27354 Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 106 / Friday, May 31, 1996 / Notices

Dated: May 29, 1996.

William W. Wiles,

Secretary of the Board.

[FR Doc. 96–13785 Filed 5–29–96; 11:23 am]

BILLING CODE 6210–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention

[Announcement Number 657]

National Institute for Occupational

Safety and Health; Intervention Studies

for Construction Safety and Health;

Notice of Availability of Funds for

Fiscal Year 1996

Introduction

The Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC), National Institute for

Occupational Safety and Health

(NIOSH), announces that applications

are being accepted for intervention

projects relating to occupational safety

and health in the construction industry.

Such projects are intended to develop

and evaluate the effectiveness of

methods or approaches for preventing

illnesses and injuries among

construction workers. Thus, this

announcement is not intended for

traditional hypothesis-testing research

projects to identify and investigate the

relationships between health outcomes

and occupational exposures to

hazardous agents.

CDC is committed to achieving the

health promotion and disease

prevention objectives of ‘‘Healthy

People 2000,’’ a national activity to

reduce morbidity and mortality and

improve the quality of life. This

announcement is related to the priority

area of ‘‘Occupational Safety and

Health.’’ (For ordering a copy of

‘‘Healthy People 2000,’’ see the section

‘‘WHERE TO OBTAIN ADDITIONAL

INFORMATION.’’)

Authority

This program is authorized under

section 20(a) of the Occupational Safety

and Health Act of 1970, (29 U.S.C.

669(a)), and section 301(a) of the Public

Health Service Act, (42 U.S.C. 241(a)),

as amended. The applicable program

regulation is 42 CFR Part 52.

Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants include non-profit

and for-profit organizations,

universities, colleges, research

institutions, and other public and

private organizations, including State

and local governments and small,

minority and/or woman-owned

businesses.

Smoke-Free Workplace

CDC strongly encourages all grant

recipients to provide a smoke-free

workplace and promote the non-use of

all tobacco products, and Public Law

103–227, the Pro-Children Act of 1994,

prohibits smoking in certain facilities

that receive Federal funds in which

education, library, day care, health care,

and early childhood development

services are provided to children.

Availability of Funds

About $750,000 is available in fiscal

year (FY) 1996 to fund approximately 4

to 5 project grants. The amount of

funding available may vary and is

subject to change. Awards are

anticipated to range from $150,000 to

$200,000 in total costs (direct and

indirect) per year. Awards are expected

to begin on or about September 30,

1996. Awards will be made for a 12-

month budget period within a project

period not to exceed 3 years.

Continuation awards within the project

period will be made on the basis of

satisfactory progress and availability of

funds.

Purpose

NIOSH seeks to prevent work-related

diseases and injuries in the construction

industry by designing, implementing,

and evaluating measures to reduce

occupational hazards. If prevention

measures are not currently available,

new technologies should be developed

for controlling hazardous exposures.

Such new technologies must be

evaluated to determine that the

prevention measures are feasible, even

for smaller businesses. Intervention

research, of which control technology is

a part, examines the utility and impact

of new and existing preventive

measures in the workplace.

Programmatic Interest

The focus of these grants should

facilitate progress in preventing adverse

effects among construction workers. A

project that is proposed to develop or

test the efficacy of an intervention

should be designed to establish,

discover, develop, elucidate, or confirm

information relating to occupational

safety and health, including innovative

methods, techniques, and approaches

for solving occupational safety and

health problems.

A project that is proposed to

demonstrate the effectiveness of an

intervention should address, either on a

pilot or full-scale basis, the technical or

economic feasibility of implementing a

new/improved innovative procedure,

method, technique, or system for

preventing occupational safety or health

problems. A demonstration project

should be conducted in an actual

workplace where a baseline measure of

the occupational problem will be

defined, the new/improved approach

will be implemented, a follow-up

measure of the problem will be

documented, and an evaluation of the

benefits will be conducted.

The overall NIOSH program priorities,

including those related to the

construction industry, were developed

by NIOSH and its partners in the public

and private sectors to provide a

framework to guide occupational safety

and health research in the next

decade—not only for NIOSH but also for

the entire occupational safety and

health community. Approximately 500

organizations and individuals outside

NIOSH provided input into the

development of the National

Occupational Research Agenda (NORA).

