The 4,4′-Methylenedianiline in Construction Standard; 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.

SUMMARY:

OSHA solicits public comments concerning the proposal to extend the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval of the information collection requirements specified in the 4,4′-Methylenedianiline (MDA) in the Construction Standard.

DATES:

Comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent, or received) by July 1, 2022.

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.

Docket: To read or download comments or other material in the docket, go to http://www.regulations.gov. Documents in the docket 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 website. All submissions, including copyrighted material, are available for inspection through the OSHA Docket Office. Contact the OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-2350 (TTY (877) 889-5627) for assistance in locating docket submissions.

Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and OSHA docket number (OSHA-2012-0031) for the Information Collection Request (ICR). OSHA will place all comments, including any personal information, in the public docket, which may be made available online. Therefore, OSHA cautions interested parties about submitting personal information such as social security numbers and birthdates. For further information on submitting comments, see the “Public Participation” heading in the section of this notice titled SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION .

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Seleda Perryman or Theda Kenney, Directorate of Standards and Guidance, OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor; telephone (202) 693-2222.

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 sections describe who uses the information collected under each requirement, as well as how they use it. The purpose of these requirements is to reduce employees' risk of death or serious injury by ensuring that employment has been tested and is in safe operating condition.

The information collection requirements specified in the 4′,4′-Methylenedianiline Standard for Construction (the “MDA Standard”) (29 CFR 1926.60) protect employees from the adverse health effects that may result from their exposure to MDA, including cancer, liver and skin disease. The major paperwork requirements specify that employers must perform initial, periodic, and additional exposure monitoring; notify each worker in writing of their results as soon as possible but no longer than 5 days after receiving exposure monitoring results; and routinely inspect the hands, face, and forearms of each worker potentially exposed to MDA for signs of dermal exposure to MDA. Employers must also: establish a written compliance program; institute a respiratory protection program in accordance with 29 CFR 1910.134 (OSHA's Respiratory Protection Standard); and develop a written emergency plan for any construction operation that could have an MDA emergency ( i.e., an unexpected and potentially hazardous release of MDA).

Employers must label any material or products containing MDA, including containers used to store MDA-contaminated protective clothing and equipment. They also must inform personnel who launder MDA-contaminated clothing of the requirement to prevent release of MDA, and personnel who launder or clean MDA-contaminated protective clothing or equipment must receive information about the potentially harmful effects of MDA. In addition, employers must post warning signs at entrances or access ways to regulated areas, as well as train workers exposed to MDA at the time of their initial assignment, and at least annually thereafter.

Other paperwork provisions of the MDA Standard require employers to provide workers with medical examinations, including initial, periodic, emergency and follow-up examinations. As part of the medical-surveillance program, employers must ensure that the examining physician receives specific written information, and that they obtain from the physician a written opinion regarding the worker's medical results and exposure limitations.

The MDA Standard also specifies that employers are to establish and maintain exposure-monitoring and medical-surveillance records for each worker who is subject to these requirements, make any required record available to OSHA compliance officers and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for examination and copying, and provide exposure-monitoring and medical-surveillance records to workers and their designated representatives.

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 collection, and transmission techniques.

III. Proposed Actions

The agency is requesting an adjustment increase of 20 hours, from 986 to 1,006 hours and a cost increase of $68,724 to $146,718. There are two main reasons for this adjustment. First, the agency has updated the data sources used to estimate the number of respondents, burden, and cost (such as the loaded hourly wage rates, turnover rate and unit cost for laboratory analysis and medical exams). Second, this ICR renewal switches from using rounded decimal estimates of unit burden to unrounded fractions (for instance, from 0.08 to 5/60 for an item with five minutes of burden).

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: The 4,4′-Methylenedianiline in Construction Standard (CFR 1926.60).

OMB Control Number: 1218-0183.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profits.

Number of Respondents: 330.

Number of Responses: 2,630.

Frequency of Responses: On occasion.

Average Time per Response: Varies.

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1,006.

Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $152,658.

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. Please note: While OSHA's Docket Office is continuing to accept and process submissions by regular mail due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Docket Office is closed to the public and not able to receive submissions to the docket by hand, express mail, messenger, and courier service. All comments, attachments, and other material must identify the agency name and the OSHA docket number for the ICR (Docket No. OSHA-2012-0031). You may supplement electronic submissions by uploading document files electronically. If you wish to mail additional materials in reference to an electronic or a 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 that the agency can attach them to your comments.

Due to security procedures, the use of regular mail may cause a significant delay in the receipt of comments.

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 dates 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 from this website. All submissions, including copyrighted material, are available for inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office. Information on using the http://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. 1-2012 (77 FR 3912).