[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 127 (Wednesday, July 1, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Page 39568]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-14201]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[Docket No. CDC-2018-0094; NIOSH-321]
Infectious Diseases and Circumstances Relevant to Notification
Requirements: Definition of Emergency Response Employee
AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health and Human
Services (HHS).
ACTION: Notice of availability and response to comments.
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SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), within
the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has added a
definition of the term ``emergency response employees'' to the
definitions section of the document entitled ``Implementation of
Section 2695 (42 U.S.C. 300ff-131) Public Law 111-87: Infectious
Diseases and Circumstances Relevant to Notification Requirements.''
This list of potentially life-threatening infectious diseases to which
emergency response employees may be exposed and companion guidelines
has been re-published by the National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health (NIOSH) and is available on the NIOSH website.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rachel Weiss, Office of the Director,
NIOSH; 1090 Tusculum Avenue, MS:C-48, Cincinnati, OH 45226; telephone
(855) 818-1629 (this is a toll-free number); email [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Statutory Authority
The Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act of
1990 (Pub. L. 101-381) was reauthorized in 1996, 2000, 2006, and 2009.
The most recent reauthorization, the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment
Extension Act of 2009 (Pub. L. 111-87), amended the Public Health
Service Act (PHS Act, 42 U.S.C. 201-300ii) and requires the HHS
Secretary to establish the following: a list of potentially life-
threatening infectious diseases, including emerging infectious
diseases, to which emergency response employees (ERE) may be exposed in
responding to emergencies; guidelines describing circumstances in which
EREs may be exposed to these diseases, taking into account the
conditions under which emergency response is provided; and guidelines
describing the manner in which medical facilities should make
determinations about exposures.
In a Federal Register notice published on July 14, 2010, the HHS
Secretary delegated this responsibility to the CDC Director.\1\ The CDC
Director further assigned the responsibility to the NIOSH Director and
formally re-delegated the authority to develop the list and guidelines
to NIOSH on August 27, 2018.\2\
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\1\ 75 FR 40842.
\2\ 83 FR 50379 (October 4, 2018).
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II. Background
On November 2, 2011, CDC published a notice in the Federal Register
entitled Implementation of Section 2695 (42 U.S.C. 300ff-131) Public
Law 111-87: Infectious Diseases and Circumstances Relevant to
Notification Requirements.\3\ The notice included ``a list of
potentially life-threatening infectious diseases, including emerging
infectious diseases, to which EREs may be exposed in responding to
emergencies . . .; guidelines describing circumstances in which
employees may be exposed to these diseases; and guidelines describing
the manner in which medical facilities should make determinations about
exposures.'' The list and guidelines published in that notice did not
include a definition for ``emergency response employee.''
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\3\ 76 FR 67736.
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In a request for information (RFI) published in the Federal
Register on October 17, 2018,\4\ CDC solicited input on a definition of
``emergency response employee.'' In the RFI, CDC explained that
Congress included such a definition in earlier iterations of the Ryan
White Act but inadvertently omitted it from the current version of the
Act. Therefore, interested parties were invited to participate in the
RFI by submitting written views, opinions, recommendations, and data
regarding the definition of the term ``emergency response employee.''
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\4\ 83 FR 52454.
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Five submissions were received from the following commenters: Two
private individuals, a professional organization representing fire
chiefs, a union representing emergency response employees, and one city
emergency management agency; all commenters were supportive of
restoring the definition of ``emergency response employee'' to the
publication. Two commenters asked that the definition offered in the
RFI be revised to remove the word ``employee;'' change ``funeral
service practitioners'' to ``coroner'' or ``medical examiner;'' and add
the terms ``rescuers'' and ``emergency management personnel.''
After careful consideration of the requested revisions, CDC has
determined that adopting the original statutory definition, without
change, in the definitions section accompanying the NIOSH list and
guidelines allows the notification provisions to be implemented as
Congress originally intended. Further, the definition references
``other individuals,'' which allows discretion in determining whether
individuals who are employed in job categories other than those
enumerated can be considered EREs, including the specific groups
recommended by the commenters. Therefore, CDC is retaining the
definition of ``emergency response employee'' provided in the RFI:
firefighters, law enforcement officers, paramedics, emergency
medical technicians, funeral service practitioners, and other
individuals (including employees of legally organized and recognized
volunteer organizations, without regard to whether such employees
receive nominal compensation) who, in the course of professional
duties, respond to emergencies in the geographic area involved.
NIOSH has updated the guidelines and list with the ERE definition
and has re-published them on the NIOSH Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment
Extension Act of 2009 topic page, at https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/ryanwhite/.
John J. Howard,
Director, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2020-14201 Filed 6-30-20; 8:45 am]
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