This attempt to guide and coordinate

research nationally is responsive to a

broadly perceived need to address

systematically those topics that are most

pressing and most likely to yield gains

to the worker and the nation. Fiscal

constraints on occupational safety and

health research are increasing, making

even more compelling the need for a

coordinated and focused research

agenda. NIOSH intends to support

projects that facilitate progress in

understanding and preventing adverse

effects among workers.

The Agenda identifies 21 research

priorities. These priorities reflect a

remarkable degree of concurrence

among a large number of stakeholders.

The NORA priority research areas are

grouped into three categories: Disease

and Injury, Work Environment and

Workforce, and Research Tools and

Approaches. The NORA document is

available through the NIOSH Home

Page; http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/

nora.html.

Consistent with NORA, the following

are high priority directions for research

under this announcement. Investigators

may also apply in other areas related to

construction safety and health, but the

rationale for the significance of the

research and demonstrations to

construction must be developed in the

application.

1. Understand how economic issues

impact the acceptance of best safety

practices.

2. Understand the aspects of changing

the safety culture in organizations,

including residential and other small

contractors.
Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 106 / Friday, May 31, 1996 / Notices 27355

3. Improve the health and safety

aspects of construction tools and of

general technology development/

utilization.

4. Identify effective ways to obtain

information and conduct research on

non-union workers and contractors.

5. Identify training techniques that are

effective in causing safe work practices

to be adopted.

6. Investigate mechanisms that lead to

nongovernmental support/funding for

regional training and safety and health

services.

7. Investigate new concepts for jobsite improvement (such as scheduling of

deliveries, material location and

transport in vehicular worker traffic

patterns, etc.).

8. Identify causes of dramatic

differences in regional injury rates for

both small and large firms, as well as

union and non-union operations.

9. Select focus areas that will be of

perceived immediate benefit to the

customers. (Based upon achievable

benchmarks in construction safety and

health, the NIOSH program priorities

applicable to this Program

Announcement are to reduce

construction-related deaths, lost-time

injuries and illnesses, back injuries, eye

injuries, skin disorders or diseases, lead

poisonings, hearing loss, silicosis, and

asbestosis.)

Potential applicants with questions

concerning the acceptability of their

proposed work are strongly encouraged

to contact the technical information

contact listed in this announcement in

the section ‘‘WHERE TO OBTAIN

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.’’

Evaluation Criteria

Upon receipt, applications will be

reviewed by CDC for completeness and

responsiveness. Applications

determined to be incomplete or

unresponsive to this announcement will

be returned to the applicant without

further consideration. If the proposed

project involves organizations or

persons other than those affiliated with

the applicant organization, letters of

support and/or cooperation must be

included.

Applications that are complete and

responsive to the announcement will be

reviewed by an initial review group in

which applications will be determined

to be competitive or non-competitive

based on their technical merit relative to

other applications received.

Applications determined to be noncompetitive will be withdrawn from

further consideration and the principal

investigator/program director and the

official signing for the applicant

organization will be promptly notified.

Applications judged to be competitive

will be discussed and assigned a

priority score.

Review criteria for technical merit are

as follows:

1. Technical significance and

originality of proposed project.

2. Appropriateness and adequacy of

the study design and methodology

proposed to carry out the project.

3. Qualifications and research

experience of the Principal Investigator

and staff, particularly but not

exclusively in the area of the proposed

project.

4. Availability of resources necessary

to perform the project.

5. Documentation of cooperation from

industry, unions, or other participants

in the project, where applicable.

6. Adequacy of plans to include both

sexes and minorities and their

subgroups as appropriate for the

scientific goals of the project. (Plans for

the recruitment and retention of subjects

will also be evaluated.)

7. Appropriateness of budget and

period of support.

8. Human Subjects—Procedures

adequate for the protection of human

subjects must be documented.

