A
REPORT ON ADMINISTRATION OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT BY THE OCCUPATIONAL
SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION
Pursuant
to section 3(e)(1) of §167;552, Title 5, United States Code, the following
report for fiscal year 2003 is submitted:
- Basic
Information Regarding Report
- Linda
A. Gravely, Freedom of Information Act Officer, 202-606-5398,
is the person to be contacted with questions about this report.
- The
agency address on the World Wide Web is http://www.oshrc.gov;
this report can be found at the "FOIA" section of this
site.
- To
obtain a paper copy of the report requesters can write the OSHRC
FOIA Officer; 1120 20th St., N.W., 9th Floor; Washington, D.C.
20036.
- How
to Make a FOIA Request
Persons
wishing to make FOIA requests should write Linda A. Gravely, FOIA
Officer; Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, 1120 20th
St., N.W., 9th Floor; Washington, D.C. 20036. Letters should be clearly
identified as a request for information under the Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA) on the envelope or cover enclosing or covering the request.
The letter should reasonably describe the records sought, including,
if at all possible, the OSHRC docket number, when requesting decisions,
case files or documents from case files. FOIA requests should also
include language stating that the requester is willing to pay search
and copying costs associated with the request unless the requester
is seeking a fee waiver.
- FOIA
requests should be sent to Linda A. Gravely, Freedom of Information
Act Officer; 1120 20th St., N.W., 9th Floor; Washington, D.C. 20036.
The office telephone number is 202-606-5398.
- The
agency responds to FOIA requests within 10 to 20 working days.
- Some
requests are not granted because the writer wrote the wrong agency
or sought information that was not in a system of records at this
agency.
-
- The
only agency-specific acronym that is used in this report is the
agency name, OSHRC, for Occupational Safety and Health Review
Commission.
- Basic
terms, expressed in common terminology
- FOIA/PA
request -- Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act request.
A FOIA request is generally a request for access to records
concerning a third party, an organization, or a particular
topic of interest. A Privacy Act request is a request for
records concerning oneself; such requests are also treated
as FOIA requests. (All requests for access to records,
regardless of which law is cited by the requester, are included
in this report.)
- Initial
Request -- a request to a federal agency for access to records
under the Freedom of Information Act.
- Appeal
-- a request to a federal agency asking that it review at
a higher administrative level a full denial or partial
denial of access to records under the Freedom of Information
Act, or any other FOIA determination such as a matter pertaining
to fees.
- Processed
Request or Appeal -- a request or appeal for which an agency
has taken a final action on the request or the appeal in all
respects.
- Multi-track
processing -- a system in which simple requests requiring
relatively minimal review are placed in one processing track
and more voluminous and complex requests are placed in one
or more other tracks. Requests in each track are processed
on a first-in/first-out basis. A requester who has an urgent
need for records may request expedited processing (see below).
- Expedited
processing -- an agency will process a FOIA request on an
expedited basis when a requester has shown an exceptional
need or urgency for the records which warrants prioritization
of his or her request over other requests that were made earlier.
-
Simple request -- a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track
processing places in its fastest (nonexpedited) track based
on the volume and/or simplicity of records requested.
- Complex
request -- a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track
processing places in a slower track based on the volume and/or
complexity of records requested.
- Grant
-- an agency decision to disclose all records in full in response
to a FOIA request.
- Partial
grant -- an agency decision to disclose a record in part in
response to a FOIA request, deleting information determined
to be exempt under one or more of the FOIA's exemptions; or
a decision to disclose some records in their
entireties, but to withhold others in whole or in part.
-
Denial -- an agency decision not to release any part of a
record or records in response to a FOIA request because all
the information in the requested records is determined by
the agency to be exempt under one or more of the FOIA's exemptions,
or for some procedural reason (such as because no record is
located in response to a FOIA request.)
- Time
limits -- the time period in the Freedom of Information Act
for an agency to respond to a FOIA request (ordinarily 20
working days from proper receipt of a "perfected"
FOIA request).
- "Perfected"
request -- a FOIA request for records which adequately describes
the records sought, which has been received by the FOIA office
of the agency or agency component in possession of the records,
and for which there is no
remaining question about the payment of applicable fees.
- Exemption
3 statute -- a separate federal statute prohibiting the disclosure
of a certain type of information and authorizing its withholding
under FOIA subsection (b)(3).
- Median
number -- the middle, not average, number. For example,
of 3, 7, and 14, the median number is 7.
- Average
number -- the number obtained by dividing the sum of a group
of numbers by the quantity of numbers in the group. For example,
of 3, 7, and 14, the average number is 8.
