Notice2024-01893
New Information Collection Request: Demographic Information Collection for MSHA Grants
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
January 31, 2024
Issuing agencies
Labor DepartmentMine Safety and Health Administration
Abstract
The Department of Labor (DOL), as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a pre- clearance consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed collections of information, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This program helps to ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is soliciting comments on the new information collection regarding Demographic Information Collection for MSHA Grants.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 21 (Wednesday, January 31, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 21 (Wednesday, January 31, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6134-6136]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-01893]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Mine Safety and Health Administration
[OMB Control No. 1219-New]
New Information Collection Request: Demographic Information
Collection for MSHA Grants
AGENCY: Mine Safety and Health Administration, Labor.
ACTION: Request for public comments.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (DOL), as part of its continuing
effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a pre-
clearance consultation program to provide the general public and
Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed collections
of information, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
This program helps to ensure that requested data can be provided in the
desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is
minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the
impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly
assessed. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is
soliciting comments on the new information collection regarding
Demographic Information Collection for MSHA Grants.
DATES: All comments must be received on or before April 1, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Comments concerning the information collection requirements
of this notice may be sent by any of the methods listed below. Please
note that late comments received after the deadline will not be
considered.
<bullet> Federal E-Rulemaking Portal: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments for docket
number MSHA-2023-0021.
<bullet> Mail/Hand Delivery: DOL-MSHA, Office of Standards,
Regulations, and Variances, 201 12th Street South, Suite 4E401,
Arlington, VA 22202-5452. Before visiting MSHA in person, call 202-693-
9455 to make an appointment, in keeping with the Department of Labor's
COVID-19 policy. Special health precautions may be required.
<bullet> MSHA will post all comments as well as any attachments,
except for information submitted and marked as confidential, in the
docket at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: S. Aromie Noe, Director, Office of
Standards, Regulations, and Variances, MSHA, at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#d19c829990ffb8bfb7bea3bcb0a5b8bebfffb2bebdbdb4b2a5b8bebfa291b5bebdffb6bea7"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="83ced0cbc2adeaede5ecf1eee2f7eaecedade0ecefefe6e0f7eaecedf0c3e7ecefade4ecf5">[email protected]</span></a>
[[Page 6135]]
(email); 202-693-9440 (voice); or 202-693-9441 (facsimile). This is not
a toll-free number.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Section 103(h) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977,
as amended (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(a), authorizes the Secretary of Labor (Secretary) 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.
MSHA works to prevent death, illness, and injury from mining and to
promote safe and healthful workplaces for U.S. miners. Section 115 of
the Mine Act, 30 U.S.C. 825, requires MSHA to approve mine operators'
health and safety training programs for miners. To assist mine
operators, MSHA administers two grant programs: State Grants and
Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety Grants. The grant programs fund training for
individuals, miners, employers, and contractors on how to recognize,
avoid, and prevent unsafe and unhealthful working conditions in
accordance with section 503 of the Mine Act, 30 U.S.C. 953, and section
14 of the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006
(MINER Act), 30 U.S.C. 965.
State Grants
Under section 503 of the Mine Act, 30 U.S.C. 953, the Secretary may
award grants to States to assist in developing and enforcing State mine
health and safety laws and regulations, to improve State workers'
compensation and mining occupational disease laws and programs, and to
improve health and safety conditions in the Nation's mines through
Federal-State coordination and cooperation. Any State in which mining
takes place may apply for the State Grants. Under 30 U.S.C. 953(g),
MSHA may fund up to 80 percent of the State Grants activities and a
Grant recipient must provide matching funds of no less than 20 percent
of the total costs. This State Grant program supports federally
mandated training of miners and mine operators working at surface and
underground coal, metal, and nonmetal mines. Under 30 U.S.C. 953(e) of
the Mine Act, a State grant application or modification may include a
program to train State mine inspectors.
MSHA recognizes that State training programs are a key source of
mine safety and health training and education for individuals who work
or will work at mines. MSHA encourages State training programs to
prioritize health and safety training for small mining operations and
underserved mines and miners within the mining industry, and to
prioritize diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. MSHA has
recently expanded the priority to include underserved operators and
miners, including limited English proficient (LEP) and low literacy
individuals.
MSHA supports programs that emphasize training on miners' statutory
rights, including the right to work in a safe working environment, to
refuse an unsafe task, and to have a voice in the safety and health
conditions at the mine. In particular, MSHA encourages grant recipients
to address the following topics in their training and education
programs: occupational health hazards caused by exposures to respirable
coal mine dust and respirable crystalline silica; powered haulage and
mobile equipment safety; mine emergency preparedness; mine rescue;
electrical safety; contract and customer truck drivers; improving
training for new and inexperienced miners; managers and supervisors
performing mining tasks; pillar safety for underground mines; and falls
from heights.
Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety Grants
Section 14 of the MINER Act, 30 U.S.C. 965, established the
Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety Grants. This competitive grant program
provides funding for education and training programs to better
identify, avoid, and prevent unsafe working conditions in and around
mines. Grantees can use these funds to establish and implement
education and training programs or to create training materials and
programs on MSHA-identified safety priorities. Funds can also be used
to develop and implement training and related materials for mine
emergency preparedness as well as for the prevention of accidents in
underground mines.
