[Federal Register: August 30, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 168)][Notices] [Page 51639-51641]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30au06-140]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
[Docket No. ICR-1218-0184 (2006)]
Standard on 4,4'-Methylenedianiline (MDA) in General Industry;
Extension of the Office of Management and Budget's 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 requests public comment concerning its proposed extension
of the information collection requirements specified by the Standard on
4,4'-Methylenedianiline in General Industry (29 CFR 1910.1050). The
standard protects employees from the adverse health effects that may
result from occupational exposure to MDA, including cancer and liver
disease.
DATES: Comments must be submitted by the following dates:
Hard copy: Your comments must be submitted (postmarked or received)
by October 30, 2006.
Facsimile and electronic transmission: Your comments must be
received by October 30, 2006.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by OSHA Docket No. ICR-
1218-0184 (2006), by any of the following methods:
I. Submission of Comments
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., e.t.
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'' section in SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jamaa Hill or Todd Owen, Directorate
of Standards and Guidance, OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor, 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 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). This program ensures that
information is in the desired format, reporting burden (time and costs)
is minimized, collection instruments are understandable, and OSHA's
estimate of the information collection burden is correct. The
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (the Act) 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).
The information collection requirements specified in the Standard
on 4,4'-Methylenedianiline in General Industry (the ``Standard'')
protect employees from the adverse health effects that may result from
their exposure to MDA, including cancer and liver disease. The major
paperwork requirements specify that employers must develop a written
emergency plan for each workplace where there is a possibility of an
emergency (i.e., an unexpected and potentially hazardous release of
MDA); perform initial, periodic, and additional exposure monitoring;
and notifying each employee in writing within 15 days after the receipt
of exposure-monitoring results, either individually or by posting. In
addition, employers must perform routine visual inspections of the
hands, face, and forearms of each employee potentially exposed to MDA
for signs of dermal exposure to MDA and, if they determine that
employees have been exposed to MDA, they must maintain records of the
corrective actions taken. Employers must also: Establish and implement
a written compliance program and implement a respiratory protection
program in accordance with 29 CFR 1910.134 (OSHA's Respiratory
Protection Standard).
Employers must label any container of MDA-contaminated protective
work clothing or equipment that will be taken out of changing rooms or
other workplace areas for cleaning, maintenance, or disposal. Employers
must also inform personnel who launder MDA-contaminated clothing of the
requirement to prevent release of MDA, while personnel who launder or
clear MDA-contaminated protective clothing or equipment must receive
information about the potentially harmful effects of MDA. In addition,
employers are to post and maintain legible warning signs demarcating
regulated areas and entrances or accessways to regulated areas, as well
as provide employees with information and training on the Standard and
specific components of the MDA program at the time of their initial
assignment, and at least annually thereafter; employers must provide
employees, OSHA, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health (``NIOSH'') with access to the training materials.
Additional paperwork provisions of the Standard require employers
to provide employees with medical examinations, including initial,
periodic, emergency, and additional examinations. Under specified
conditions, employers also must establish a multiple-physician review
mechanism to provide employees with a second opinion regarding the
results of these medical examinations and a program to remove employees
from MDA exposure. As part of the medical surveillance program,
employers must ensure that the examining physician receives specific
written information, and that they obtain from the physician a written
opinion regarding the employee's medical results and exposure
limitations.
The recordkeeping provisions require employers to establish and
maintain records of the monitoring data or objective data they use to
gain an exemption from the Standard, as well as exposure-monitoring,
medical surveillance, and medical removal information collected under
the Standard. Employers also must make any required record available to
OSHA compliance officers and NIOSH for examination and copying, and
provide exposure-monitoring and medical surveillance records to
employees and their designated representatives. Finally, employers who
cease to do business without a successor employer to receive and retain
records for the required periods must notify NIOSH at least 90 days
before disposing of the records and transmit the records to NIOSH if so
requested.
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 to
protect employees, 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 the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB)
approval of the collection of information requirements specified by the
Standard 4,4'-Methylenedianiline in General Industry (29 CFR
1910.1050), and to decrease the total burden hour estimate by two
hours. The Agency will summarize the comments submitted in response to
this notice, and will include this summary in this request to OMB to
extend the approval of these information collection requirements.
Type of Review: Extension of currently approved information
collection requirements.
Title: 4,4'-Methylenedianiline Standard in General Industry (29 CFR
1910.1050).
OMB Number: 1218-0184.
Affected Public: Business or other for-profit.
Number of Respondents: 13.
Frequency of Recordkeeping: On occasion; quarterly; semi-annually;
annually.
Average Time per Response: Varies from five minutes (.08 hours) to
provide information to the physician to two hours to perform periodic
monitoring.
Total Annual Hours Requested: 293.
Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $19,037.
IV. Authority and Signature
Edwin G. Foulke, Jr., 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) and Secretary of Labor's Order No. 5-2002 (67 FR 65008).
Signed at Washington, DC, on August 24, 2006.
Edwin G. Foulke, Jr.,
Assistant Secretary of Labor.
[FR Doc. 06-7254 Filed 8-29-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-26-M
