

[Federal Register: October 30, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 209)]
[Notices]               
[Page 61377-61378]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30oc07-64]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

[Docket No. OSHA-2007-0074]

 
OSHA-7 Form (``Notice of Alleged Safety and Health Hazards''); 
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 comment.

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SUMMARY: OSHA solicits public comment concerning its proposal to extend 
OMB approval of the information collection requirements specified in 
its Standard on the OSHA-7 Form.

DATES: Comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent, or received) by 
December 31, 2007.

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.
    Facsimile: If your comments, including attachments, are not longer 
than 10 pages, you may fax them to the OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-
1648.
    Mail, hand delivery, express mail, messenger, or courier service: 
When using this method, you must submit three copies of your comments 
and attachments to the OSHA Docket Office, OSHA Docket No. OSHA-2007-
0074, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Heath 
Administration, Room N-2625, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, 
DC 20210. Deliveries (hand, express mail, messenger, and courier 
service) are accepted during the Department of Labor's and Docket 
Office's normal business hours, 8:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., EST.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name and OSHA 
docket number for the ICR (OSHA-2007-0074). All comments, including any 
personal information you provide, are placed in the public docket 
without change, and may be made available online at http://www.regulations.gov.
 For further information on submitting comments see 

the ``Public Participation'' heading in the section of this notice 
titled SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
    Docket: To read or download comments or other material in the 
docket, go to http://www.regulations.gov or the OSHA Docket Office at 

the address above. All documents in the docket (including this Federal 
Register notice) 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 Web site. All submissions, 
including copyrighted material, are available for inspection and 
copying at the OSHA Docket Office. You may also contact Todd Owen at 
the address below to obtain a copy of the ICR.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 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 minimal, collection instruments are clearly understood, and OSHA's 
estimate of the information collection burden is accurate. The 
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (the 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 efforts in 
obtaining information (29 U.S.C. 657).
    Under paragraphs (a) and (c) of 29 CFR 1903.11 (``Complaints by 
employees'') employees and their representatives may notify the OSHA 
area director or an OSHA compliance officer of safety and health 
hazards regulated by the Agency that they believe exist in their 
workplaces at any time. These provisions state further that this 
notification must be in writing and ``shall set forth with reasonable 
particularity the grounds for the notice, and shall be signed by the 
employee or representative of the employee.''
    In addition to providing specific hazard information to the Agency, 
paragraph (a) permits employees/employee representatives to request an 
inspection of the workplace. Paragraph (c) also addresses situations in 
which employees/employee representatives may provide the information 
directly to the OSHA compliance officer during an inspection. An 
employer's former employees may also submit complaints to the Agency.
    To address the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (c), especially 
the requirement that the information be in writing, the Agency 
developed the OSHA-7 Form; this form standardized and simplified the 
hazard reporting process. For paragraph (a), they may complete an OSHA-
7 Form obtained from the Agency's Web site and then send it to OSHA 
online, or deliver a hardcopy of the form to the OSHA area office by 
mail or facsimile, or by hand. They may also write a letter containing 
the information and hand deliver it to the area office, or send it by 
mail or facsimile. In addition, they may provide the information orally 
to the OSHA area office or another party (e.g., a Federal safety and 
health committee for Federal employees), in which case the area office 
or other party completes the hardcopy version of the form. For the 
typical situation addressed by paragraph (c), an employee/employee 
representative informs an OSHA compliance officer orally of the alleged 
hazard during an inspection, and the compliance officer then completes 
the hardcopy version of the OSHA-7 Form; occasionally, the employee/
employee representative provides the compliance officer with the 
information on the hardcopy version of the OSHA-7 Form.
    The information in the hardcopy version of the OSHA-7 Form includes 
information about the employer and alleged hazards, including: The 
establishment's name, mailing address, and telephone and facsimile 
numbers; the site's address and telephone and facsimile numbers; the 
name and telephone number of the management official; the type of 
business; a description and the specific location of the hazards, 
including the approximate

[[Page 61378]]

number of employees exposed or threatened by the hazards; and whether 
or not the employee/employee representative informed another government 
agency about the hazards (and the name of the agency if so informed).
    Additional information on the hardcopy version of the form 
addresses the complainant including: Whether or not the complainant 
wants OSHA to reveal their name to the employer; whether the 
complainant is an employee or an employee representative, or for 
information provided orally, a member of a Federal safety and health 
committee or another party (with space to specify the party); the 
complainant's name, telephone number, and address; and the 
complainant's signature attesting that they believe a violation of an 
OSHA standard exists at the named establishment; and the date of the 
signature. An employee representative must also provide the name of the 
organization they represent and their title.
    The information contained in the online version of the OSHA-7 Form 
is similar to the hard copy version. However, the online version 
requests the complainant's e-mail address, and does not ask for the 
establishment's and site's telephone and facsimile numbers and the 
complainant's signature and signature date.
    The Agency uses the information collected on the OSHA-7 Form to 
determine whether reasonable grounds exist to conduct an inspection of 
the workplace. The description of the hazards, including the number of 
exposed employees, allows the Agency to assess the severity of the 
hazards and the need to expedite the inspection. The completed form 
also provides an employer with notice of the complaint and may serve as 
the basis for obtaining a search warrant if an employer denies the 
Agency access to the workplace.

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, 
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

    Requirements relating to the OSHA-7 Form. The Agency 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 requirement contained in the Standard.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Title: OSHA-7 Form (``Notice of Alleged Safety and Health 
Hazards'').
    OMB Number: 1218-0064.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Number of Respondents: 48,298.
    Frequency of Recordkeeping: On occasion.
    Total Responses: 48,298.
    Average Time per Response: Varies from 15 minutes (.25 hour) to 
communicate the required information orally to the Agency to 25 minutes 
(.42 hour) to provide the information in writing and send it to OSHA.
    Total Burden Hours Requested: 12,775.
    Estimated Cost (Operation and Maintenance): $990.

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. All 
comments, attachments, and other material must identify the Agency name 
and the OSHA docket number for the ICR (Docket No. OSHA-2007-0074). You 
may supplement electronic submissions by uploading document files 
electronically. If you wish to mail additional materials in reference 
to an electronic or 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 the Agency can attach them 
to your comments.
    Because of security procedures, the use of regular mail may cause a 
significant delay in the receipt of comments. For information about 
security procedures concerning the delivery of materials by hand, 
express delivery, messenger, or courier service, please contact the 
OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-2350 (TTY (877) 889-5627).
    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 
date 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 through this 
Web site. All submissions, including copyrighted material, are 
available for inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office. 
Information on using the http://www.regulations.gov Web site to submit 

comments and access the docket is available at the Web site's ``User 
Tips'' link. Contact the OSHA Docket Office for information about 
materials not available through the Web site, and for assistance in 
using the Internet to locate docket submissions.

V. 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 et seq.) and Secretary of Labor's Order No. 5-2007 (67 FR 
31159).

    Signed at Washington, DC, on October 24, 2007.
Edwin G. Foulke, Jr.,
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. E7-21287 Filed 10-29-07; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4510-26-P
