58106 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 188 / Wednesday, September 27, 2000 / Notices

By order of the Commission.

Donna R. Koehnke,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 00–24909 Filed 9–25–00; 11:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7020–02–P

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health

Administration

[Docket No. ICR–1218–0048 (2000)]

Occupational Noise Exposure

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: Notice of an opportunity for

public comment.

SUMMARY: OSHA solicits comments

concerning the extension of the

information-collection requirements

contained in the Occupational Noise

Exposure Standard (the Noise

Standard’’) (29 CFR 1910.95).

Request for Comment: The Agency

has a particular interest in comments on

the following issues:

• Whether the information-collection

requirements are necessary for the

proper performance of the Agency’s

functions, including whether the

information is useful;

• 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;

• 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.

DATES: Submit written comments on or

before November 27, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments

to the Docket Office, Docket No. ICR–

1218–0048 (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,

Occupational Safety and Health

Administration, 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

in the Noise Standard is available for

inspection and copying in the Docket

Office, or you may request a mailed

copy by telephoning Todd R. Owen at

(202) 693–2444. For electronic copies of

the ICR on the Noise Standard, 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 clearly understood, and

OSHA’s estimate of the information

burden is correct. The Occupational

Safety and Health Act of the 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 Noise

Standard protect employees from

suffering material hearing impairment.

The information-collection

requirements of the Noise Standard

include: Conducting noise monitoring;

notifying employees exposed at or above

an 8-hour time-weighted average of 85

decibels; providing employees with

initial and annual audiograms; after

comparing audiograms, notifying

employees if they have a hearing loss;

training employees on the hearing

effects of noise, the purpose and

effectiveness of hearing protectors, the

selection and use of hearing protectors,

the purpose of audiometric testing, and

an explanation of audiometric testing

procedures; maintaining records of

workplace noise exposure and employee

audiograms; and providing access to

these records by employees, their

designated representatives, and OSHA.

II. Proposed Actions

OSHA proposes to increase the

existing burden-hour estimate, and to

extend OMB’s approval, of the

collection-of-information (paperwork)

requirements contained in the Noise

Standard. The Agency is increasing its

previous estimate of 5,166,401 burden

hours by 470,677 burden hours. This

increase resulted primarily from

including, for the first time, the burden

hours associated with employee training

in the burden-hour estimates. 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 Noise

Standard.

Type of Review: Extension of

currently approved informationcollection requirements.

Title: Noise Standard (29 CFR

1910.95).

OMB Number: 1218–0048.

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit; Federal government; State, Local

or Tribal governments.

Number of Respondents: 379,512.

Frequency: On occasion.

Total Responses: 13,010,358.

Average Time per Response: Varies

from 2 minutes to notify employees

when noise exposure exceeds the 8-hour

time-weighted average of 85 decibels to

1 hour for employees in small

establishments to take an audiometric

examinations.

Estimated Total Burden Hours:

5,637,078.

Estimated Cost (Operation and

Maintenance): $53,891,845.

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).

Signed at Washington, DC, on September

19, 2000.

Charles N. Jeffress,

Assistant Secretary of Labor.

[FR Doc. 00–24804 Filed 9–26–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4510–26–P