6604 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 28 / Thursday, February 10, 2000 / Notices

Respondents Phases Number of

respondents

Number of

responses/

respondents

Avg. burden

per response (in

hours)

Total burden (in

hours)

Hairdressers, food service personnel, housekeeping

personnel, daycare workers, police officers.

Pretesting Phase II ............. 10 1 2 20

University students .......................................................... Pilot Testing Phase ............ 300 1 .5 150

Hairdressers, food service personnel, housekeeping

personnel, daycare workers, police officers.

Combined Studies .............. 1,500 2 .5 1,500

Totals .................................................................... ............................................. 1,960 .................... .................... 1,745

Dated: February 2, 2000.

Nancy Cheal,

Acting Associate Director for Policy,

Planning, and Evaluation, Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention (CDC).

[FR Doc. 00–3057 Filed 2–9–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4163–18–P

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control And

Prevention

[60Day–00–21]

Proposed Data Collections Submitted

for Public Comment and

Recommendations

In compliance with the requirement

of Section 3506 (c) (2) (A) of the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the

Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention is providing opportunity for

public comment on proposed data

collection projects. To request more

information on the proposed projects or

to obtain a copy of the data collection

plans and instruments, call the CDC

Reports Clearance Officer on (404) 639–

7090.

Comments are invited on: (a) Whether

the proposed collection of information

is necessary for the proper performance

of the functions of the agency, including

whether the information shall have

practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the

agency’s estimate of the burden of the

proposed collection of information; (c)

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and

clarity of the information to be

collected; and (d) ways to minimize the

burden of the collection of information

on respondents, including through the

use of automated collection techniques

for other forms of information

technology. Send comments to Seleda

Perryman, CDC Assistant Reports

Clearance Officer, 1600 Clifton Road,

MS–D24, Atlanta, GA 30333. Written

comments should be received within 60

days of this notice.

Proposed Projects

The Role of Positive and Negative

Emotion in Promoting Hearing

Conservation Behaviors Among Coal

Miners—New—The mission of the

National Institute for Occupational

Safety and Health (NIOSH) is to

promote ‘‘safety and health at work for

all people through research and

prevention.’’ NIOSH investigates and

identifies occupational safety and health

hazards and conducts a variety of

activities, including educational

programs with workers, to help prevent

work-related illness and injury.

One of the most widespread, but often

overlooked, occupational hazards is

noise. As a result, hearing loss is the

most common occupational disease in

the United States today. More than 30

million workers are exposed to

hazardous noise levels.

The risk of hearing loss is particularly

high in certain occupations. Research

shows that more than 90 percent of coal

miners will experience moderate to

significant hearing loss by the time they

reach retirement. This level of hearing

loss has a number of negative

implications for both the affected

individual and others: (1) Impaired

communication with family members,

friends, and coworkers can result in

social isolation; (2) unrelenting tinnitus

(ringing in the ears) can significantly

lower one’s quality of life; (3) a

diminished ability to monitor the work

environment (including warning

signals, etc.) increases the risk of

accidents and further injury at the

workplace; and, finally, (4) there are

economic costs that result from workers’

compensation and lower productivity.

New noise standards for the mining

environment have recently been issued

by the Department of Labor and will go

into effect in September 2000. The new

rules require that mine operators take

necessary action to protect miners’

hearing when noise levels reach 85 dBA

or more over an eight-hour period with

additional actions required at 90 dBA.

While the new standard establishes

mandatory behaviors, such as the

wearing of both ear plug and earmufftype hearing protectors at noise levels of

105 dBA or more over an eight-hour

period, there are also voluntary

behaviors associated with the new rules.

The wearing of hearing protectors at

levels below 90 dBA and getting hearing

tests as part of a hearing conservation

program are both voluntary on the part

of the individual miner.

This study is designed to ascertain

factors that can be used to encourage

adoption of voluntary behaviors among

coal miners. The choice of this subset of

miners is based upon research that

indicates they experience significantly

more hearing loss than metal and

nonmetal miners. NIOSH proposes

working with the United Mine Workers

of America and experts in health

communication to test the effectiveness

of several innovative approaches to

communicating hearing loss risk and

promoting self-protective behaviors.

Different messages will be sent to four

different groups of coal miners, and

there will be one control group that

receives no message. The researchers

will follow up with these groups at two

different points in time to assess the

relative effectiveness of the messages.

The central purpose of this study is to

promote hearing conservation among

coal miners and encourage the adoption

of the voluntary components of the new

noise standard. However, NIOSH

believes that the results of this study

will help in similar efforts with other

worker populations. There is no cost to

respondents.

Respondents Number of

respondents

Number of

responses/respondent

(in hrs.)

Ave. burden

per response

(in hrs.)

Total burden

(in hrs.)

Coal miners in pretest ............................................................................................. 80 1 30/60 40

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 28 / Thursday, February 10, 2000 / Notices 6605

Respondents Number of

respondents

Number of

responses/respondent

(in hrs.)

Ave. burden

per response

(in hrs.)

Total burden

(in hrs.)

