Document ID: OSHA-2009-0043-0008
Agency: osha
Document Type: Notice
Title: Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records; Extension of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Approval of Information Collection (Paperwork) Requirements
Posted Date: 2020-02-05T05:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 5, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6580-6582]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02179]

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

[Docket No. OSHA-2009-0043]

Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records; 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 comments.

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SUMMARY: OSHA solicits public comments concerning the proposal to 
extend the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval of the 
information collection requirements contained in the Access to Employee 
Exposure and Medical Records Standard.

DATES: Comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent, or received) by 
April 6, 2020.

ADDRESSES: 
    Electronically: You may submit comments and attachments 
electronically at http://www.regulations.gov, which is the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal. Follow the instructions online for submitting 
comments.
    Facsimile: If your comments, including attachments, are not longer 
than 10 pages you may fax them to the OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-
1648.
    Mail, hand delivery, express mail, messenger, or courier service: 
When using this method, you must submit a copy of your comments and 
attachments to the OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. OSHA-2009-0043, 
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of 
Labor, Room N-3653, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20210. 
Deliveries (hand, express mail, messenger, and courier service) are 
accepted during the OSHA Docket Office's normal business hours, 10 a.m. 
to 3 p.m., ET.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and the 
OSHA docket number (OSHA-2009-0043) for the Information Collection 
Request (ICR). All comments, including any personal information you 
provide, such as social security numbers and dates of birth, are placed 
in the public docket without change, and may be made available online 
at http://www.regulations.gov. For further information on submitting 
comments, see the ``Public Participation'' heading in the section of 
this notice titled SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
    Docket: To read or download comments or other material in the 
docket, go to http://www.regulations.gov or the OSHA Docket Office at 
the above address. All documents in the docket (including this Federal 
Register notice) are listed in the http://www.regulations.gov index; 
however, some information (e.g., copyrighted material) is not publicly 
available to read or download through the website. All submissions, 
including copyrighted material, are available for inspection and 
copying at the OSHA Docket Office. You may also contact Theda Kenney at 
(202) 693-2222 to obtain a copy of the ICR.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Seleda Perryman or Theda Kenney, 
Directorate of Standards and Guidance, OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor, 
telephone (202) 693-2222.

[[Page 6581]]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The Department of Labor, as part of a continuing effort to reduce 
paperwork and respondent (i.e., employer) burden, conducts a 
preclearance process 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) (44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(2)(A)). This program ensures that information is in the desired 
format, the reporting burden (time and costs) is minimal, the 
collection instruments are clearly understood, and OSHA's estimate of 
the information collection burden is accurate. The Occupational Safety 
and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act) (29 U.S.C. 651 et seq.) authorizes 
information collection by employers as necessary or appropriate for 
enforcement of the OSH Act or for developing information regarding the 
causes and prevention of occupational injuries, illnesses, and 
accidents (see 29 U.S.C. 657). The OSH Act also requires OSHA to obtain 
such information with a minimum burden upon employers, especially those 
operating small businesses, and to reduce to the maximum extent 
feasible unnecessary duplication of effort in obtaining said 
information (29 U.S.C. 657).
    Under the authority granted by the OSH Act, OSHA published a health 
regulation governing access to employee exposure monitoring data and 
medical records. This regulation does not require employers to collect 
any information or to establish any new systems of records. Rather, it 
requires that employers provide workers, their designated 
representatives, and OSHA with access to employee exposure monitoring 
and medical records, and any analyses resulting from these records that 
employers must maintain under OSHA's toxic chemical and harmful 
physical agent standards. In this regard, the regulation specifies 
requirements for record access, record retention, worker information, 
trade secret management, and record transfer. Accordingly, the agency 
attributes the burden hours and costs associated with exposure 
monitoring and measurement, medical surveillance, and the other 
activities required to generate the data governed by the regulation to 
the standards that specify these activities; therefore, OSHA did not 
include these burden hours and costs in this ICR.
    Access to exposure and medical information enables employees and 
their designated representatives to become directly involved in 
identifying and controlling occupational health hazards, as well as 
managing and preventing occupationally-related health impairment and 
disease. Providing the agency with access to the records permits the 
agency to ascertain whether or not employers are complying with the 
regulation, as well as with the recordkeeping requirements of OSHA's 
other health standards; therefore, OSHA access provides additional 
assurance that workers and their designated representatives are able to 
obtain the data they need to conduct their analyses.

II. Special Issues for Comment

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

III. Proposed Actions

    The agency is requesting a burden hour adjustment increase of 
38,254 burden hours from 717,221 to 755,475 hours. This is the result 
of an adjustment of the number of establishments used in this analysis 
based on updated data. The total estimated number of establishments 
affected by the regulation increased from 739,432 to 766,684, a total 
adjustment increase of 27,252 establishments.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Title: Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records (29 CFR 
1910.1020).
    OMB Control Number: 1218-0065.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profits.
    Number of Respondents: 766,684.
    Frequency: Initially; Annually; On occasion.
    Average Time per Response: Various.
    Estimated Number of Responses: 6,688,963.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 755,475.
    Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $0.

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

    You may submit comments in response to this document as follows: 
(1) Electronically at http://www.regulations.gov, which is the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal; (2) by facsimile (fax); or (3) by hard copy. All 
comments, attachments, and other material must identify the agency name 
and the OSHA docket number (Docket No. OSHA-2009-0043) for the ICR. You 
may supplement electronic submissions by uploading document files 
electronically. If you wish to mail additional materials in reference 
to an electronic or facsimile submission, you must submit them to the 
OSHA Docket Office (see the section of this notice titled ADDRESSES). 
The additional materials must clearly identify electronic comments by 
your name, date, and the docket number so that the agency can attach 
them to your comments.
    Because of security procedures, the use of regular mail may cause a 
significant delay in the receipt of comments. For information about 
security procedures concerning the delivery of materials by hand, 
express delivery, messenger, or courier service, please contact the 
OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-2350; TTY (877) 889-5627.
    Comments and submissions are posted without change at http://www.regulations.gov. Therefore, OSHA cautions commenters about 
submitting personal information such as social security numbers and 
dates of birth. Although all submissions are listed in the http://www.regulations.gov index, some information (e.g., copyrighted 
material) is not publicly available to read or download through this 
website. All submissions, including copyrighted material, are available 
for inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office. Information on 
using the http://www.regulations.gov website to submit comments and 
access the docket is available at the website's ``User Tips'' link. 
Contact the OSHA Docket Office for information about materials not 
available through the website, and for assistance in using the internet 
to locate docket submissions.

V. Authority and Signature

    Loren Sweatt, Principal Deputy 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. 1-2012 
(77 FR 3912).

[[Page 6582]]

    Signed at Washington, DC, on January 30, 2020.
Loren Sweatt,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety 
and Health.
[FR Doc. 2020-02179 Filed 2-4-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-26-P