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[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 18 (Tuesday, January 28, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4454-4456]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-01529]

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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[Docket No. CPSC-2009-0093]

Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Consumer Opinion Forum

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or 
Commission) requests comments on a proposed extension of approval of a 
collection of information from persons who may voluntarily register and 
participate in a Consumer Opinion Forum on the CPSC Web site, 
wwww.cpsc.gov. The Commission will consider all comments received in 
response to this notice before requesting an extension of this 
collection of information from the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB).

DATES: Submit written or electronic comments on the collection of 
information by March 31, 2014.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2009-
0093, by any of the following methods:
    Electronic Submissions: Submit electronic comments to the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal at: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments. The Commission does not accept 
comments submitted by electronic mail (email), except through 
www.regulations.gov. The Commission encourages you to submit electronic 
comments by using the Federal eRulemaking Portal, as described above.
    Written Submissions: Submit written submissions in the following 
way: Mail/

[[Page 4455]]

Hand delivery/Courier (for paper, disk, or CD-ROM submissions), 
preferably in five copies, to: Office of the Secretary, Consumer 
Product Safety Commission, Room 820, 4330 East West Highway, Bethesda, 
MD 20814; telephone (301) 504-7923.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and docket number for this notice. All comments received may be posted 
without change, including any personal identifiers, contact 
information, or other personal information provided, to: http://www.regulations.gov. Do not submit confidential business information, 
trade secret information, or other sensitive or protected information 
that you do not want to be available to the public. If furnished at 
all, such information should be submitted in writing.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to: http://www.regulations.gov, and insert the 
docket number, CPSC-2009-0093, into the ``Search'' box, and follow the 
prompts.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert H. Squibb, Consumer Product 
Safety Commission, 4330 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; (301) 
504-7815, or by email to: rsquibb@cpsc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Background

    Section 5(a) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), 15 U.S.C. 
2054(a), authorizes the Commission to conduct studies and 
investigations relating to the causes and prevention of deaths, 
accidents, injuries, illnesses, other health impairments, and economic 
losses associated with consumer products. Section 5(b) of the CPSA, 15 
U.S.C. 2054(b), further provides that the Commission may conduct 
research, studies and investigations on the safety of consumer products 
or test consumer products and develop product safety test methods and 
testing devices.
    To help identify and evaluate product-related incidents, Commission 
staff seeks to solicit consumer opinions and perceptions about consumer 
product use, on a voluntary basis, through questions posted on the 
CPSC's Consumer Opinion Forum (Forum). The Forum invites consumers to 
answer questions and provide information regarding their experiences, 
opinions, and/or perceptions on the use, or pattern of use, of a 
specific product, or type of product. The Forum is intended for 
consumers, 18 years and older, who have access to the Internet and 
email, who voluntarily register to participate through a participant 
registration process, and respond to the questions posted in the Forum. 
The CPSC Web site, www.cpsc.gov, links to the Forum login page. 
Consumers may link directly to the login page for the Forum at https://www.cpsc.gov/cgibin/cof/login.aspx. When CPSC posts new questions on 
the agency's Web site, CPSC will send an email to registered 
participants (no more frequently than every four weeks), inviting 
participants to respond to various questions. Consumer responses are 
seen only by CPSC staff.
    The information that the agency collects from the Forum will help 
inform the Commission's identification and evaluation of consumer 
products and product use, by providing insight and information into 
consumer perceptions and usage patterns. This information may also 
assist the Commission in its efforts to support voluntary standards 
activities, and help CPSC identify consumer safety issues requiring 
additional research. In addition, based on the information obtained, 
CPSC may be able to provide safety information to the public that is 
easier to read and understood by a wider range of consumers. For 
example, CPSC may want to propose new language or revise existing 
language in warning labels or manuals if many Forum participants 
perceive that certain warning language is unclear or subject to 
misinterpretation.
    In addition, CPSC may use the Forum to solicit consumer opinions 
about the effectiveness of product recall communications and what 
actions consumers take in response to such communications and why. This 
information may help CPSC to tailor future recall activities to 
increase the success of those activities.
    Four surveys have been conducted thus far. The first survey sought 
information on consumer experiences with recalled products. The second 
survey sought information on consumer experiences with electrical 
outlets that contain ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs). The 
third survey sought information on consumer experiences with clothes 
dryers and clothes dryer maintenance. The fourth survey sought 
information on consumer experiences with tipovers of televisions.

