[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 207 (Thursday, October 27, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62005-62006]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-21481]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

[Docket No. ICR-1218-0185 (2006)]


The Cadmium in General Industry 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: Request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: OSHA solicits public comment concerning its request for an 
extension of the information collection requirements contained in the 
Cadmium in General Industry Standard (29 CFR 1910.1027). This standard 
controls occupational exposure to cadmium, thereby preventing serious 
disease (e.g., lung cancer, prostate cancer, kidney disease) and death 
among exposed employees.

DATES: Comments must be submitted by the following dates:
    Hard copy: Your comments must be submitted (postmarked or received) 
by December 27, 2005.
    Facsimile and electronic transmission: Your comments must be 
received by December 27, 2005.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by OSHA Docket No. ICR-
1218-0185 (2006), by any of the following methods:
    Regular mail, express delivery, hand delivery, and messenger 
service: Submit your comments and attachments to the OSHA Docket 
Office, Room N-2625, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, 
NW., Washington, DC 20210; telephone (202) 693-2350 (OSHA's TTY number 
is (877) 889-5627). OSHA Docket Office and Department of Labor hours 
are 8:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., ET.
    Facsimile: If your comments are 10 pages or fewer in length, 
including attachments, you may fax them to the OSHA Docket Office at 
(202) 693-1648.
    Electronic: You may submit comments through the Internet at http://ecomments.osha.gov. Follow instructions on the OSHA Web page for 
submitting comments.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read or download comments or 
background materials, such as the complete Information Collection 
Request (ICR) (containing the Supporting Statement, OMB-83-I Form, and 
attachments), go to OSHA's Web page at http://www.OSHA.gov. In 
addition, the ICR, comments and submissions are available for 
inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office at the address above. 
You may also contact Todd Owen at the address below to obtain a copy of 
the ICR. For additional information on submitting comments, please see 
the ``Public Participation'' heading in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION 
section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Todd Owen, Directorate of Standards 
and Guidance, OSHA, Room N-3609, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20210, telephone: (202) 693-2222.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to reduce 
paperwork and respondent (i.e., employer) burden, conducts a 
preclearance consultation program to provide the public 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 collection burden is accurate. The 
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (the Act) (29 U.S.C. 651 et 
seq.) 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).
    On January 5, 2005, OSHA published the final rule for the Standards 
Improvement Project--Phase II (70 FR 1112). The final rule removed and 
revised provisions of standards that were outdated, duplicative, 
unnecessary, or inconsistent, and clarified or simplified regulatory 
language. The final rule contained several revisions to collections of 
information contained in the Cadmium Standard. These revisions 
included: removing the word ``signed'' that appears in the introductory 
sentence in paragraph (1)(10)(1) of the Standard; and allowing 
employers the option of posting employee-monitoring results, or 
individually informing each employee of these results. Those changes 
reduced paperwork burden hours while maintaining worker protection and 
improving consistency among standards.
    The information collection requirements specified in the Cadmium in 
General Industry Standard protect employees from the adverse health 
effects that may result from occupational exposure to cadmium. The 
major information collection reuqirements in the Standard include 
conducting employee exposure monitoring, notifying employees of their 
cadmium exposures, implementing a written compliance program, 
implementing medical-surveillance of employees, providing examining 
physicians with specific information, ensuring that employees receive a 
copy of their medical-surveillance results, maintaining employees' 
exposure-monitoring and medical-surveillance records for specific 
periods, and providing access to these records by OSHA, the National 
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the employee who is the 
subject of the records, the employee's representative, and other 
designated parties.

II. Special Issues for Comment

    OSHA has a particular interest in comments on the following issues:
    <bullet> Whether the proposed information collection requirements 
are necessary for the proper performance of the Agency's functions, 
including whether the information is useful;
    <bullet> The accuracy of OSHA'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.

III. Proposed Actions

    OSHA is requesting that OMB extend the approval of the collection 
of information (paperwork) requirements necessitated by the Cadmium in 
General Industry Standard (29 CFR 1910.1027). As part of this proposal, 
the Agency is requesting a 167-hour burden reduction (adjustment) 
resulting from not identifying any new employers who will

[[Page 62006]]

gather information necessary to meet the objective data requirements 
required specified by paragraph Sec.  1910.1027(d)(2)(iii) of the 
Standard. The Agency will summarize the comments submitted in response 
to this notice, and will include this summary in its request to OMB to 
extend its approval of these information collection requirements.
    Type of Review: Extension of currently approved information 
collection requirements.
    Title: Cadmium in General Industry Standard.
    OMB Number: 1218-0185.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profits; Federal government; 
State, local, or tribal government.
    Number of Respondents: 53,161.
    Frequency: On occasion; quarterly; semi-annually; annually.
    Average Time Per Response: Varies from five minutes (.08 hour) for 
several provisions (e.g., maintaining an employee's exposure-monitoring 
or medical-surveillance record, providing information about an employee 
to the physician) to 1.5 hours to review and update a compliance 
program or administer an employee medical examination.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 121,177.
    Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $6,190,817.

IV. Public Participation--Submission of Comments on This Notice and 
Internet Access to Comments and Submissions

    You may submit comments and supporting materials in response to 
this notice by (1) hard copy, (2) FAX transmission (facsimile), or (3) 
electronically through the OSHA Web page. Because of security-related 
problems, there may be a significant delay in the receipt of comments 
by regular mail. Please contact the OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-
2350 (TTY (887) 889-5627) for information about security procedures 
concerning the delivery of submissions by express delivery, hand 
delivery, and courier service.
    All comments, submissions and background documents are available 
for inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office at the above 
address. Comments and submissions posted on OSHA's Web page are 
available at http://www.OSHA.gov. Contact the OSHA Docket Office for 
information about materials not available through the OSHA Web page and 
for assistance using the Web page to locate docket submissions.
    Electronic copies of this Federal Register notice as well as other 
relevant documents are available on OSHA's Web page. Since all 
submissions become public, private information such as social security 
numbers should not be submitted.

V. Authority and Signature

    Jonathan L. Snare, Acting 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 et seq.), and Secretary of Labor's Order No. 5-
2002 (67 FR 65008).

    Signed at Washington, DC, on October 21, 2005.
Jonathan L. Snare,
Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor.
[FR Doc. 05-21481 Filed 10-26-05; 8:45 am]
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