[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 9 (Thursday, January 13, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2417-2418]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-602]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
[Docket No. OSHA-2010-0056]
OSHA-7 Form (``Notice of Alleged Safety and Health Hazards'');
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 its proposal to
extend OMB approval of the information collection requirements
specified in the OSHA-7 Form.
DATES: Comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent, or received) by
March 14, 2011.
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 your comments and attachments
to the OSHA Docket Office, OSHA Docket No. OSHA-2010-0056, U.S.
Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Heath Administration, Room
N-2625, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210. Deliveries
(hand, express mail, messenger, and courier service) are accepted
during the Department of Labor's and Docket Office's normal business
hours, 8:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., e.t.
Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name and OSHA
docket number for the Information Collection Request (ICR) (OSHA-2010-
0056). All comments, including any personal information you provide,
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 address above. 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 Web site. All submissions,
including copyrighted material, are available for inspection and
copying at the OSHA Docket Office. You may also contact Todd Owen at
the address below to obtain a copy of the ICR.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Todd Owen, Directorate of Standards
and Guidance, OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor, 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., workers filing occupational safety or
health complaints) 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 (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 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 (29 U.S.C. 657). The
OSH Act also requires that OSHA obtain such information with minimum
burden upon employers, especially those operating small businesses, and
to reduce to the maximum extent feasible unnecessary duplication of
efforts in obtaining information (29 U.S.C. 657).
Under paragraphs (a) and (c) of 29 CFR Sec. 1903.11 (``Complaints
by employees'') workers and their representatives may notify the OSHA
area director or an OSHA compliance officer of safety and health
hazards regulated by the Agency that they believe exist in their
workplaces at any time. These provisions state further that this
notification must be in writing and ``shall set forth with reasonable
particularity the grounds for the notice, and shall be signed by the
employee or representative of the employee.''
In addition to providing specific hazard information to the Agency,
paragraph (a) permits workers/worker representatives to request an
inspection of the workplace. Paragraph (c) also addresses situations in
which workers/worker representatives may provide the information
directly to the OSHA compliance officer during an inspection. An
employer's former workers may also submit complaints to the Agency.
To address the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (c), especially
the requirement that the information be in writing, the Agency
developed the OSHA-7 Form; this form standardized and simplified the
hazard reporting process. For paragraph (a), they may complete an OSHA-
7 Form obtained from the Agency's Web site and then send it to OSHA
online, or deliver a hardcopy of the form to the OSHA area office by
mail or facsimile, or by hand. They may also write a letter containing
the information and hand deliver it to the area office, or send it by
mail or facsimile. In addition, they may provide the information orally
to the OSHA area office or another party (e.g., a Federal safety and
health committee for Federal workers), in which case the area office or
other party completes the hardcopy version of the form. For the typical
situation addressed by paragraph (c), a worker/worker representative
informs an OSHA compliance officer orally of the alleged hazard during
an inspection, and the compliance officer then completes the hardcopy
version of the OSHA-7 Form; occasionally, the worker/worker
representative provides the compliance officer with the information on
the hardcopy version of the OSHA-7 Form.
The information in the hardcopy version of the OSHA-7 Form includes
information about the employer and alleged hazards, including: the
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establishment's name; the site's address and telephone and facsimile
numbers; the name and telephone number of the management official; the
type of business; a description and the specific location of the
hazards, including the approximate number of workers exposed or
threatened by the hazards; and whether or not the worker/worker
representative informed another government agency about the hazards
(and the name of the agency if so informed).
Additional information on the hardcopy version of the form concerns
the complainant including: whether or not the complainant wants OSHA to
reveal their name to the employer; whether the complainant is a worker
or a worker representative, or for information provided orally, a
member of a Federal safety and health committee or another party (with
space to specify the party); the complainant's name, telephone number,
and address; and the complainant's signature attesting that they
believe a violation of an OSHA standard exists at the named
establishment; and the date of the signature. A worker representative
must also provide the name of the organization they represent and their
title.
The information contained in the online version of the OSHA-7 Form
is similar to the hardcopy version. However, the online version
requests the complainant's e-mail address, and does not ask for the
site's facsimile number or the complainant's signature and signature
date.
The Agency uses the information collected on the OSHA-7 Form to
determine whether reasonable grounds exist to conduct an inspection of
the workplace. The description of the hazards, including the number of
exposed workers, allows the Agency to assess the severity of the
hazards and the need to expedite the inspection. The completed form
also provides the employer with notice of the complaint and may serve
as the basis for obtaining a search warrant if the employer denies the
Agency access to the workplace.
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 workers 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 its approval of the information
collection requirements relating to the OSHA-7 Form. The Agency is
requesting an increase in burden hours from 12,775 to 13,414 (a total
increase of 639 burden hours). The Agency will summarize the comments
submitted in response to this notice and will include this summary in
the request to OMB to extend the approval of the information collection
requirements.
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
Title: Notice of Alleged Safety and Health Hazards, OSHA-7 Form.
OMB Number: 1218-0064.
Affected Public: Individuals or households.
Number of Respondents: 50,715.
Total Responses: 50,715.
Frequency of Recordkeeping: On occasion.
Average Time per Response: Varies from 15 minutes (.25 hour) to
communicate the required information orally to the Agency to 25 minutes
(.42 hour) to provide the information in writing and send it to OSHA.
Total Burden Hours Requested: 13,414.
Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $1,116.
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 for the ICR (Docket No. OSHA-2010-0056). 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 your electronic comments
by your name, date, and the docket number so 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
date 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
Web site. All submissions, including copyrighted material, are
available for inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office.
Information on using the http://www.regulations.gov Web site to submit
comments and access the docket is available at the Web site's ``User
Tips'' link. Contact the OSHA Docket Office for information about
materials not available through the Web site, and for assistance in
using the Internet to locate docket submissions.
V. Authority and Signature
David Michaels, PhD, MPH, 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. 4-2010
(75 FR 55355).
Signed at Washington, DC, on January 10, 2011.
David Michaels,
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 2011-602 Filed 1-12-11; 8:45 am]
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