Notice of Request for Approval To Collect New Information:
Confidential Close Call Reporting System
Federal Register Notice
April 27, 2006
Volume 71, Number 81
[Docket No.: RITA-2006-24566]
AGENCY: Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), Research and
Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of section3506(c)(2)(A) of
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces that the
Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) intends to request the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve a new information collection
effort in railroad yards. This data collection effort is in support of
a five-year research study aiming at 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 and is designed to identify safety
issues and propose corrective actions based on voluntary reports of
close calls submitted to BTS. This collection is necessary because data
on close calls are not normally reported to the railroad carriers or
the Federal Railroad Administration.
DATES: Comments must be received by June 26, 2006.
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-2006-24566, 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-2006-24566.''
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: Demetra V. Collia, RTS 31, Room 3430,
Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Research and Innovative Technology
Administration, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590; (202)
366-1610; Fax No. (202) 493-0568; e-mail: demetra.collia@dot.gov.
Office hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays.
Data Confidentiality Provisions: The confidentiality of Close Calls
data is protected under the BTS confidentiality statute (49 U.S.C.
111(k) and the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical
Efficiency Act (CIPSEA) of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-347, Title V). In
accordance with these confidentiality statutes, only statistical and
non-identifying data will be made publicly available through reports.
Further, BTS 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 close call reports.
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. BTS is seeking
OMB approval for the following BTS information collection activity:
Title: Confidential Close Call Reporting System.
OMB Control Number: 2139-NEW.
Type of Review: Approval of data collection.
Respondents: Employees of selected (pilot) railroad sites.
Number of Respondents: 350 (per annum).
Estimated Time per Response: 0.50 hours.
Frequency: Intermittent for 5 years. (Reports are submitted when
there is a qualifying event, i.e., a close call occurs within a pilot
site. The frequency of such event is estimated to be approximately one
per day.)
Total Annual Burden: 175.00 hours.
II. Background
Collecting data on the nation's transportation system is an
important component of BTS's responsibility to the transportation
community and is authorized in BTS statutory authority (49 U.S.C.
111(c)(1) and (2) and 49 U.S.C. 111(c)(5)(j)). BTS and FRA share a
common interest in promoting rail safety based on better data. To that
end, FRA's Office of Research and Development is sponsoring the
Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS)
Demonstration Project to investigate the effectiveness of such system
in improving rail safety.
A close call represents a situation in which an ongoing sequence of
events was stopped from developing further, preventing the occurrence
of potentially serious safety-related consequences. This might include
the following: (1) Events that happen frequently, but have low safety
consequences; (2) events that happen infrequently but have the
potential for high consequences (e.g., a train in dark territory
proceeds beyond its authority); (3) events that are below the FRA
reporting threshold (e.g., an event that causes a minor injury); and
(4) events that are reportable to FRA but have the potential for a far
greater accident than the one reported (e.g., a slow speed collision
with minor damage to the equipment and no injuries.)
Employees involved in a close call will be asked to fill out a
questionnaire which will be made available on the Web and at their work
site and mail it to BTS. The close call questionnaire will request the
respondent to provide information such as: (1) Name and contact
information; (2) time and location of the incident; (3) a short
description of the event; (4) contributing factors to the close call;
and (5) any other information that might be useful in determining a root cause of such event.
BTS will collect close call reports submitted by railroad
employees, develop an analytical database containing the reported data
and other pertinent information, and protect the confidentiality of
these data through its own statute (49 U.S.C. 111(i)) and the
Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of
2002 (CIPSEA). The database will be a valuable tool to railroad
carriers and the FRA in their effort to identify safety issues and
provide corrective measures before an accident occurs.
Voluntary reporting of close calls to a confidential system can
provide a tool to identify and correct weaknesses in railroad safety
systems before an accident actually occurs. The C3RS
demonstration project will foster a voluntary, cooperative, non-
punitive environment to communicate safety concerns. Through the
analysis of close calls the FRA and the railroad community will receive
information about factors that may contribute to unsafe events and the
error recovery mechanisms that prevented an adverse consequence from
occurring. Such information can be used to develop new training
programs, identify root causes of potentially adverse events, assess
risk and allocate resources to address those risks more efficiently.
The database will also provide other users such as rail safety
researchers with valuable information regarding precursors to safety
risks and contribute to research and development of intervention
programs aimed at preventing accidents and fatalities.
III. Request for Comments
BTS 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 Washington, DC on April 20, 2006.
William Bannister,
Acting Deputy Director, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Research
and Innovative Technology Administration.
[FR Doc. E6-6348 Filed 4-26-06; 8:45 am]
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