Document ID: EPA-HQ-OPP-2018-0031-0004
Agency: epa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals: Agricultural Worker Protection Standard Training, Notification, and Recordkeeping
Posted Date: 2019-02-19T05:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 33 (Tuesday, February 19, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4802-4803]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-02583]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OPP-2018-0031; FRL-9984-15-OEI]

Information Collection Request Submitted to OMB for Review and 
Approval; Comment Request; Agricultural Worker Protection Standard 
Training, Notification, and Recordkeeping (Renewal)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted the 
following information collection request (ICR) to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with 
the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA): ``Agricultural Worker Protection 
Standard Training, Notification, and Recordkeeping'' (EPA ICR Number 
2491.04 and OMB Control Number 2070-0190). This is a request to renew 
the approval of an existing ICR, which is currently approved. EPA did 
not receive any comments in response to the previously provided public 
review opportunity issued in the Federal Register on May 30, 2018. With 
this submission, EPA is providing an additional 30 days for public 
review.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 21, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by docket identification 
(ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2018-0031, to: (1) EPA online using http://www.regulations.gov (our preferred method) or by mail to: EPA Docket 
Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460; and (2) OMB via email to 
oira_submission@omb.eop.gov. Address comments to OMB Desk Officer for 
EPA.
    EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in the 
docket without change, including any personal information provided, 
unless the comment includes profanity, threats, information claimed to 
be Confidential Business Information (CBI), or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit electronically any 
information you consider to be CBI or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ryne Yarger, Field and External 
Affairs Division (7506P), Office of Pesticide Programs, Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460-
0001; telephone number: (703) 605-1193; email address: 
yarger.ryne@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Docket: Supporting documents, including the ICR that explains in 
detail the information collection activities and the related burden and 
cost estimates that are summarized in this document, are available in 
the docket for this ICR. The docket can be viewed online at http://www.regulations.gov or in person at the EPA Docket Center, West William 
Jefferson Clinton Bldg., Rm. 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW, 
Washington, DC. The telephone number for the Docket Center is (202) 
566-1744. For additional information about EPA's public docket, visit 
http://www.epa.gov/dockets.
    ICR status: Under OMB regulations, the Agency may continue to 
conduct or sponsor the collection of information while this submission 
is pending at OMB. Under PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., an agency may not 
conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a 
collection of information, unless it displays a currently valid OMB 
control number. The OMB control numbers are displayed either by 
publication in the Federal Register or by other appropriate means, such 
as on the related collection instrument or form, if applicable. The 
display of OMB control numbers for certain EPA regulations is 
consolidated in 40 CFR part 9.
    Abstract: This ICR estimates the recordkeeping and third-party 
response burden of paperwork activities that covers the information 
collection requirements contained in the Worker Protection Standard 
(WPS) regulations at 40 CFR part 170. These requirements were updated 
in a 2015 Final Rule (80 FR 67495, November 2, 2015) that amended 40 
CFR part 170.
    Prior to the regulatory update, the WPS regulations already had 
provisions for training and notification of pesticide-related 
information for workers who enter pesticide-treated areas after 
pesticide application to perform crop-related tasks, as well as for 
handlers who mix, load, and apply pesticides. Agricultural employers 
and commercial pesticide handling establishments are responsible for 
providing required training, notifications and information to their 
employees to ensure worker and handler safety. The changes to the 
regulation in 2015 improved protections and included revisions to many 
of the provisions as well as the addition of new requirements. The WPS 
regulation now includes expanded and more frequent training for workers 
and handlers, improved posting of pesticide-treated areas, additional 
information for workers before they enter a pesticide-treated area 
while a restricted entry interval is in effect, access to more general 
and application-specific information about pesticides used on the 
establishment, and recordkeeping of training to improve enforceability 
and compliance.
    Respondents/Affected Entities: Agricultural employers on 
agricultural establishments, including employers in farms as well as in 
nursery, forestry, and greenhouse establishments.
    Respondent's obligation to respond: Mandatory (40 CFR 170).
    Estimated total number of potential respondents: Approximately 
985,000 agricultural establishments/employers and approximately 
1,995,000 agricultural workers/handlers.
    Frequency of response: Annually or on occasion, depending on the 
activity.

[[Page 4803]]

    Total estimated annual burden: 10,448,160 hours. Burden is defined 
at 5 CFR 1320.3(b).
    Total estimated annual costs: $433,264,055, includes no annualized 
capital investment or maintenance and operational costs.
    Changes in the estimates: There is no change in the number of hours 
in the total estimated respondent burden compared with that identified 
in the ICR currently approved by OMB. There is an increase of 3,220 
respondents, which is the result of a correction to the Agency's 
previously reported bottom-line annual estimates. Although the full 
burden analysis for the currently approved ICR properly accounted for 
burden imposed on these respondents, these respondents were 
inadvertently omitted from the total number of respondents reported to 
OMB. This change is an adjustment.

Courtney Kerwin,
Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. 2019-02583 Filed 2-15-19; 8:45 am]
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