Recommendations on the adequacy of

protections include: (1) protections

appear adequate and there are no

comments to make or concerns to raise,

(2) protections appear adequate, but

there are comments regarding the

protocol, (3) protections appear

inadequate and the Objective Review

Group (ORG) has concerns related to

human subjects, or, (4) disapproval of

the application is recommended

because the research risks are

sufficiently serious and protection

against the risks are inadequate as to

make the entire application

unacceptable.

Secondary review criteria for

programmatic importance are as

follows:

1. Results of the initial review.

2. Magnitude of the problem in terms

of numbers of workers affected.

3. Severity of the disease or injury in

the worker population.

4. Usefulness to applied technical

knowledge in the evaluation, or control

of construction safety and health

hazards.

5. Degree to which the project can be

expected to yield or demonstrate results

that will be useful on a national or

regional basis.

Applicants will compete for available

funds with all other approved

applications. The following will be

considered in making funding

decisions:

1. Quality of the proposed project as

determined by peer review.

2. Availability of funds.

3. Program balance among priority

areas of the announcement.

Executive Order 12372 Review

Applications are not subject to the

review requirements of Executive Order

12372, entitled Intergovernmental

Review of Federal Programs.

Public Health System Reporting

Requirement

This program is not subject to the

Public Health System Reporting

Requirements.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Number

The Catalog of Federal Domestic

Assistance number is 93.262.

Other Requirements

Paperwork Reduction Act

Projects that involve the collection of

information from 10 or more individuals

and funded by the grant will be subject

to review and approval by the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) under

the Paperwork Reduction Act.

Human Subjects

The applicant must comply with the

Department of Health and Human

Services Regulations, 45 CFR Part 46,

regarding the protection of human

subjects. Assurances must be provided

to demonstrate that the project will be

subject to initial and continuing review

by an appropriate institutional review

committee. The applicant will be

responsible for providing assurance in

accordance with the appropriate

guidelines and forms provided in the

application kit.

Women and Racial and Ethnic

Minorities

It is the policy of the CDC to ensure

that women and racial and ethnic

groups will be included in CDC

supported research projects involving

human subjects, whenever feasible and

appropriate. Racial and ethnic groups

are those defined in OMB Directive No.

15 and include American Indian,

Alaskan Native, Asian, Pacific Islander,

Black and Hispanic. Applicants shall

ensure that women and racial and

ethnic minority populations are

appropriately represented in

applications for research involving

human subjects. Where clear and

compelling rationale exist that inclusion

is not feasible, this situation must be

explained as part of the application. In

conducting the review of applications

for scientific merit, review groups will

evaluate proposed plans for inclusion of

minorities and both sexes as part of the
27356 Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 106 / Friday, May 31, 1996 / Notices

scientific assessment and assigned

score. This policy does not apply to

research studies when the investigator

cannot control the race, ethnicity and/

or sex of subjects. Further guidance to

this policy is contained in the Federal

Register, Vol. 60, No. 179, Friday,

September 15, 1995, pages 47947–

47951.

Application Submission and Deadlines

A. Preapplication Letter of Intent

Although not a prerequisite of

application, a non-binding letter of

intent-to-apply is requested from

potential applicants. The letter should

be submitted to the Grants Management

Officer (whose address is reflected in

section B, ‘‘Applications’’). It should be

postmarked no later than June 28, 1996.

The letter should identify the

announcement number, name of

principal investigator, and specify the

priority area to be addressed by the

proposed project. The letter of intent

does not influence review or funding

decisions, but it will enable CDC to plan

the review more efficiently, and will

ensure that each applicant receives

timely and relevant information prior to

application submission.

B. Applications

Applicants should use Form PHS–398

(OMB Number 0925–0001) and adhere

to the ERRATA Instruction Sheet for

Form PHS–398 contained in the Grant

Application Kit. Please submit an

original and five copies on or before July

26, 1996 to: Ron Van Duyne, Grants

Management Officer, Grants

Management Branch, Procurement and

Grants Office, Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention (CDC), 255 East

Paces Ferry Road, NE., Room 321, MSE13, Atlanta, GA 30305.

C. Deadlines

1. Applications shall be considered as

meeting a deadline if they are either:

A. Received at the above address on

or before the deadline date, or

B. Sent on or before the deadline date

to the above address, and received in

time for the review process. Applicants

should request a legibly dated U.S.

