[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 245 (Wednesday, December 22, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 80505-80506]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-32077]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30 Day-11-10GQ]


Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes a 
list of information collection requests under review by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of these requests, call 
the CDC Reports Clearance Officer at (404) 639-5960 or send an e-mail 
to [email protected]. Send written comments to CDC Desk Officer, Office of 
Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503 or by fax to (202) 395-
5806. Written comments should be received within 30 days of this 
notice.

Proposed Project

    The Evaluation of Ordinances to Prevent Workplace Violence in 
Convenience Stores--NEW--National Institute for Occupational Safety and 
Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,(CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    Workplace violence (WPV) is a significant concern for employers and 
employees alike; every year in the U.S., WPV results in hundreds of 
deaths, nearly two million nonfatal injuries, and billions of dollars 
in costs. Historically, retail establishments have been the focus of 
WPV research. In 1997-2008, there were 1,800 homicides of retail 
workers of which 1,572 were due to robbery or assaults.
    Situational Crime Prevention programs to reduce robbery and violent 
crime have been proven to be successful in reducing robbery and 
robbery-related injury risk to both employees and customers in retail 
settings. These programs incorporate a criminological concept called 
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) which theorizes 
that environments can be modified to make potential criminals feel they 
are being watched, i.e. under surveillance and thus vulnerable, 
resulting in avoidance of the target by increasing the robber's 
perception that a robbery is not worth the risk.
    NIOSH is requesting approval to conduct an evaluation of the 
effectiveness of convenience store safety ordinances in Dallas and 
Houston, Texas. The goals of this research are to (1) determine if the 
ordinances effectively increase the frequency of implementation of 
CPTED components in stores and decrease robbery and assaults to workers 
and customers; (2) determine the benefits to stores from compliance to 
the city ordinance; (3) determine the process the cities used for 
ordinance development and their recommendations to other cities, and 
(4) develop evidence-based recommendations to provide to other cities 
and retail companies considering CPTED programs. Recommendations about 
the process used by Houston and Dallas may be helpful to other 
communities considering ordinances. Additionally, benefits to the 
stores with regard to return on investment, increased quality of 
customers, increased sales, and decreases in employee stress due to 
risk of workplace violence may be useful to other cities and their 
retailers considering ordinances.
    The proposed NIOSH study will be a population based follow-up study 
of convenience stores which are operating 1-year after the effective 
date of their ordinance. A sample of 300 stores in Dallas and 300 
stores in Houston will be selected. Each store will be visited by a 
survey interviewer who will evaluate the store environment and 
interview the store managers in person. Data will be collected on 
compliance with the safety ordinance, reasons for non-compliance, and 
benefits to the store from compliance including return on investment, 
increased sales, increased quality of customers, decreased crime, and 
decreased employee stress.
    The participation of the store manager will be voluntary. Data from 
the store evaluation will be recorded on a checklist form and will take 
approximately 15 minutes of the store interviewer's time. The store 
evaluation will be conducted independently of the managers and will not 
require their time or assistance thus; they will not be incurring 
burden. The interview of the store manager will require approximately 
30 minutes of the manager's time. From previous studies of convenience 
stores, over a 90% response rate is expected. Prior to the survey NIOSH 
will contact those companies in the sample who own two or more stores 
that can be identified based on the company or store name, and obtain 
approval from the store owners/upper management for their store 
manager's participation. Permission to participate will be obtained 
from the remainder of the store managers at the time of the survey. If 
a store manager refuses to participate, another store will be selected 
from the sampling frame to ensure a sample of 600 stores. The survey 
interviewer will first visit the store and leave the questionnaire with 
the manager and then return 1-2 days later for the interview. This 
leaves time for the manager to obtain approval to participate from 
owners and upper management. The store manager's participation will be 
voluntary and consent to participate will be obtained from the manager.
    A burden of 3 hours is estimated for each of approximately 35 
owners/managers to review the questionnaire and survey protocol, and to 
discuss their store managers' participation with NIOSH project officers 
by conference call.
    Once the study is completed, NIOSH will provide a copy of the final 
report to each participating store, the participating city Mayor's Task 
force for Convenience Store Safety, the police department, and the 
industry and community partners.
    Approximately 3 industry leaders in each city who participate on 
the Mayor's Task Force for Convenience Store Safety will provide 
support and voluntarily contact approximately 90 stores and recommend 
they participate. There is no cost to respondents other than their 
time. The total estimated annual burden hours are 495.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                                      Average
                                                                     Number of       Number of      burden per
                           Respondents                              respondents    responses per   response  (in
                                                                                    respondent         hrs)
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Store manager Screening/interviews..............................             600               1           30/60
Store owners/upper management approve manager interviews........              35               1               3

[[Page 80506]]

 
Stakeholders....................................................               3              30           30/60
Industry leader recommend stores................................
Community leader recommend stores...............................               3              30           30/60
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Shari Steinberg,
Acting Reports Clearance Officer, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2010-32077 Filed 12-21-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P