Notice2021-23249
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Survey on Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarms
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
October 26, 2021
Issuing agencies
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Abstract
As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or Commission) announces that the Commission has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a request for extension of approval for an information collection on a survey that will estimate the use of smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in United States households. On July 23, 2021, the CPSC published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the agency's intent to seek approval of this collection of information. After reviewing and considering the comments, the Commission announces that it has submitted a request for approval of this collection of information to the OMB.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 204 (Tuesday, October 26, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 204 (Tuesday, October 26, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59152-59154]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-23249]
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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION
[Docket No. CPSC-2018-0005]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request; Survey on Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarms
AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or Commission) announces that
the Commission has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB), a request for extension of approval for an information
collection on a survey that will estimate the use of smoke and
[[Page 59153]]
carbon monoxide alarms in United States households. On July 23, 2021,
the CPSC published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the
agency's intent to seek approval of this collection of information.
After reviewing and considering the comments, the Commission announces
that it has submitted a request for approval of this collection of
information to the OMB.
DATES: Submit written or electronic comments on the collection of
information by November 26, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of
this notice to: <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>. Find this particular
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function. In
addition, written comments that are sent to OMB also should be
submitted electronically at: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>, under Docket
No. CPSC-2018-0005.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cynthia Gillham, Consumer Product
Safety Commission, 4330 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; (301)
504-7991, or by email to: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#492a2e202525212824092a393a2a672e263f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="f794909e9b9b9f969ab794878494d9909881">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Background
The Commission is authorized under section 5(a) of the Consumer
Product Safety Act (CPSA), 15 U.S.C. 2054(a), to conduct studies and
investigations relating to the causes and prevention of deaths,
accidents, injuries, illnesses, other health impairments, and economic
losses associated with consumer products. Section 5(b) of the CPSA, 15
U.S.C. 2054(b), further provides that the Commission may conduct
research, studies, and investigations on the safety of consumer
products or test consumer products and develop product safety test
methods and testing devices.
In 1992, the CPSC sponsored a national in-home survey to collect
information on the number of residential smoke alarms in actual use in
homes and to evaluate the operability of the sampled alarms. The
results were published in the 1994 report, Consumer Product Safety
Commission Smoke Detector Operability Survey Report on Findings.\1\
Although the survey results, for many years, were instrumental in
developing state and local codes and standards related to smoke alarms,
subsequent changes in technology, installation codes, and state/local
ordinances in the past 25 years have rendered the information outdated
and less effective. Stakeholders' groups for fire loss prevention have
identified a need for an updated national survey to increase the
installation and maintenance of smoke alarms in the United States. In
addition, installations of CO alarms have increased since 1992.
Accordingly, CPSC sought to update its data information collection
related to smoke and CO alarm use through a new survey, the National
Smoke and CO Alarm Survey (SCOA survey).
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\1\ 1. Charles L. Smith, Smoke Detector Operability Survey--
Report on Findings, (Bethesda, MD: CPSC, November 1993).
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Although the SCOA survey initially commenced in January 2019, CPSC
experienced lower response rates relative to expectations in the
administration of the SCOA survey in fielding locations than had been
established by the study's approved methodology. To correct for this
challenge, and to complete the number of homes surveyed in the
contract, CPSC undertook a revised sampling method and contact protocol
for participant recruitment. Among the revisions to the methodology,
CPSC included a redesign of the recruitment, screening, and in-home
survey, based on a random walk, door-to-door knocking sample
methodology. The SCOA survey seeks to collect information from 1,185
households within the United States. The survey will be conducted only
through face-to-face, in-home interviews. Following all COVID-19 safety
precautions, survey professionals will provide prenotification door
hangers, requesting participation in the survey. These households will
be recruited, willing participants will be provided with consent forms,
and the survey team will administer questions regarding the residence
type, and smoke and CO alarm availability and functionality in the
residences. The survey team also will identify, test, and examine
several of the alarms in the home, as time permits; and if the alarms
are found to be faulty, the survey team will offer to provide new
alarms or batteries, and will do so if requested by the participant. No
action will be taken if participants choose not to have the alarm fixed
or replaced.
CPSC contracted with EurekaFacts to conduct the SCOA survey through
a national in-home survey that would estimate the use and functionality
of smoke and CO alarms in households, as well as assess user hazard
perceptions regarding such alarms. The purpose of the SCOA survey is to
collect data that will assist CPSC with better estimation of the number
and types of smoke and CO alarms installed in U.S. households, the
proportion of working smoke and CO alarms, the characteristics of
residences and residents where the smoke and CO alarms are not
operational, perceptions of residents related to the causes of
``false'' alarms or causes of faulty alarms, consumer hazard awareness,
and consumer behavior related to alarm use and smoke and CO hazards.
The information collected from the SCOA survey would provide CPSC
updated national estimates regarding the use of smoke alarms and CO
alarms in households, based on direct observation of alarm
installations. The survey also would help CPSC identify the groups who
do not have operable smoke alarms and/or CO alarms and help CPSC
understand the reasons why these groups do not have such alarms. With
this information, CPSC would be able to target its messaging better and
help to improve consumer use and awareness regarding the operability of
these alarms. In addition, the survey results would help to inform
CPSC's recommendations to voluntary standards groups and state/local
jurisdictions regarding their codes, standards, and/or regulations on
smoke and CO alarms.
B. Burden Hours
We estimate the number of respondents to be 1,185. We estimate the
total annual burden hours for respondents to be 1,552 hours, based on
the total time required to respond to the invitation, screener, and the
actual survey. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the
total compensation for civilian workers in March 2021 was $39.01 per
hour (Employer Cost for Employee Compensation, Table 2). Therefore,
CPSC estimates the cost burden for respondents to be $60,544 ($39.01
per hour x 1,552 hours = $60,543.52). The total cost to the federal
government for the contract to design and conduct the revised survey is
$562,725.
C. Response to Comments
On July 23, 2021, notice of the SCOA survey was published in the
Federal Register. 86 FR 39006. The CPSC received one comment. The
commenter stated that although survey email may produce some results,
door-to-door solicitation should not be conducted because people do not
want strangers coming to their front door.
Staff agrees that current public perceptions regarding an in-person
survey are significantly different than when the smoke alarm survey was
last conducted in 1992. However, the initial rollout of the survey in
2019, soliciting
[[Page 59154]]
randomly selected households via a mailed pre-notification letter,
which were subsequently screened for an in-home or telephone interview,
resulted in an extremely low response rate. To increase the response
rate, the SCOA survey recruitment effort was redesigned as a door-to-
door walk-recruitment methodology. Field teams distribute door hangers
on randomly selected households to provide prenotification that
researchers will be knocking on doors asking for participation in a
survey. A pilot survey conducted in the Washington metro area showed
significant improvement in the response rate. Accordingly, to obtain
the best information available, the SCOA survey data collection will
continue to use this door-to-door recruitment methodology, recognizing
that home visits by trained data collectors with inspection and testing
provide much better-quality data compared to telephone or internet
surveys. Accordingly, the Commission announces that it has submitted a
request to OMB for approval of renewal of this collection of
information.
Alberta E. Mills,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2021-23249 Filed 10-25-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
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