MSHA expects Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety grantees to develop
training or educational materials and/or provide mine safety training
or educational programs, to recruit mine operators and miners to
participate in training, and to conduct and evaluate the training
program. 30 U.S.C. 965 mandates that the Secretary emphasize programs
and materials that target smaller mines, including programs and
materials for training mine operators and miners about new MSHA
standards, high risk activities, or hazards. The Brookwood-Sago Mine
Safety Grants give priority to the funding of pilot and demonstration
projects that will provide opportunities for broad applicability for
mine safety. Special attention will also be given to programs and
materials that serve underserved mines and miners within the mining
industry, and that prioritize diversity, equity, inclusion, and
accessibility.
Under 30 U.S.C. 965, the Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety Grants are
required to conduct follow-up evaluations with the people who received
the training provided under the grants to measure how the training
promotes the DOL's strategic goal to ``Ensure Safe Jobs, Essential
Protections, and Fair Workplaces,'' and MSHA's goal to ``prevent
fatalities, disease, and injury from mining, and secure safe and
healthful working conditions for America's miners.'' Evaluations will
focus on determining how effective the subject training was in either
reducing hazards, improving miners' skills, or improving safety and
health conditions in mines. Grantees must fully cooperate with MSHA
evaluators; such cooperation may include providing MSHA evaluators
relevant data, educational or training materials, or information on
training methods and equipment.
Additional Authorities
Executive Order (E.O.) 13985 on ``Advancing Racial Equity and
Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government''
aims to advance equity and provide everyone with the opportunity to
reach their full potential. The E.O. requires each agency to assess
whether, and to what extent, its programs and policies perpetuate
systemic barriers to opportunities and benefits for people of color and
other underserved groups.
In response to E.O. 13985, the Department of Labor developed an
``Equity Action Plan'' which highlighted several of MSHA's planning
efforts to reach workers with limited English proficiency, including:
<bullet> MSHA is planning several initiatives to expand its reach
to Spanish language-speaking populations, including by recruiting for
new bilingual positions in regions where there is a mining community
that is predominantly Spanish-speaking, developing more bilingual signs
to inform mine workers of health and safety risks in languages they can
read and understand, and introducing new bilingual training assistance,
including for mine operators and contractors, to
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ensure that health and safety training initiatives reach all mine
workers.
<bullet> In addition, MSHA is tracking progress toward its new
performance milestone of making half of MSHA signs available in
Spanish.
To fulfill these goals and to carry out MSHA's initiatives, the
Agency creates the ``MSHA Participant Demographic Information Form.''
This optional form will be distributed among training participants by
grantees after completing training. The new survey form will ask
training participants to identify their age, gender, ethnicity, race,
and primary language spoken. This information will be kept confidential
(i.e., the responses are not associated with a specific participant)
and will be reported only in the aggregate.
By collecting this demographic and primary language data, MSHA will
improve its ability to identify barriers that prevent underserved rural
and minority communities from benefitting from MSHA grantees' training
and compliance assistance programs and thereby accessing safe and
healthy jobs in the mining industry. The collected data may identify
training needs for women and individuals with limited English
proficiency in underserved communities in rural and minority areas.
Equipped with this data, MSHA will be better able to take steps to
overcome these barriers and lay out targeted activities, such as
increasing the number of MSHA-approved non-English speaking instructors
and training materials to assist individuals with low literacy and
limited English proficiency.
Additionally, State grantees will submit to MSHA a modified form
called ``State Grants Demographic Information Progress Report.'' This
form will report a summary of training participants' aggregate
responses by the end of each quarter.
II. Desired Focus of Comments
MSHA is soliciting comments concerning the proposed information
collection related to Demographic Information Collection for MSHA
Grants. MSHA is particularly interested in comments that:
<bullet> Evaluate whether the collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Agency,
including whether the information has practical utility;
<bullet> Evaluate the accuracy of MSHA's estimate of the burden of
the collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
<bullet> Suggest methods to enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be collected; and
<bullet> 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 submission of responses.
The information collection request will be available on <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>. MSHA cautions the commenter against providing any
information in the submission that should not be publicly disclosed.
Full comments, including personal information provided, will be made
available on <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> and <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov">www.reginfo.gov</a>.
The public may also examine publicly available documents at DOL-
MSHA, 201 12th Street South, Suite 4E401, Arlington, VA 22202-5452.
Sign in at the receptionist's desk on the 4th floor via the East
elevator. Before visiting MSHA in person, call 202-693-9455 to make an
appointment, in keeping with the Department of Labor's COVID-19 policy.
Special health precautions may be required.
Questions about the information collection requirements may be
directed to the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION section of
this notice.
III. Current Actions
This information collection request concerns Demographic
Information Collection for MSHA Grants, including two new data
collection forms. MSHA has provided the data with respect to the number
of respondents, responses, burden hours, and burden costs supporting
this new information collection request.
Type of Review: New collection.
Agency: Mine Safety and Health Administration.
OMB Number: 1219-New.
Affected Public: Individuals, state, tribal, and territorial
governments, business or other for-profits, and non-profit
institutions.
Number of Annual Respondents: 150,706.
Frequency: On occasion, quarterly, and annually.
Number of Annual Responses: 150,930.
Annual Burden Hours: 8,093.
Annual Respondent or Recordkeeper Cost: $0.
MSHA Forms: MSHA Participant Demographic Information Collection
Form; MSHA State Grants Demographic Information Progress Report.
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and included in the request for Office of Management and Budget
approval of the proposed new information collection request; they will
become a matter of public record and will be available at <a href="https://www.reginfo.gov">https://www.reginfo.gov</a>.
Song-ae Aromie Noe,
Certifying Officer, Mine Safety and Health Administration.
[FR Doc. 2024-01893 Filed 1-30-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-43-P
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