Bloodborne Pathogens Standard; Extension of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Approval of Information Collection (Paperwork) Requirements

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

The Department of Labor, as part of the continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent ( i.e., employer) 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 (PRA) (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, the collection instruments are clearly understood, and OSHA's estimate of the information collection burden is accurate. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (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 effort in obtaining information (29 U.S.C. 657).

The following paragraph describes the information collected under the Standard, as well as how they use it. The purpose of these requirements is to protect workers from occupational exposures to the infectious hazardous agents posed by bloodborne pathogens.

The information collection requirements specified in the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard require employers to: develop and maintain an exposure control plan; develop a housekeeping schedule; provide workers with Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) vaccinations, post-exposure medical evaluations and follow-up; maintain medical and training records for specified periods; and provide employees and their authorized representatives with access to these records. Employers must also establish and maintain a sharps injury log for the recording of percutaneous injuries from contaminated sharps.

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 to protect workers, 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 employers who must comply; for example, by using automated or other technological information, and transmission techniques.

III. Proposed Actions

OSHA is requesting that OMB extend the approval of the information collection requirements contained in the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard. The agency is requesting an adjustment increase in burden from 5,727,929 to 7,870,142 hours, a difference of 2,142,213 hours. This increase is due to an increase in the number of facilities going from 701,563, to 793,728 and the number of employees going from 8,425,607 to 16,975,449 affected by the Standard. The operation and maintenance cost increased from $52,427,598 to $116,568,859.

OSHA 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: Bloodborne Pathogens Standard.

OMB Control Number: 1218-0180.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profits.

Number of Respondents: 793,728.

Number of Responses: 43,856,212.

Frequency of Responses: On occasion.

Average Time per Response: Varies.

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 7,870,142.

Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $116,568,859.

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 https://www.regulations.gov, which is the Federal eRulemaking Portal; or (2) by facsimile (fax), if your comments, including attachments, are not longer than 10 pages you may fax them to the OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-1648. All comments, attachments, and other material must identify the agency name and the OSHA docket number for the ICR (Docket No. OSHA-2010-0047). You may supplement electronic submission by uploading document files electronically.

Comments and submissions are posted without change at https://www.regulations.gov . Therefore, OSHA cautions commenters about submitting personal information such as social security numbers and dates of birth. Although all submissions are listed in the https://www.regulations.gov index, some information ( e.g., copyrighted material) is not publicly available to read or download from this website. All submission, including copyrighted material, are available for inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office. Information on using the https://www.regulations.gov website to submit comments and access the docket is available at the website's “User Tips” link.

Contact the OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-2350, (TTY (877) 889-5627) for information about materials not available from the website, and for assistance in using the internet to locate docket submissions.

V. Authority and Signature

James S. Frederick, Deputy 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. 8-2020 (85 FR 58393).

[FR Doc. 2024-22429 Filed 9-30-24; 8:45 am]

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