• Publication Date:
  • Publication Type:
    Notice
  • Fed Register #:
    70:62006-62007
  • Standard Number:
  • Title:
    The Cadmium in Construction Standard; Extension of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Approval of Information Collection (Paperwork) Requirements
    [Federal Register: October 27, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 207)][Notices][Page 62006-62007]
    From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
    [DOCID:fr27oc05-67]
    
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    DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
    
    Occupational Safety and Health Administration
    
    [Docket No. ICR-1218-0186 (2006)]
    
    
    The Cadmium in Construction Standard; Extension of the Office of
    Management and Budget's (OMB) Approval of Information Collection
    (Paperwork) Requirements
    
    AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.
    
    ACTION: Request for public comment.
    
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    SUMMARY: OSHA solicits public comment concerning its request for an
    extension of the information collection requirements contained in the
    Cadmium in Construction Standard (29 CFR 1926.1127). This standard
    controls occupational exposure to cadmium, thereby preventing serious
    disease (e.g., lung cancer, prostate cancer, kidney disease) and death
    among exposed employees.
    
    DATES: Comments must be submitted by the following dates:
        Hard copy: Your comments must be submitted (postmarked or received)
    by December 27, 2005.
        Facsimile and electronic transmission: Your comments must be
    received by December 27, 2005.
    
    ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by OSHA Docket No. ICR-
    1218-0186 (2006), by any of the following methods:
        Regular mail, express delivery, hand delivery, and messenger
    service: Submit your comments and attachments to the OSHA Docket
    Office, Room N-2625, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue,
    NW., Washington, DC 20210; telephone (202) 693-2350 (OSHA's TTY number
    is (877) 889-5627). OSHA Docket Office and Department of Labor hours
    are 8:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., ET.
        Facsimile: If your comments are 10 pages or fewer in length,
    including attachments, you may fax them to the OSHA Docket Office at
    (202) 693-1648.
        Electronic: You may submit comments through the Internet at http://ecomments.osha.gov.
     Follow instructions on the OSHA Web page for submitting comments.
        Docket: For access to the docket to read or download comments or
    background materials, such as the complete Information Collection
    Request (ICR) (containing the Supporting Statement, OMB-83-I Form, and
    attachments), go to OSHA's Web page at http://www.OSHA.gov. In
    addition, the ICR, comments and submissions are available for
    inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office at the address above.
    You may also contact Todd Owen at the address below to obtain a copy of
    the ICR. For additional information on submitting comments, please see
    the ``Public Participation'' heading in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
    section of this document.
    
    FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Todd Owen, Directorate of Standards
    and Guidance, OSHA, Room N-3609, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW.,
    Washington, DC 20210, telephone: (202) 693-2222.
    
    SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    
    I. Background
    
        The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to reduce
    paperwork and respondent (i.e., employer) burden, conducts a
    preclearance consultation program to provide the public with an
    opportunity to comment on proposed and continuing information
    collection requirements in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act
    of 1995 (PRA-95) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). This program ensures that
    information is in the desired format, reporting burden (time and costs)
    is minimal, collection instruments are clearly understood, and OSHA's
    estimate of the information collection burden is accurate. The
    Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (the Act) (29 U.S.C. 651 et
    seq.) authorizes information collection by employers as necessary or
    appropriate for enforcement of the Act or for developing information
    regarding the causes and prevention of occupational injuries,
    illnesses, and accidents (29 U.S.C. 657).
        On January 5, 2005, OSHA published the final rule for the Standards
    Improvement Project--Phase II (70 FR 1112). The final rule removed and
    revised provisions of standards that were outdated, duplicative,
    unnecessary, or inconsistent, and clarified or simplified regulatory
    language. The final rule contained several revisions to collections of
    information contained in the Cadmium in Construction Standard (Sec.
    1910.1027; ``the Standard''). These revisions included: removing the
    word ``signed'' that appeared in paragraph (1)(10) of the Standard; and
    allowing employers the option of posting employee-monitoring results,
    or individually informing each employee of these results. These changes
    reduced paperwork burden hours while maintaining worker protection and
    improving consistency among standards.
        The information collection requirements specified in the Standard
    protect employees from the adverse health effects that may result from
    their exposure to Cadmium. The major information collection
    requirements in the Standard include conducting employee exposure
    monitoring, notifying employees of their cadmium exposures,
    implementing a written compliance program, implementing medical
    surveillance of employees, providing examining physicians with specific
    information, ensuring that employees receive a copy of their medical-
    surveillance results, maintaining employees' exposure-monitoring and
    medical-surveillance records for specific periods, and providing access
    to these records by OSHA, the National Institute for Occupational
    Safety and Health, the employee who is the subject of the records, the
    employee's representative, and other designated parties.
    
    II. Special Issues for Comment
    
        OSHA has a particular interest in comments on the following issues:
         Whether the proposed information collection requirements
    are necessary for the proper performance of the Agency's functions,
    including whether the information is useful;
         The accuracy of OSHA's estimate of the burden (time and
    costs) of the information collection requirements, including the
    validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
         The quality, utility, and clarity of the information
    collected; and
         Ways to minimize the burden on employers who must comply,
    for example, by using automated or other technological information
    collection and transmission techniques.
    
    III. Proposed Actions
    
        OSHA proposes to extend OMB's approval of these information
    collection requirements necessitated by the Cadmium in Construction
    Standard (29 CFR 1926.1127). The Agency will include a summary of the
    comments submitted in response to this notice in its request to OMB to
    extend the approval of these collections of information requirements.
        Type of Review: Extension of currently approved information
    collections requirements.
        Title: Cadmium in Construction Standard.
        OMB Number: 1218-0186.
        Affected Public: Business or other for-profits; Federal government;
    State, local or tribal government.
        Number of Respondents: 10,000.
        Frequency: On occasion; quarterly; semi-annually; annually.
        Average Time Per Response: Varies from two minutes (.03 hour) for a
    secretary to compile and maintain training records to 1.5 hours to
    administer employee medical examinations.
        Estimated Total Burden Hours: 39,311.
        Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $1,657,460.
    
    IV. Public Participation--Submission of Comments on This Notice and
    Internet Access to Comments and Submissions
    
        You may submit comments and supporting materials in response to
    this notice by (1) hard copy, (2) FAX transmission (facsimile), or (3)
    electronically through the OSHA Web page. Because of security-related
    problems, there may be a significant delay in the receipt of comments
    by regular mail. Please contact the OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-
    2350 (TTY (877) 889-5627) for information about security procedures
    concerning the delivery of submissions by express delivery, hand
    delivery, and courier service.
        All comments, submissions and background documents are available
    for inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office at the above
    address. Comments and submissions posted on OSHA's Web page are
    available at http://www.OSHA.gov. Contact the OSHA Docket Office for
    information about materials not available through the OSHA Web page and
    for assistance using the Web page to locate docket submissions.
        Electronic copies of this Federal Register notice as well as other
    relevant documents are available on OSHA's Web page. Since all
    submissions become public, private information such as social security
    numbers should not be submitted.
    
    V. Authority and Signature
    
        Jonathan L. Snare, Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for
    Occupational Safety and Health, directed the preparation of this
    notice. The authority for this notice is the Paperwork Reduction Act of
    1995 (44 U.S.C. 3506 et seq.), and Secretary of Labor's Order No. 5-
    2002 (67 FR 65008).
    
        Signed at Washington, DC, on October 21, 2005.
    Jonathan L. Snare,
    Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor.
    [FR Doc. 05-21482 Filed 10-26-05; 8:45 am]
    
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