 11-6-24; 8:45 am]
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