Coal miners in study ................................................................................................ 300 2 30/60 300

Total .................................................................................................................. ...................... ...................... ...................... 340

Dated: February 2, 2000.

Nancy Cheal,

Acting Associate Director for Policy,

Planning, and Evaluation, Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention (CDC).

[FR Doc. 00–3058 Filed 2–9–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4163–18–P

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention

[60Day–00–24]

Proposed Data Collections Submitted

for Public Comment and

Recommendations

In compliance with the requirement

of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 for

opportunity for public comment on

proposed data collection projects, the

Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC) will publish periodic

summaries of proposed projects. To

request more information on the

proposed projects or to obtain a copy of

the data collection plans and

instruments, call the CDC Reports

Clearance Officer on (404) 639–7090.

Comments are invited on: (a) Whether

the proposed collection of information

is necessary for the proper performance

of the functions of the agency, including

whether the information shall have

practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the

agency’s estimate of the burden of the

proposed collection of information; (c)

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and

clarity of the information to be

collected; and (d) ways to minimize the

burden of the collection of information

on respondents, including through the

use of automated collection techniques

for other forms of information

technology. Send comments to Seleda

Perryman, CDC Assistant Reports

Clearance Officer, 1600 Clifton Road,

MS–D24, Atlanta, GA 30333. Written

comments should be received within 60

days of this notice.

Proposed Project

Developing Communication to Reduce

Workplace Violence and Assault

Against Taxicab Drivers—New—The

mission of the National Institute for

Occupational Safety and Health

(NIOSH) is to promote ‘‘safety and

health at work for all people through

research and prevention.’’ In order to

carry out this goal effectively and

efficiently, NIOSH and the occupational

safety and health community

implemented the National Occupational

Research Agenda (NORA) in 1996.

NORA is the first step in an ongoing,

synergistic effort by the various

institutions of the occupational safety

and health community to identify and

research the most important workplace

safety and health issues. In order to

accomplish the NORA objectives in

preventing violence and assault in the

workplace, NIOSH is conducting health

communication research to determine

the most effective means of promoting

preventive behavior among taxicab

drivers, a high risk occupational group.

This research is based upon the

following NIOSH publications: ‘‘Alert:

Preventing Homicide in the Workplace’’

(NIOSH, 1993) and ‘‘Violence in the

Workplace—Risk Factors and

Prevention Strategies’’ (NIOSH, 1996).

Workplace violence is a significant

cause of injury and death in the

workplace. It was the second leading

cause of death in 1997, accounting for

approximately 18% of worker fatalities

during that year (BLS, 1998).

Approximately 85% of occupational

homicides involved robberies, and

approximately four-fifths of the

homicides were the result of shootings.

An increased risk of workplace

homicide was clustered within certain

occupational areas including sales

occupations, protective service

occupations, and taxicab drivers.

Furthermore, 60% of occupational

fatalities within taxicab drivers were

due to homicide (BLS, 1998). Although

these statistics are significant, a limited

amount of information is known

concerning the level of worker

awareness about the risk of workplace

violence. In addition, little is known

about the level of worker self-efficacy in

regard to recommended preventive

measures or the current status of the

prevention strategies utilized by both

the worker and employer. Therefore, the

goal of this study is to identify those

communication variables that are most

effective in increasing the following in

regard to workplace violence

prevention: worker awareness,

comprehension, and use of

recommendations in the workplace.

To achieve this goal, this project will

assess the combined effect of message

framing (gain or loss) and highly

involving messages on the elaboration

likelihood of the receiver, and the

subsequent attention, intention, and

behavior change that result

(Maheswaran & Levy, 1990; Smith &

Petty, 1996). A study will be conducted

in which message framing (gain, loss),

issue involvement (high, low), and

argument quality (strong, stronger) are

varied. First, three phases of Message

Pretesting will be done (N = 175) to

determine the appropriate version of

these communication variables to be

used in the studies: (1) Selecting

appropriate written versions of

communication variables; (2) test

several formats of the brochure to

determine the most effective graphics,

design, and presentation; and (3) pretest

the combination of the print and visual

variables for clarity and manipulation

accuracy. Second, a Pilot Study will be

conducted with a sample of taxicab

drivers (N > > 300). The Pilot Study will

be a small scale study in which

participants are randomly assigned to

the conditions of a 2 (message framing:

gain, loss) ′ 2 (issue involvement: high,

low) ′ 2 (argument quality: strong,

stronger) factorial design. The effect of

each variable on elaboration, attitude,

and intentions will be determined

through pre- and post-surveys. The

knowledge obtained in this Pilot Test

will be used to improve the version of

the brochure to be used in the main

Study. The Study will be conducted

with taxicab drivers (N > > 1,500 total)

in a major US city. The goal of the Study

will be to determine the effect of

message framing, issue involvement,

and argument quality on the

participant’s level of elaboration,

attitude, and intentions. In addition, a

follow-up survey at 1, 3, and 6 months

will assess any corresponding behavior

change over time.

These combined studies will assess

the use of message framing and issue

involvement in applied health

communication research. Specifically,

the studies will assess the effectiveness