Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 190 / Tuesday, October 1, 2024 / Notices 79919 

for the Wednesday, October 23, 2024 

meeting, respectively. Written 

comments may be sent to ogfac@

gsa.gov. We request all written 

comments have the relevant meeting 

date in the email subject line based on 

the due dates above. 

If you wish to offer oral public 

comments during the public comments 

period of the October 23, 2024 meeting, 

you must register in advance. We 

request that you register by Tuesday, 

October 22, 2024, no later than 5 p.m. 

EDT. All oral public comments will be 

limited to three (3) minutes per 

individual and may be made in-person 

or virtually. 

Special Accommodations 

For information on services for 

individuals with disabilities, or to 

request accommodation of a disability, 

please contact the Designated Federal 

Officer at least 10 business days prior to 

the meeting to give GSA as much time 

as possible to process the request. 

Closed captioning and live ASL 

interpreter services are available. 

Mehul Parekh, 

Acting, Associate Administrator, Office of 

Government-wide Policy, General Services 

Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2024–22406 Filed 9–30–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6820–61–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Agency for Toxic Substances and 

Disease Registry 

[30Day–24–0051] 

Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork 

Reduction Act Review 

In accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, the Agency for 

Toxic Substances and Disease Registry 

(ATSDR) has submitted the information 

collection request titled ‘‘Assessment of 

Chemical Exposures (ACE) 

Investigations’’ to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for 

review and approval. ATSDR previously 

published a ‘‘Proposed Data Collection 

Submitted for Public Comment and 

Recommendations’’ notice on June 25, 

2024, to obtain comments from the 

public and affected agencies. ATSDR 

received one comment related to the 

previous notice. This notice serves to 

allow an additional 30 days for public 

and affected agency comments. 

ATSDR will accept all comments for 

this proposed information collection 

project. The Office of Management and 

Budget is particularly interested in 

comments that: 

(a) Evaluate whether the proposed 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the agency, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; 

(b) Evaluate the accuracy of the 

agencies estimate of the burden of the 

proposed collection of information, 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; 

(c) Enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; 

(d) Minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on those who 

are to respond, including, through the 

use of appropriate automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology, 

e.g., permitting electronic submission of 

responses; and 

(e) Assess information collection 

costs. 

To request additional information on 

the proposed project or to obtain a copy 

of the information collection plan and 

instruments, call (404) 639–7570. 

Comments and recommendations for the 

proposed information collection should 

be sent within 30 days of publication of 

this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/ 

do/PRAMain. Find this particular 

information collection by selecting 

‘‘Currently under 30-day Review—Open 

for Public Comments’’ or by using the 

search function. Direct written 

comments and/or suggestions regarding 

the items contained in this notice to the 

Attention: CDC Desk Officer, Office of 

Management and Budget, 725 17th 

Street NW, Washington, DC 20503 or by 

fax to (202) 395–5806. Provide written 

comments within 30 days of notice 

publication. 

Proposed Project 

Assessment of Chemical Exposures 

(ACE) Investigations (OMB Control No. 

0923–0051, Exp. 10/31/2024)— 

Revision—Agency for Toxic Substances 

and Disease Registry (ATSDR). 

Background and Brief Description 

The Agency for Toxic Substances and 

Disease Registry (ATSDR) is requesting 

to revise the Assessment of Chemical 

Exposures (ACE) Investigations 

information collection project and seeks 

a three-year OMB approval to assist 

state and local health departments after 

toxic substance spills or other acute 

environmental incidents. The current 

OMB approval for this information 

collection expires 10/31/2024. ATSDR 

has successfully completed three 

investigations to date. With the uses of 

this valuable mechanism, ATSDR would 

like to continue this impactful 

information collection. See below for a 

brief summary of information 

collections approved under this tool: 

• During 2015, in U.S. Virgin Islands 

there was a methyl bromide exposure at 

a condominium resort. Under this ACE 

investigation, awareness among pest 

control companies that methyl bromide 

is currently prohibited in homes and 

other residential settings. Additionally, 

clinicians were made aware of the 

toxicologic syndrome caused by 

exposure to methyl bromide and the 

importance of notifying first responders 

immediately when they have 

encountered contaminated patients. 

• During 2016, ACE Investigations 

teams conducted a rash investigation in 

Flint, Michigan. Persons exposed to 

Flint municipal water who had current 

or worsening rashes surveyed were 

referred too free dermatologist screening 

if desired. Findings revealed that when 

the city was using water from the Flint 

River, where there were large swings in 

chorine, pH, and hardness, which could 

be one possible explanation for the 

eczema-related rashes. 

• During 2016, ACE Investigations 

teams also conducted a follow-up 

investigation for people who were 

exposed to the Flint municipal water 

and sought care from the free 

dermatology exam. The follow-up 

interviews resulted in improving the 

exam and referral processes that were 

still ongoing at the time. 

ACE Investigations have focused on 

performing rapid epidemiological 

assessments to assist state, regional, 

local, or tribal health departments (the 

requesting agencies) to respond to or 

prepare for acute environmental 

incidents. The main objectives for 

performing these rapid assessments are 

to: 

• Characterize exposure and acute 

health effects of the affected community 

to inform health officials and the 

community; 

• Identify needs (i.e., medical, mental 

health, and basic) of those exposed 

during the incidents to aid in planning 

interventions in the community; 

• Determine the sequence of events 

responsible for the incident so that 

actions can be taken to prevent future 

incidents; 

• Assess the impact of the incidents 

on the emergency response and health 

services used and share lessons learned 

for use in hospital, local, and state 

planning for environmental incidents; 

and 

• Identify cohorts that may be 

followed and assessed for persistent 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
79920 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 190 / Tuesday, October 1, 2024 / Notices 

health effects resulting from 

environmental releases. 