Postal Service postmark or obtain a

legibly dated receipt from a commercial

carrier or the U.S. Postal Service. Private

metered postmarks shall not be accepted

as proof of timely mailings.

2. Applications which do not meet the

criteria above are considered late

applications and will be returned to the

applicant.

Where To Obtain Additional

Information

To receive additional written

information call (404) 332–4561. You

will be asked your name, address, and

phone number and will need to refer to

Announcement 657. You will receive a

complete program description,

information on application procedures,

and application forms. In addition, this

announcement is also available through

the CDC Home Page on the Internet. The

address for the CDC Home Page is

http://www.cdc.gov. If you have

questions after reviewing the contents of

all the documents, business

management technical assistance may

be obtained from Georgia Jang, Grants

Management Specialist, Grants

Management Branch, Procurement and

Grants Office, Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention (CDC), 255 East

Paces Ferry Road, NE., MS–E13,

Atlanta, GA 30305, telephone (404)

842–6796; fax: 404–842–6513; internet:

glj2@opspgo1.em.cdc.gov. Programmatic

technical assistance may be obtained

from Roy M. Fleming, Sc.D., Associate

Director for Grants, National Institute

for Occupational Safety and Health,

Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC), 1600 Clifton Road,

NE., Building 1, Room 3053, MS–D30,

Atlanta, GA 30333, telephone (404)

639–3343; fax: 404–639–4616; internet:

rmf2@niood1.em.cdc.gov.

There may be delays in mail delivery

as well as difficulty in reaching the CDC

Atlanta offices during the 1996 Summer

Olympics (July 19–August 4). Therefore,

in order to receive more timely response

to questions please use INTERNET/EMail, follow all instructions in this

announcement and leave messages on

the contact person’s voice mail.

Please refer to announcement number

657 when requesting information and

submitting an application.

Potential applicants may obtain a

copy of ‘‘Healthy People 2000’’ (Full

Report, Stock No. 017–001–00474–0) or

‘‘Healthy People 2000’’ (Summary

Report, Stock No. 017–001–00473–1)

through the Superintendent of

Documents, Government Printing

Office, Washington, DC 20402–9325,

telephone (202) 512–1800.

Dated: May 24, 1996.

Donald L. Holderman,

Acting Director, National Institute for

Occupational Safety and Health Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

[FR Doc. 96–13676 Filed 5–30–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4163–19–P

[Announcement 660]

Tuberculin Skin Testing Demonstration

Projects; and Evaluation of Counseling

and Testing of Tuberculosis Patients

for Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Infection and Reporting of Test Results

Introduction

The Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC) announces the

availability of fiscal year (FY) 1996

funds for a cooperative agreement

program for two projects: (1) Tuberculin

Skin Testing (TST) Demonstration

Projects; and (2) Evaluation of

Counseling and Testing of Tuberculosis

(TB) Patients for Human

Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infection

and Reporting of Test Results.

CDC is committed to achieving the

health promotion and disease

prevention objectives of ‘‘Healthy

People 2000,’’ a national activity to

reduce morbidity and mortality and

improve the quality of life. This

announcement is related to the priority

areas of HIV Infection and

Immunization and Infectious Diseases.

(To order a copy of ‘‘Healthy People

2000,’’ see the section ‘‘WHERE TO

OBTAIN ADDITIONAL

INFORMATION.’’)

Authority

This program is authorized under

Section 317E of the Public Health

Service Act [42 U.S.C. 247b-6], as

amended.

Smoke-Free Workplace

CDC strongly encourages all grant

recipients to provide a smoke-free

workplace and to promote the non-use

of all tobacco products, and Public Law

103–227, the Pro-Children Act of 1994,

prohibits smoking in certain facilities

that receive Federal funds in which

education, library, day care, health care,

and early childhood development

services are provided to children.

Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants are the official

public health agencies of States and

local governments or their bona fide

agents. This includes the District of

Columbia, American Samoa, the

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the

Virgin Islands, the Federated States of

Micronesia, Guam, the Northern

Mariana Islands, the Republic of the

Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau,

and federally recognized Indian tribal

governments.