[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 121 (Tuesday, June 23, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37692-37693]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-13410]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Office of the Secretary
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request; Radiation Sampling and Exposure Records
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (DOL) is submitting this Mining Safety
and Health Administration (MSHA)-sponsored information collection
request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review
and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(PRA). Public comments on the ICR are invited.
DATES: The OMB will consider all written comments that agency receives
on or before July 23, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function.
Comments are invited on: (1) Whether the collection of information
is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the
Department, including whether the information will have practical
utility; (2) if the information will be processed and used in a timely
manner; (3) the accuracy of the agency's estimates of the burden and
cost of the collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used; (4) ways to enhance the quality,
utility and clarity of the information collection; and (5) ways to
minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are
to respond, including the use of automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anthony May by telephone at 202-693-
4129 (this is not a toll-free number) or by email at
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 103(h) of the Federal Mine Safety
and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act), 30 U.S.C. 813(h), authorizes MSHA to
collect information necessary to carry out its duty in protecting the
safety and health of miners. Further, section 101(a) of the Mine Act,
30 U.S.C. 811, authorizes the Secretary of Labor to develop,
promulgate, and revise as may be appropriate, improved mandatory health
or safety standards for the protection of life and prevention of
injuries in coal and metal and nonmetal mines. Under the authority of
Section 103 of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, MSHA is
required to issue regulations requiring operators to maintain accurate
records of employee exposures to potentially toxic materials or harmful
physical agents which are required to be monitored or measured under
any applicable mandatory health or safety standard promulgated under
this Act.
Airborne radon and radon daughters exist in every uranium mine and
in several other underground mining commodities. Radon is radioactive
gas. It diffuses into the underground mine atmosphere through the rock
and the ground water. Radon decays in a series of steps into other
radioactive elements, which are solids, called radon daughters. Radon
and radon daughters are invisible and odorless. Decay of radon and its
daughters results in emissions of alpha energy. Medical doctors and
scientists have associated high radon daughter exposures with lung
cancer. The health hazard arises from breathing air contaminated with
radon daughters which are in turn deposited in the lungs. The lung
tissues are sensitive to alpha radioactivity. The amounts of airborne
radon daughters to which most miners can be exposed with no adverse
effects have been established and are expressed as working levels (WL).
The current MSHA standard is a maximum personal exposure of 4
working level months per year. Excess lung cancer in uranium miners,
just as coal workers' pneumoconiosis, silicosis, and other debilitating
occupational diseases, has been recognized for many years. Thus, an
adequate base of accurate exposure level data is essential to control
miners' exposures and permit an evaluation of the effectiveness of
existing regulations. The standard at 30 CFR 57.5037 established the
procedures to be used by the mine operator in sampling mine air for the
presence and concentrations of radon daughters. Operators are required
to conduct weekly sampling where concentrations of radon daughters
exceed 0.3 WL. Sampling is required biweekly where uranium mines have
readings of 0.1 WL to 0.3 WL and every 3 months in non-
[[Page 37693]]
uranium underground mines where the readings are 0.1 WL to 0.3 WL. Mine
operators are required to keep records of all mandatory samplings.
Records must include the sample date, location, and results, and must
be retained at the mine site or nearest mine office for at least 2
years. The standard at 30 CFR 57.5040 requires mine operators to
calculate and record individual exposures to radon daughters on MSHA
Form 4000-9 ``Record of Individual Exposure to Radon Daughters.'' The
calculations are based on the results of the weekly sampling required
by 30 CFR 57.5037. Records must be maintained by the operator and
submitted to MSHA annually. For additional substantive information
about this ICR, see the related notice published in the Federal
Register on March 6, 2020 (85 FR 13189).
This information collection is subject to the PRA. A Federal agency
generally cannot conduct or sponsor a collection of information, and
the public is generally not required to respond to an information
collection, unless the OMB approves it and displays a currently valid
OMB Control Number. In addition, notwithstanding any other provisions
of law, no person shall generally be subject to penalty for failing to
comply with a collection of information that does not display a valid
OMB Control Number. See 5 CFR 1320.5(a) and 1320.6.
DOL seeks PRA authorization for this information collection for
three (3) years. OMB authorization for an ICR cannot be for more than
three (3) years without renewal. The DOL notes that information
collection requirements submitted to the OMB for existing ICRs receive
a month-to-month extension while they undergo review.
Agency: DOL-MSHA.
Title of Collection: Radiation Sampling and Exposure Records.
OMB Control Number: 1219-0003.
Affected Public: Private Sector: Businesses or other for-profits.
Total Estimated Number of Respondents: 4.
Total Estimated Number of Responses: 404.
Total Estimated Annual Time Burden: 402 hours.
Total Estimated Annual Other Costs Burden: $20.
Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3507(a)(1)(D).
Dated: June 16, 2020.
Anthony May,
Acting Departmental Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2020-13410 Filed 6-22-20; 8:45 am]
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