[Federal Register: August 30, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 168)]
[Notices]               
[Page 51639-51641]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30au06-140]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

[Docket No. ICR-1218-0184 (2006)]

 
Standard on 4,4'-Methylenedianiline (MDA) in General Industry; 
Extension of the Office of Management and Budget's Approval of 
Information Collection (Paperwork) Requirements

AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.

ACTION: Request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: OSHA requests public comment concerning its proposed extension 
of the information collection requirements specified by the Standard on 
4,4'-Methylenedianiline in General Industry (29 CFR 1910.1050). The 
standard protects employees from the adverse health effects that may 
result from occupational exposure to MDA, including cancer and liver 
disease.

DATES: Comments must be submitted by the following dates:
    Hard copy: Your comments must be submitted (postmarked or received) 
by October 30, 2006.
    Facsimile and electronic transmission: Your comments must be 
received by October 30, 2006.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by OSHA Docket No. ICR-
1218-0184 (2006), by any of the following methods:

I. Submission of Comments

    Regular mail, express delivery, hand delivery, and messenger 
service: Submit your comments and attachments to the OSHA Docket 
Office, Room N-2625, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, 
NW., Washington, DC 20210; telephone (202) 693-2350 (OSHA's TTY number 
is (877) 889-5627). OSHA Docket Office and Department of Labor hours are 
8:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., e.t.
    Facsimile: If your comments are 10 pages or fewer in length, 
including attachments, you may fax them to the OSHA Docket Office at 
(202) 693-1648.
    Electronic: You may submit comments through the Internet at http://ecomments.osha.gov.
 Follow instructions on the OSHA Web page for submitting comments.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read or download comments or 
background materials, such as the complete Information Collection 
Request (ICR) (containing the Supporting Statement, OMB-83-I Form, and 
attachments), go to OSHA's Web page at http://www.OSHA.gov. In 
addition, the ICR, comments, and submissions are available for 
inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office at the address above. 
You may also contact Todd Owen at the address below to obtain a copy of 
the ICR. For additional information on submitting comments, please see 
the ``Public Participation'' section in SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jamaa Hill or 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., 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 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). This program ensures that 
information is in the desired format, reporting burden (time and costs) 
is minimized, collection instruments are understandable, and OSHA's 
estimate of the information collection burden is correct. The 
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (the Act) authorizes 
information collection by employers as necessary or appropriate for 
enforcement of the Act or for developing information regarding the 
causes and prevention of occupational injuries, illnesses, and 
accidents (29 U.S.C. 657).
    The information collection requirements specified in the Standard 
on 4,4'-Methylenedianiline in General Industry (the ``Standard'') 
protect employees from the adverse health effects that may result from 
their exposure to MDA, including cancer and liver disease. The major 
paperwork requirements specify that employers must develop a written 
emergency plan for each workplace where there is a possibility of an 
emergency (i.e., an unexpected and potentially hazardous release of 
MDA); perform initial, periodic, and additional exposure monitoring; 
and notifying each employee in writing within 15 days after the receipt 
of exposure-monitoring results, either individually or by posting. In 
addition, employers must perform routine visual inspections of the 
hands, face, and forearms of each employee potentially exposed to MDA 
for signs of dermal exposure to MDA and, if they determine that 
employees have been exposed to MDA, they must maintain records of the 
corrective actions taken. Employers must also: Establish and implement 
a written compliance program and implement a respiratory protection 
program in accordance with 29 CFR 1910.134 (OSHA's Respiratory 
Protection Standard).
    Employers must label any container of MDA-contaminated protective 
work clothing or equipment that will be taken out of changing rooms or 
other workplace areas for cleaning, maintenance, or disposal. Employers 
must also inform personnel who launder MDA-contaminated clothing of the 
requirement to prevent release of MDA, while personnel who launder or 
clear MDA-contaminated protective clothing or equipment must receive 
information about the potentially harmful effects of MDA. In addition, 
employers are to post and maintain legible warning signs demarcating 
regulated areas and entrances or accessways to regulated areas, as well 
as provide employees with information and training on the Standard and 
specific components of the MDA program at the time of their initial 
assignment, and at least annually thereafter; employers must provide 
employees, OSHA, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and 
Health (``NIOSH'') with access to the training materials.
    Additional paperwork provisions of the Standard require employers 
to provide employees with medical examinations, including initial, 
periodic, emergency, and additional examinations. Under specified 
conditions, employers also must establish a multiple-physician review 
mechanism to provide employees with a second opinion regarding the 
results of these medical examinations and a program to remove employees 
from MDA exposure. 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 employee's medical results and exposure 
limitations.
    The recordkeeping provisions require employers to establish and 
maintain records of the monitoring data or objective data they use to 
gain an exemption from the Standard, as well as exposure-monitoring, 
medical surveillance, and medical removal information collected under 
the Standard. Employers also must make any required record available to 
OSHA compliance officers and NIOSH for examination and copying, and 
provide exposure-monitoring and medical surveillance records to 
employees and their designated representatives. Finally, employers who 
cease to do business without a successor employer to receive and retain 
records for the required periods must notify NIOSH at least 90 days 
before disposing of the records and transmit the records to NIOSH if so 
requested.

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 employees, 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

    OSHA proposes to extend the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) 
approval of the collection of information requirements specified by the 
Standard 4,4'-Methylenedianiline in General Industry (29 CFR 
1910.1050), and to decrease the total burden hour estimate by two 
hours. The Agency will summarize the comments submitted in response to 
this notice, and will include this summary in this request to OMB to 
extend the approval of these information collection requirements.
    Type of Review: Extension of currently approved information 
collection requirements.
    Title: 4,4'-Methylenedianiline Standard in General Industry (29 CFR 
1910.1050).
    OMB Number: 1218-0184.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit.
    Number of Respondents: 13.
    Frequency of Recordkeeping: On occasion; quarterly; semi-annually; 
annually.
    Average Time per Response: Varies from five minutes (.08 hours) to 
provide information to the physician to two hours to perform periodic 
monitoring.
    Total Annual Hours Requested: 293.
    Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $19,037.

IV. Authority and Signature

    Edwin G. Foulke, Jr., 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) and Secretary of Labor's Order No. 5-2002 (67 FR 65008).

    Signed at Washington, DC, on August 24, 2006.
Edwin G. Foulke, Jr.,
Assistant Secretary of Labor.
[FR Doc. 06-7254 Filed 8-29-06; 8:45 am]

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