B. Burden Hours

1. Respondents

    The Forum has been in existence since June 2007. As of January 7, 
2014, 3,489 have registered to participate in the Forum. The CPSC has 
not limited the total number of Forum respondents, and registration 
continues to be open. Based on the rate at which participants are 
registering, however, staff does not believe that the total number of 
registrants will increase substantially over the next few years. Staff 
believes that the number of registrants is not likely to exceed the 
CPSC staff's original estimate of 5,000 respondents. Staff estimates 
that registration takes no more than 10 minutes; the aggregate 
registration burden is estimated to be about 83 burden hours per year.
    The time required for a respondent to respond to survey questions 
varies considerably, depending upon the specific number, type, and 
complexity of questions asked. Although this variability makes the time 
to respond to a survey difficult to estimate, staff estimates that 
respondents will need less than 15 minutes to complete any Forum 
survey.
    CPSC has conducted four surveys. Although the starting and ending 
times for each completed survey are available, because respondents can 
begin a survey and return later to complete the survey, the results may 
overstate the actual time spent responding to the survey. The resulting 
data show that the average completion times for the four surveys were 
9.5, 5.0, 9.3, and 4.3 minutes, respectively. However, the median 
completion times of 4.3, 3.4, 5.4, and 3.0 minutes, respectively, are 
more likely to reflect the true ``average'' completion time.
    For each survey, staff estimates that the aggregate burden to all 
respondents would not exceed 73 hours (25 percent response rate for 
3,489 potential respondents at about 5 minutes per survey). If CPSC 
conducted one survey per year, the total estimated burden for new 
registrations and surveys, combined, would not exceed 156 hours 
annually (73 hours per survey, plus 83 hours for new registrations).
    According to the September 2013, press release from the Bureau of 
Labor Statistics, the average compensational hourly rate is $29.23 
(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ``Employer Costs for Employee 
Compensation,'' September 2013, Table 9, total compensation for all 
workers in private industries: http://www.bls.gov/ncs/). Thus, the 
total annual aggregate cost for all participants in one survey is 
estimated at $4,560.

2. Federal Government

    The total staff time for preparing questions for the Forum, 
maintaining the Forum, and analyzing the responses from the Forum is 
estimated at about one staff month per year, or about one staff month 
per survey. Accordingly, if

[[Page 4456]]

CPSC conducts one survey each year, we estimate the total staff time to 
be one staff month annually. The estimated total cost of this 
collection to the federal government is $14,380, based on an annual 
compensation of $119,238 (the equivalent of a GS-14 Step 5 employee), 
with an additional 30.9 percent added for benefits (U.S. Bureau of 
Labor Statistics, ``Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,'' 
September 2013, Table 1, percentage of wages and salaries for all 
civilian management, professional, and related employees), for a total 
annual compensation of $172,559.

C. Requests for Comments

    The Commission invites comments on the proposed collection of 
information, including:
     Whether the collection of information described above is 
necessary for the proper performance of the Commission's functions, 
including whether the information would have practical utility;
     whether the estimated burden of the proposed collection of 
information is accurate;
     whether the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected could be enhanced; and
     whether the burden imposed by the collection of 
information could be minimized by use of automated, electronic, or 
other technological collection techniques, or other forms of 
information technology.

    Dated: January 22, 2014.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2014-01529 Filed 1-27-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P
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