Notice2022-07521
Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations
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
April 8, 2022
Issuing agencies
Health and Human Services DepartmentCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
Abstract
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the utility of government information, invites the general public and other federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on a proposed information collection project titled National Environmental Assessment Reporting System (NEARS). This project is designed to collect data from foodborne illness outbreak environmental assessments routinely conducted by local, state, territorial, or tribal food safety programs during outbreak investigations.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 68 (Friday, April 8, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 68 (Friday, April 8, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20867-20869]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-07521]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[60-Day-22-0980; Docket No. CDC-2022-0045]
Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and
Recommendations
AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS).
ACTION: Notice with comment period.
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SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part
of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the
utility of government information, invites the general public and other
federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a continuing information
collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This
notice invites comment on a proposed information collection project
titled National Environmental Assessment Reporting System (NEARS). This
project is designed to collect data from foodborne illness outbreak
environmental assessments routinely conducted by local, state,
territorial, or tribal food safety programs during outbreak
investigations.
DATES: CDC must receive written comments on or before June 7, 2022.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2022-
0045, by either of the following methods:
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a>. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
<bullet> Mail: Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection Review
Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road
NE, MS H21-8, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name
and Docket Number. CDC will post, without change, all relevant comments
to regulations.gov.
Please note: Submit all comments through the Federal eRulemaking
portal (regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the address listed above.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan
and instruments, contact Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection
Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton
Road NE, MS H21-8, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 404-639-7570; Email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4c23212e0c2f282f622b233a"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="1a7577785a797e79347d756c">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), federal agencies
[[Page 20868]]
must obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for
each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. In addition,
the PRA also requires federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in
the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of
information, including each new proposed collection, each proposed
extension of existing collection of information, and each reinstatement
of previously approved information collection before submitting the
collection to the OMB for approval. To comply with this requirement, we
are publishing this notice of a proposed data collection as described
below.
The OMB is particularly interested in comments that will help:
1. Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency,
including whether the information will have practical utility;
2. Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected;
4. Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic
submissions of responses; and
5. Assess information collection costs.
Proposed Project
National Environmental Assessment Reporting System (NEARS) (OMB
Control No. 0920-0980, Exp. 8/31/2022)--Revision--National Center for
Environmental Health (NCEH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC).
Background and Brief Description
CDC is requesting OMB approval for the National Environmental
Assessment Reporting System (NEARS) to collect data from foodborne
illness outbreak environmental assessments routinely conducted by
local, state, territorial, or tribal food safety programs during
outbreak investigations. Prior to the development of NEARS,
environmental assessment data were not collected at the national level.
The data reported through this surveillance system provides timely
information on the causes of outbreaks, including environmental factors
associated with outbreaks, and are essential to environmental public
health regulators' efforts to respond more effectively to outbreaks and
prevent future, similar outbreaks. This surveillance system was
specifically designed to link to CDC's National Outbreak Reporting
System (NORS). NORS is a disease (e.g., enteric diseases transmitted by
food) outbreak surveillance system. NEARS was developed by the
Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net), a collaborative
network of CDC, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA), and nine state food safety programs
(California, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, New York, Minnesota, Oregon,
Rhode Island, and Tennessee). The network consists of environmental
health specialists (EHS), epidemiologists, and laboratorians. EHS-Net
developed a standardized protocol for identifying, reporting, and
analyzing data relevant to foodborne illness outbreak environmental
assessments.
While conducting environmental assessments during outbreak
investigations is routine for food safety program officials, reporting
information from the environmental assessments to CDC is not routine.
Local, state, federal, territorial, and tribal food safety programs are
the primary respondents for this data collection. One official from
each participating program will report environmental assessment data on
outbreaks. These programs are typically located in public health or
agriculture agencies. In the U.S., there are approximately 3,000 such
agencies. Currently, 63 state and local health departments are
registered to report data on outbreaks to NEARS. Based on our
experience over the past five years, we expect up to 10 additional
local and state public health departments to register to report
outbreak data to NEARS over the next three years.
It is not possible to determine exactly how many outbreaks will
occur in the future, nor where they will occur. Based on past trends,
it is likely that up to 300 foodborne illness outbreaks may be reported
annually to NEARS from up to 63 entities for the duration of the next
PRA clearance. Only programs in the jurisdictions in which these
outbreaks occur would report to NEARS. Thus, not every program of the
approximate 3,000 programs will respond every year. Assuming each
outbreak occurs in a different jurisdiction, there will be one
respondent per outbreak.
The activities associated with NEARS that require a burden estimate
consist of training, observing, data recording, and data reporting
events. The first activity is the training for the food safety program
personnel participating in NEARS. These staff will be encouraged to
attend a Zoom/Microsoft Teams Meeting (i.e., webinar) training session
conducted by CDC staff. Training burden is based on the maximum
expected participation from the reporting entities which could be up to
10 additional local and state health departments. We estimate the
burden of this training to be a maximum of two hours. Respondents will
only be required to take this training one time. Assuming a maximum
participation of up to 10 programs and about five staff being trained
at each participating program, the total estimated burden associated
with this training is 100 hours.
Food safety program personnel participating in NEARS will also be
encouraged to complete CDC's Environmental Assessment Training Series
(EATS). This eCourse provides training to staff on how to use a systems
approach in foodborne illness outbreak environmental assessments. We
estimate the burden of this training to be a maximum of 10 hours.
Respondents will only have to take this training one time. Assuming a
maximum participation of up to 10 programs and approximately five staff
being trained at each program, the estimated burden associated with
this training is 500 hours.
Data reporting activities for NEARS will be done once for each
establishment involved in the outbreak. Information collection
activities for NEARS consist of the following: NEARS data reporting and
NEARS manager interview. For each outbreak, the respondent (one
official from each participating program) will spend around 30 minutes
recording environmental assessment data on pen and paper. Assuming a
maximum of 300 outbreaks, the estimated annual burden is 150 hours for
recording observations.
The manager interview will be conducted at each establishment
associated with an outbreak and data is initially recorded using pen
and paper. The respondents for this activity are the retail food
managers of the outbreak establishments. Most outbreaks are associated
with only one establishment; however, some are associated with multiple
establishments. We estimate that a maximum of four manager interviews
will be conducted per outbreak. Each interview and data reporting will
take about 20 minutes. Assuming a maximum of 300 outbreaks, the
estimated annual burden is 400 hours. Web-based data entry for both
data recording and the manager
[[Page 20869]]
interview will be combined. Data entry into the NEARS system is
expected to take approximately 40 minutes for the combined activities,
for a total of 200 burden hours. The total estimated annual burden
requested for this information collection is 1,350 hours. There is no
cost to respondents other than their time.
Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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Average
Number of Number of burden per Total burden
Type of respondents Form name respondents responses per response (in (in hours)
respondent hours)
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Food safety program personnel. NEARS Food 50 1 2 100
Safety Program
Training.
NEARS e-Learning 50 1 10 500
(screenshots).
NEARS Data 300 1 30/60 150
Recording
(paper form).
NEARS Data 300 1 40/60 200
reporting and
manager's
interview (web
entry).
Retail food personnel......... NEARS Manager 1,200 1 20/60 400
Interview.
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Total..................... ................ .............. .............. .............. 1,350
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Jeffery M. Zirger,
Lead, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific
Integrity, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2022-07521 Filed 4-7-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P
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