Because each incident is different, it 

is not possible to predict in advance 

exactly what type of, and how many 

respondents will be consented and 

interviewed to effectively evaluate the 

incident. Respondents typically include, 

but are not limited to, emergency 

responders such as police, fire, 

hazardous material technicians, 

emergency medical services, and 

personnel at hospitals where patients 

from the incident were treated. 

Incidents may occur at businesses or in 

the community setting; therefore, 

respondents may also include business 

owners, managers, workers, customers, 

community residents, and those passing 

through the affected area. 

The multidisciplinary ACE 

Investigations Team—consisting of staff 

from ATSDR, the Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention (CDC), and the 

requesting agencies will be collecting 

data. ATSDR has developed a tailored 

series of draft survey forms used in the 

field to collect data that will meet the 

goals of each investigation. ATSDR 

collections will be administered based 

on time permitted and urgency. For 

example, it is preferable to administer 

the General Survey to as many 

respondents as possible. However, if 

there are time constraints, the shorter 

Epidemiologic Contact Assessment 

Symptom Exposure (Epi CASE) Survey, 

may be administered, instead. The 

individual surveys collect information 

about exposure, acute health effects, 

health services use, medical history, 

needs resulting from the incident, 

communication during the release, 

health impact on children, and 

demographic data. Hospital personnel 

are asked about the surge, response and 

communication, decontamination, and 

lessons learned. Depending on the 

situation, data collected by face-to-face 

interviews, telephone interviews, 

written surveys, mailed surveys, or online self-administered surveys can be 

collected. Medical charts may also be 

considered for review. In rare situations, 

an investigation might involve 

collection of clinical specimens. 

ATSDR is proposing to increase the 

utility of this Generic ICR in response to 

stakeholder requests. We would also 

like to broaden who we may assist to 

include other federal public health 

agencies. ATSDR proposes revisions to 

select information collection forms, 

which will be deployed online or using 

handheld devices whenever possible to 

reduce burden, and to adjust the 

number of responses and time per 

response for several forms. Because of 

this, addition of online selfadministration method, ATSDR expects 

to be able to survey many more people 

than during previous large disasters. A 

brief Eligibility Screener will be 

conducted before the General or Epi 

CASE survey to make sure respondents 

were in the area at the time of the 

incident, before consenting them to be 

surveyed. The number of people to be 

screened will be increased to 2,500 

responses per year. The shorter Epi 

CASE survey has been modified to 

incorporate the symptom checker 

showcard into the survey so that it can 

be easily self-administered online, and 

questions on functional disabilities were 

added as requested by stakeholders 

adding two minutes (now 17 minutes 

and 1,000 respondents). The General 

survey will also have an online option. 

For simplicity, adolescents will no 

longer be eligible to take the General 

Survey and the Child Survey will 

become a module of the General survey 

for adults to answer for their minor 

children. At stakeholder direction we 

have added modules to the General 

Survey for responder, pets and livestock 

health, and a community resilience 

qualitative question bank. The General 

Survey has also added questions 

requested by stakeholders on functional 

disabilities and maternal and child 

health. The two existing long mental 

health screeners are replaced by three 

shorter ones and the Race/Ethnicity 

questions are now consistent with OMB 

guidance. Qualitative questions were 

added to several sections throughout the 

survey. These changes add to the time 

of the survey and the online selfadministration option allows for an 

increase in respondents (now 60 

minutes, 1000 responses annually). The 

Household Survey will be removed 

because of little use. The Hospital 

Survey for Emergency Department (ED) 

nurses and other health professionals on 

how they handled the response is 

unchanged (40 responses per year; 17 

hours). ATSDR is modifying the 

Medical Chart Abstraction Form with 

slight question changes suggested by a 

medical toxicologist, and by adding 

functional disability questions and 

modifying the Race/Ethnicity questions 

to the new OMB standards. This will 

have no effect on overall burden (250 

responses per year; 125 hours). 

ATSDR anticipates approximately one 

ACE investigation per year. ATSDR 

requests approval 1,508 annual burden 

hours. Participation in ACE 

investigations is voluntary and there are 

no anticipated costs to respondents 

other than their time. 

ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS

Type of respondents Form name Number of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Average 

burden per 

response 

(in hours) 

Residents, first responders, business owners, 

employees, customers.

Eligibility Screener ..........................................

Epi CASE Survey ...........................................

General survey ...............................................

2,500 

1,000 

1,000 

1 

1 

1 

2/60 

17/60 

60/60 

Hospital staff ................................................... Hospital Survey .............................................. 40 1 25/60 

Staff from state, local, or tribal health agencies.Medical Chart Abstraction Form .................... 25 10 30/60 

Jeffrey M. Zirger, 

Lead, Information Collection Review Office, 

Office of Public Health Ethics and 

Regulations, Office of Science, Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention. 

[FR Doc. 2024–22472 Filed 9–30–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4163–18–P 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES