[Federal Register: December 1, 2009 (Volume 229, Number 74)]
[Notices]
[Page 62753-62754]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr01de09-49]
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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION
Collection of Information; Proposed Extension of Approval;
Comment Request--Follow-Up Activities for Product-Related Injuries
AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA)(44
U.S.C. Chapter 35), the Consumer Product Safety Commission requests
comments on a proposed extension of approval of a collection of
information from persons who have been involved in or have witnessed
incidents associated with consumer products. The Commission will
consider all comments received in response to this notice before
requesting an extension of approval of this collection of information
from the Office of Management and Budget.
DATES: The Office of the Secretary must receive comments not later than
February 1, 2010.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be captioned ``Product-Related
Injuries'' and e-mailed to the Office of the Secretary at cpsc-
os@cpsc.gov or mailed to Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product
Safety Commission, 4330 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814. Written
comments may also be sent to the Office of the Secretary by facsimile
at (301) 504-0127.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Copies of this request for extension
of the information collection requirements and supporting documentation
are available from Linda Glatz, Division of Policy and Planning, Office
of Information Technology and Technology Services, Consumer Product
Safety Commission, 4330 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814;
telephone: (301) 504-7671 or by e-mail to lglatz@cpsc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Background
Section 5(a) of the Consumer Product Safety Act, 15 U.S.C. 2054(a),
requires the Commission to collect information related to the causes
and prevention of death, injury, and illness associated with consumer
products. That section also requires the Commission to conduct
continuing studies and investigations of deaths, injuries, diseases,
other health impairments, and economic losses resulting from accidents
involving consumer products. The Commission obtains information about
product-related deaths, injuries, and illnesses from a variety of
sources, including newspapers, death certificates, consumer complaints,
and medical facilities. In addition, the Commission receives
information through its Internet Web site through forms reporting on
product-related injuries or incidents.
From these sources, the Commission staff selects cases of interest
for further investigation by face-to-face or telephone interviews with
persons who witnessed or were injured in incidents involving consumer
products. On-site investigations are usually made in cases where the
Commission staff needs photographs of the incident site, the product
involved, or detailed information about the incident. This information
can come from face-to-face interviews with persons who were injured or
who witnessed the incident, as well as contact with state and local
officials, including police, coroners and fire investigators, and
others with knowledge of the incident.
The Commission uses this information to support development and
improvement of voluntary standards, rulemaking proceedings, information
and education campaigns, and administrative and judicial proceedings
for enforcement of the statutes, standards, and regulations
administered by the Commission. These safety efforts are vitally
important to help make consumer products safer and to remove unsafe
products from the channels of distribution and from consumers' homes.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved the collection
of information concerning product-related injuries under control number
3041-0029. OMB's most recent extension of approval will expire on
January 31, 2009. The Commission now proposes to request an extension
of approval of this collection of information.
The Commission also operates a surveillance system known as the
National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) that provides
timely data on consumer product-related injuries treated in a
statistically valid sample from approximately 100 hospital emergency
departments, as well as childhood poisonings in the U.S. The NEISS
system has been in operation since 1971. The Commission previously has
not included NEISS reports under the product-related injuries
collection of information because the information obtained from
hospital databases are obtained directly through CPSC employees and/or
CPSC contractors, and does not involve the solicitation of any
information from any individuals. The CPSC employee or contractor
collects emergency department records for review which are then coded.
The PRA exempts facts or opinions obtained through direct observation
by an employee or agent of the sponsoring agency. 5 CFR 1320.3(h)(3).
However, because in addition to the reports themselves, further
information may need to be obtained which may result in telephone and/
or face-to-face communications with individuals, the proposed
collection of information under the follow-up activities for product-
related injuries now includes the burden hours per year for the NEISS
system in addition to the other follow-up activities conducted by the
Commission.
B. Estimated Burden
The NEISS system collects information on consumer-product related
injuries from approximately 100 hospitals in the United States.
