[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 188 (Wednesday, September 27, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58108-58109]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-24806]



[[Page 58108]]

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

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

[Docket No. ICR-1218-0065(2000)]


Regulation on Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records; 
Extension of the Office of Management of Budget's (OMB) Approval of 
Information--Collection (Paperwork) Requirements

AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.

ACTION: Notice of an opportunity for public comment.

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

SUMMARY: OSHA solicits comments concerning the increased burden hours 
proposed for, and the extension of, the information-collection 
requirements contained in its regulation titled ``Access to Employee 
Exposure and Medical Records'' (the ``Access Regulation'') (29 CFR 
1910.1020).
    Request for Comment: The Agency has a particular interest in 
comments on the following issues:
    <bullet> Whether the information-collection requirements are 
necessary for the proper performance of the Agency's functions, 
including whether the information is useful;
    <bullet> The accuracy of the Agency's estimate of the burden (time 
and costs) of the information-collection requirements, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
    <bullet> The quality, utility, and clarity of the information 
collected; and
    <bullet> Ways to minimize the burden on employers who must comply; 
for example, by using automated or other technological information-
collection and -transmission techniques.

DATES: Submit written comments on or before November 27, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments to the Docket Office, Docket No. 
ICR-1218-0065(2000), OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-2625, 200 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210; telephone: (202) 693-
2350. Commenters may transmit written comments of 10 pages or less in 
length by facsimile to (202) 693-1648.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Todd R. Owen, Directorate of Policy, 
OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-3641, 200 Constitution Avenue, 
NW., Washington, DC 20210; telephone: (202) 693-2444. A copy of the 
Agency's Information Collection Request (ICR) supporting the need for 
the information-collection requirements specified by the Access 
Regulation is available for inspection and copying in the Docket 
Office, or you may request a mailed copy by telephoning Todd Owen at 
(202) 693-2444. For electronic copies of this ICR, contact OSHA on the 
Internet at http://www.osha.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to reduce 
paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a preclearance consultation 
program to provide the general public and Federal agencies 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 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).
    Under the authority granted by the OSH Act, OSHA published a health 
regulation governing access to employee exposure-monitoring data and 
medical records. This regulation does not require employers to collect 
any information or to establish any new systems of records. Rather, it 
requires that employers provide employees, their designated 
representatives, and OSHA with access to employee exposure-monitoring 
and medical records, and any analyses resulting from these records, 
that employers must maintain under OSHA's toxic-chemical and harmful 
physical-agent standards. In this regard, the regulation specifies 
requirements for record access, record retention, employee information, 
trade-secret management, and record transfer. Accordingly, the Agency 
attributes the burden hours and costs associated with exposure 
monitoring and measurement, medical surveillance, and the other 
activities required to generate the data governed by the regulation to 
the health standards that specify these activities; therefore, OSHA did 
not include these burden hours and costs in this ICR.
    Access to exposure and medical information enables employees and 
their designated representatives to become directly involved in 
identifying and controlling occupational health hazards, as well as 
managing and preventing occupationally-related health impairment and 
disease. Providing the Agency with access to the records permits it to 
ascertain whether or not employers are complying with the regulation, 
as well as the recordkeeping requirements of its other health 
standards; therefore, OSHA access provides additional assurance that 
employees and their designated representatives are able to obtain the 
data they need to conduct their analyses.

II. Proposed Actions

    OSHA proposes to increase the existing burden hours specified for, 
and to extend OMB's approval of, the collection-of-information 
(paperwork) requirements contained in the Access Regulation. 
Accordingly, the Agency is increasing its previous estimate of 578,803 
burden hours by 31,271 burden hours. This adjustment is the result of 
OSHA increasing the number of inspections in which its compliance 
officers review employee exposure and medical records as specified in 
paragraph (e)(2) of the Regulation. OSHA will summarize the comments 
submitted in response to this notice, and will include this summary in 
the request to OMB to extend the approval of the information-collection 
requirements contained in the Access Regulation.
    Type of Review: Extension of currently approved information-
collection requirements.
    Title: Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records (29 CFR 
1910.1020).
    OMB Number: 1218-0065.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations; 
Federal government; State, Local, or Tribal governments.
    Number of Respondents: 785,875.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Total Responses: 4,710,291.
    Average Time per Response: 7 minutes.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 610,074 hours.
    Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $0.

III. Authority and Signature

    Charles N. Jeffress, 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 3-2000 (65 FR 50017).


[[Page 58109]]


    Signed at Washington, DC on September 19, 2000.
Charles N. Jeffress,
Assistant Secretary of Labor.
[FR Doc. 00-24806 Filed 9-26-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-26-P