- Exemption
3 Statutes
- There
were 0 instances in fiscal year 2003 of the agency's reliance
on Exemption 3 statues.
- Initial
FOIA/PA Access Requests
- Number
of initial requests.
- The
number of requests pending at the end of the previous fiscal
year was 0.
- In
fiscal year 2003, the agency received 58 FOIA requests.
- In
fiscal year 2003, the agency processed 58 FOIA requests.
- There
were 0 FOIA requests pending at the end of fiscal year 2003.
- Disposition
of initial requests.
- The
number of total grants in fiscal year 2003 was 26.
- The
number of partial grants in fiscal year 2003 was 0.
- There
were 0 denials in fiscal year 2003.
- therefore,
the number of times each FOIA exemption below was used
this fiscal year was:
(1)
Exemption 1: 0
(2) Exemption 2: 0
(3) Exemption 3: 0
(4) Exemption 4: 0
(5) Exemption 5: 0
(6) Exemption 6: 0
(7) Exemption 7(A): 0
(8) Exemption 7(B): 0
(9) Exemption 7(C ): 0
(10) Exemption 7(D): 0
(11) Exemption 7(E): 0
(12) Exemption 7(F): 0
(13) Exemption 8: 0
(14) Exemption 9: 0
- Other
reasons for nondisclosure: 32
- no
records: 10
- referrals:
21
- request
withdrawn: 1
- fee-related
reason: 0
- records
not reasonably described: 0
- not
a proper FOIA request for some other reason: 0
- not
an agency record: 0
- duplicate
record: 0
- other:
0
- Appeals
of Initial Denials of FOIA/PA Requests
- Number
of appeals.
- Number
of appeals received during fiscal year: 0
- Number
of appeals processed during fiscal year: 0
- Disposition
of appeals.
- Number
completely upheld: 0
- Number
partially reversed: 0
- Number
completely reversed: 0
- Number
of times each FOIA exemption used (counting each exemption
once per appeal)
(1)
Exemption 1: 0
(2) Exemption 2: 0
(3) Exemption 3: 0
(4) Exemption 4: 0
(5) Exemption 5: 0
(6) Exemption 6: 0
(7) Exemption 7(A): 0
(8) Exemption 7(B): 0
(9) Exemption 7( C): 0
(10) Exemption 7(D): 0
(11) Exemption 7(E): 0
(12) Exemption 7(F): 0
(13) Exemption 8: 0
(14) Exemption 9: 0
- Other
reasons for nondisclosure:
- no
records: 0
- referrals:
0
- request
withdrawn: 0
- fee-related
reason: 0
- records
not reasonably described: 0
- not
a proper FOIA request for some other reason: 0
- not
an agency record: 0
- duplicate
record: 0
- other:
0
- Compliance
with Time Limits/Status of Pending Requests
- Median
processing time for requests processed during the year.
- As
multi-track processing system not used, this reporting is
for all requests
- number
of requests processed: 58
- median
number of days to process: 17
- We
did not receive any requests for expedited precessing.
- Status
of pending requests.
- Number
of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year: 0
- Median
number of days that such requests were pending as of that
date: 0
- Comparisons
with Previous Year
- The
58 FOIA requests received and processed in FY 2003 represents
a 5.5% increase over the 55 such requests received and processed
in FY 2002.
- FOIA
fee collection decreased 34.5%: $2,846.86 in fees were collected
in FY 2003, compared to $4,345.27 in FY 2002.
- We
received 0 requests for expedited processing and granted 0 requests
for expedited processing.
- Costs/FOIA
Staffing
- Staffing
levels.
- Number
of full-time FOIA personnel: 0
- Number
of personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA duties:
2/3
- Total
number of personnel (in total work years): 2/3 work years
- Total
costs.
- FOIA
processing: $39,181.00
- Litigation
related activities: $0
- Total
costs: $39,181.00
- Comparison
with previous year: processing costs decreased 23% in FY 2003,
compared to FY 2002. Contributing to this year's decreased cost
was the use of a contract employee instead of a civil servant
in the FOIA processing office.
- Statement
of additional resources needed for FOIA compliance (optional):
not applicable
- Fees
- Total
amount of fees collected by agency for processing requests:
$2,846.86
- Percentage
of total costs: 7.3%
- FOIA
Regulations (Including Fee Schedule)
The
agency's current regulations, which include its fee schedule, can
be found at 29 C.F.R. §2201 and at the agency Website, http://www.oshrc.gov,
under the "FOIA" section.
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