Respondents to NEISS include hospitals that directly report information
to NEISS, and hospitals that allow access to a CPSC contractor who
collects the data. In FY2008, there were 157 NEISS respondents (total
hospitals and CPSC contractors). These NEISS respondents reviewed an
estimated 3.4 million emergency department records and reported 371,507
consumer product-related injuries and 5,030 childhood poisoning-related
injuries. Based on FY2008 data, the total burden hours to respondents
are estimated to be 41,497 hours. The average burden hour per hospital
is 415 hours. However, the total burden hour on each hospital varies by
the size (small or large) and location (rural or metropolitan) of the
hospital. The smallest hospital reported less than 200 cases with a
burden of approximately 100 hours, while the largest hospital reported
over 16,000 cases with a burden of about 1,300 hours.
The total costs to NEISS respondents based on FY2008 data are
estimated to be $1.5 million per year. NEISS respondents enter into
contracts with CPSC and are compensated for these costs. The average
cost per respondent is estimated to be about $15,000. The average cost
per burden hour is estimated to be $36 per hour (including wages and
overhead) (Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2009, Total Compensation
Civilian workers,
[[Page 62754]]
Hospitals). However, the actual cost to each respondent varies due to
the type of respondent (hospital versus CPSC contractor), size of
hospital, and regional differences in wages and overhead. Therefore,
the actual annual cost for any given respondent may vary between $2,600
at a small rural hospital and $75,000 at a large metropolitan hospital
which are compensated by the CPSC.
The Commission staff also obtains information about incidents
involving consumer products from approximately 17,415 persons annually.
The staff conducts face-to-face interviews at incident sites with
approximately 915 persons each year. On average, an on-site interview
takes approximately 5 hours. The staff will also conduct approximately
3,500 in-depth investigations by telephone. Each in-depth telephone
investigation requires approximately 20 minutes. Additionally, the
Commission's hotline staff interviews approximately 4,000 persons each
year about incidents involving selected consumer products. These
interviews take an average of 10 minutes each. Each year, the
Commission also receives information from about 9,000 persons who
complete forms requesting information about product-related incidents
or injuries. These forms appear on the Commission's Internet Web site,
http:www.cpsc.gov, and are printed in the Consumer Product Safety
Review and other Commission publications. The staff estimates that
completion of a form takes about 12 minutes.
The Commission staff estimates that this collection of information
imposes a total annual burden of 7,724 hours on all respondents: 4,118
hours for face-to-face interviews; 1,155 hours for in-depth telephone
interviews; 661 hours for responses to Hotline interviews; and 1,790
hours for completion of written forms.
The Commission staff estimates the value of the time of respondents
to this collection of information at $29.31 per hour (Bureau of Labor
Statistics, June 2009, Total Compensation, All workers). At this
valuation, the estimated annual cost to the public of this information
collection will be approximately $226,390.
The annual cost to the Federal government for this collection of
information is estimated to be approximately $6.4 million per year.
This estimate includes $1.5 million in compensation to NEISS
respondents. The estimate also includes approximately $4.9 million for
354 professional staff months to oversee NEISS operation, prepare
questionnaires, interviewer guidelines, and other instruments and
instructions used to collect the information, conduct face-to-face and
telephone interviews; and evaluate responses obtained from interviews
and completed forms. Each staff month is estimated to cost the
Commission approximately $13,859. This is based on an average wage rate
of $55.97 (the equivalent of a GS-14 Step 5 employee) with an addition
30 percent added for benefits (Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2009,
percentage total benefits for all civilian management, professional,
and related employees).
C. Request for Comments
The Commission solicits written comments from all interested
persons about the proposed collection of information. The Commission
specifically solicits information relevant to the following topics:
Whether the collection of information described above is
necessary for the proper performance of the Commission's functions,
including whether the information would have practical utility;
Whether the estimated burden of the proposed collection of
information is accurate;
Whether the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected could be enhanced; and
Whether the burden imposed by the collection of
information could be minimized by use of automated, electronic or other
technological collection techniques, or other forms of information
technology.
Dated: November 24, 2009.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. E9-28661 Filed 11-30-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P