[Federal Register: February 13, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 29)]
[Notices]
[Page 6808-6809]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr13fe07-92]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Research and Innovative Technology Administration
[Docket Number: RITA-2007-27185]
Notice of Request for Approval To Collect Survey Data To Evaluate
Close Call Reporting System for Railroad Operations
AGENCY: Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center),
Research and Innovative Technology Administration, DOT.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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OMB Control Number: New.
SUMMARY: This notice announces that the Volpe Center intends to request
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve a data collection
effort to help in the evaluation of a five-year demonstration project
focused on improving rail safety by analyzing information on close
calls and other unsafe occurrences in the rail industry. The study is
conducted by the Office of Human Factors in the Federal Railroad
Administration (FRA) and is designed to identify safety issues and
propose corrective actions based on voluntary reports of close calls
submitted to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). Because of
the innovative nature of this program, the FRA is implementing an
evaluation to determine whether the program is succeeding, how it can
be improved, and what is needed to expand the program throughout the
railroad industry. This collection is necessary to obtain the data
needed to carry out the evaluation. This notice is required by the
Paperwork Reduction Act.
Data Confidentiality Provisions: The Volpe Center will not release
to FRA or any other public or private entity any information that might
reveal the identity of individuals or organizations mentioned in the
evaluation survey questionnaires. The respondents will not be asked to
identify themselves.
DATES: Comments must be received by April 16, 2007.
ADDRESSES: You can mail or hand-deliver comments to the U.S. Department
of Transportation (DOT), Dockets Management System (DMS). You may
submit your comments by mail or in person to the Docket Clerk, Docket
No. RITA-2007-27185, U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh
Street, SW., Room PL-401, Washington, DC 20590-0001. Comments should
identify the docket number; paper comments should be submitted in
duplicate. The DMS is open for examination and copying, at the above
address, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays. If you wish to receive confirmation of receipt of your
written comments, please include a self-addressed, stamped postcard
with the following statement: ``Comments on Docket RITA-2007-27185.''
The Docket Clerk will date stamp the postcard prior to returning it to
you via the U.S. mail. Please note that due to delays in the delivery
of U.S. mail to Federal offices in Washington, DC, we recommend that
persons consider an alternative method (the Internet, fax, or
professional delivery service) to submit comments to the docket and
ensure their timely receipt at U.S. DOT. You may fax your comments to
the DMS at (202) 493-2251.
If you wish to file comments using the Internet, you may use the
DOT DMS Web site at http://dms.dot.gov. Please follow the online
instructions for submitting an electronic comment. You can also review
comments on-line at the DMS Web site at http://dms.dot.gov.
Please note that anyone is able to electronically search all
comments received into our docket management system by the name of the
individual submitting the comment (or signing the comment if submitted
on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may
review DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register
published on April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70; pages 19477-78) or
you may review the Privacy Act Statement at http://dms.dot.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joyce Ranney, DTS 4G, Room 1-655A,
Volpe Center; Kendall Square, 55 Broadway; Cambridge, MA 617-494-2095;
FAX NO. (617) 494-3622; e-mail: ranney@volpe.dot.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. The Data Collection
The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35; as
amended) and 5 CFR part 1320 require each Federal agency to obtain OMB
approval to initiate an information collection activity. The Volpe
Center is seeking OMB approval for the following Volpe Center
information collection activity:
Title: Collect Close Call System Evaluation Survey Questionnaires.
OMB Control Number: New.
Type of Review: Approval of data collection.
Respondents: Employees of selected (pilot) railroad sites.
Number of Respondents: 1200 (per annum).
Estimated Time per Response: 0.33 hours.
Frequency: Once at baseline. (Baseline includes three pilot sites
with a total of 1200 respondents.)
Total Annual Burden: 400 hours.
Background
In the U.S. railroad industry, injury rates have been declining
over the last 25 years. Indeed, the industry incident rate fell from a
high of 12.1 incidents per 100 workers per year in 1978 to 3.66 in
1996. As the number of incidents has decreased, the mix of causes has
also changed toward a higher proportion of incidents that can be
attributed to human and organizational factors. This combination of
trends--decrease in overall rates but increasing proportion of human
factors-related incidents--has forced safety managers to shift tactics
in order to achieve further reductions in the overall injury rate.
In recognition of the need for new approaches to improving safety,
the FRA has instituted the Confidential Close Call Reporting System
(C3RS). The operating assumption behind C3RS is
that by assuring confidentiality, employees will report events, which,
if dealt with, will decrease the likelihood of accidents.
C3RS therefore has both a confidential reporting component,
and a problem analysis/solution component. C3RS is expected
to affect safety in two ways. First, it will lead to problem solving
concerning specific safety conditions. Second, it will engender an
organizational culture and climate that supports greater awareness of
safety and a greater cooperative willingness to improve safety.
If C3RS works as intended, it could have an important
impact on improving safety and safety culture in the railroad industry.
While C3RS has been developed and implemented with the
participation of the FRA, railroad labor, and railroad management,
there are legitimate questions about whether it is being implemented in
the most powerful way, and whether it will have its intended effect.
Further, even if C3RS is successful, it will be necessary to
know if it is successful enough to implement on a wide scale. To
address these important questions, the FRA is implementing a formative
evaluation to guide program development, a summative evaluation to
assess impact, and a sustainability evaluation to
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determine how C3RS can continue after the test period is
over. The evaluation is needed to provide the FRA with guidance as to
how it can improve the program, and how it might be scaled up
throughout the railroad industry.
Program evaluation is an inherently data driven activity. Its basic
tenet is that as change is implemented, data can be collected to track
the course and consequences of the change. Because of the setting in
which C3RS is being implemented, that data must come from
the railroad employees (labor and management) who may be affected.
Critical data include beliefs about safety and issues related to
safety, and opinions/observations about the operation of
C3RS.
In order to collect the necessary data in a manner that protects
confidentiality, the data collection process will be managed by the
Volpe Center. The Volpe Center will not release to FRA or any other
public or private entity any information that might reveal the identity
of individuals or organizations mentioned in the evaluation survey
questionnaires. Also the respondents will not be asked to identify
themselves.
II. Request for Comments
The Volpe Center requests comments on any aspects of these
information collections, including: (1) The accuracy of the estimated
burden; (2) ways to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the
collected information; and (3) ways to minimize the collection burden
without reducing the quality of the information collected, including
additional use of automated collection techniques or other forms of
information technology.
Issued in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on February 6, 2007.
Nelson H. Keeler,
Director, Office of Aviation Programs.
[FR Doc. E7-2448 Filed 2-12-07; 8:45 am]
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