[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 79 (Monday, April 25, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22902-22903]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-9922]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[30 Day-11-0020]
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
Coal Workers' Health Surveillance Program (CWHSP)--OMB 0920-0020-
Reinstatement With Change--National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Background and Brief Description
This submission will incorporate the National Coal Workers' X-Ray
Surveillance Program 42 CFR 37 (0920-0020) and National Coal Workers'
Autopsy Study 42 CFR part 37.204 (0920-0021) into one complete package
which will be called the Coal Workers' Health Surveillance Program
(CWHSP). Upon OMB approval, 0920-0021 will be discontinued. CWHSP is a
congressionally-mandated medical examination program for monitoring the
health of underground coal miners, established under the Federal Coal
Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, as amended in 1977 and 2006, PL-91-
173 (the Act). The Act provides the regulatory authority for the
administration of the CWHSP. This Program, which includes both a health
surveillance and an autopsy component, has been useful in providing
tools for protecting the health of miners (whose participation is
entirely voluntary), and also in documenting trends and patterns in the
prevalence of coal workers' pneumoconiosis (`black lung' disease) among
miners employed in U.S. coal mines. During the early 1970s, one out of
every three miners examined through the CWHSP who had worked at least
25 years underground had evidence of pneumoconiosis on their chest x-
ray. An analysis among over 25,000 miners who participated in the x-ray
Programs from 1996 to 2002 indicated that the proportion of affected
individuals had decreased to about one in 20. However, recent
surveillance analyses and research studies have confirmed that the
prevalence of `black lung' disease is increasing, there is regional
clustering of rapidly progressive pneumoconiosis cases, and coal miners
have a higher risk of disease if they perform certain jobs, work in
smaller mines, or are from certain geographic areas. Importantly, young
coal miners are developing the disabling and lethal forms of `black
lung'.
Demographic and logistical information is gathered from coal mine
operators and participating x-ray facilities. Participating miners also
provide health and work histories, and participating physicians report
radiographic findings. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Division of
Respiratory Disease Studies, 1095 Willowdale Road, Morgantown, WV
26505, also called the Appalachian Laboratory for Occupational Safety
and Health (ALOSH), is charged with administration of this Program.
From October 1, 1999 through September 30, 2002, the Mine Safety
and Health Administration (MSHA), in consultation with NIOSH, conducted
a pilot health surveillance program for both underground and surface
miners (The Miners' Choice Program). The Miners' Choice Program has
been continued as an extension of the CWHSP (currently called the
Enhanced Coal Workers' Health Surveillance Program--ECWHSP). This
extension of the CWHSP currently operates utilizing a mobile
examination unit which travels to mining regions to provide locally
accessible and more comprehensive health surveillance, including chest
radiography, spirometry, and blood pressure screening.
Under the Act, the provision of periodic chest x-ray examinations
is specifically mandated, and the x-rays are to be supplemented by such
other tests as the Secretary deems necessary. In addition to
radiographically-apparent pneumoconiosis, miners are at risk for the
development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Chest
radiographs alone cannot provide a measure of airflow obstruction and
therefore often miss important lung disease. For this reason,
spirometry, a simple breathing test, is an additional component that is
particularly useful for the health assessment of miners. Periodic
medical history and spirometry tests have been recommended by NIOSH for
both surface and underground coal miners since 1995, to facilitate
preventive actions, increase miners' participation in programs for
early detection of disease, and improve the derivation of
representative estimates of the burden, distribution, and determinants
of occupational lung disease in relation to coal mining in the U.S.
Finally, unrecognized hypertension has previously been observed among
many miners, and the ECWHSP offers blood pressure screening as a safe,
simple, and inexpensive test, which can help target initiation of
proven health conserving medications.
The National Coal Workers' Autopsy Study (NCWAS) provides
standardized lung specimens for ongoing scientific research as well as
information to the next-of-kin regarding the presence and extent of
coal workers' pneumoconiosis (black lung) in the lungs of the deceased
miner. The Consent Release and History Form is primarily used to obtain
written authorization from the next-of-kin to perform an autopsy on the
deceased miner. Because a basic reason for the post-mortem examination
is research (both epidemiological and clinical), a minimum of essential
information is collected regarding the deceased miner,
[[Page 22903]]
including occupational history and smoking history. The data collected
are used by scientists for research purposes in defining the diagnostic
criteria for pneumoconiosis and in correlating pathologic changes with
exposures and x-ray findings.
There are no costs of the NCWAS to respondents other than their
time. The total estimated burden hours are 4,470.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Average burden
Type of respondent Form name Number of Responses per per response
respondents respondent (in hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Physicians B Readers............... Roentgenographic 10,000 1 3/60
Interpretation Form--CDC/
NIOSH (M) 2.8.
Interpreting Physician 300 1 10/60
Certification Document--
CDC/NIOSH (M) 2.12.
Miners............................. Miner Identification 5,000 1 20/60
Document--CDC/NIOSH (M)
2.9.
No form--X-ray............. 5,000 1 15/60
No form--Spirometry........ 2,500 1 20/60
Coal Mine Operators................ Coal Mine Operator's Plan-- 200 1 30/60
CDC/NIOSH (M) 2.10.
Supervisor at X-ray Facilities..... Facility Certification 100 1 30/60
Document--CDC/NIOSH (M)
2.11.
Pathologist........................ No form--Invoice........... 50 1 5/60
No form--Final Diagnosis 50 1 5/60
Report.
Next-of-Kin........................ Consent, Release, and 50 1 15/60
History Form--CDC/NIOSH
(M) 2.6.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daniel Holcomb,
Reports Clearance Officer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2011-9922 Filed 4-22-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P