Notice and Request for Comments, 57546-57548 [2010-23478]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
• Federal Railroad Administration

[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 182 (Tuesday, September 21, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57546-57548]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-23478]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

[Docket No. FRA 2010-0005-N-18]


Notice and Request for Comments

AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice and Request for Comments.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information 
Collection Requirements (ICRs) abstracted below have been forwarded to 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The 
ICRs describes the nature of the information collection and their 
expected burden. The Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment 
period soliciting comments on the following collection of information 
was published on July 13, 2010 (75 FR 40021).

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before October 21, 2010.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Robert Brogan, Office of Safety, 
Planning and Evaluation Division, RRS-21, Federal Railroad 
Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE., Mail Stop 17, Washington, DC 
20590 (telephone: (202) 493-6292), or Ms. Kimberly Toone, Office of 
Information Technology, RAD-20, Federal Railroad Administration, 1200 
New Jersey Ave., SE., Mail Stop 35, Washington, DC 20590 (telephone: 
(202) 493-6132). (These telephone numbers are not toll-free.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), 
Public Law No. 104-13, Section 2, 109 Stat. 163 (1995) (codified as 
revised at 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), and its implementing regulations, 5 
CFR Part 1320, require Federal agencies to issue two notices seeking 
public comment on information collection activities before OMB may 
approve paperwork packages. 44 U.S.C. 3506, 3507; 5 CFR 1320.5, 
1320.8(d)(1), 1320.12. On July 13, 2010, FRA published a 60-day notice 
in the Federal Register soliciting comment on ICRs for which the agency 
was seeking OMB approval. 75 FR 40021. FRA

[[Page 57547]]

received no comments in response to this notice.
    Before OMB decides whether to approve a proposed collection of 
information, it must provide 30 days for public comment. 44 U.S.C. 
3507(b); 5 CFR 1320.12(d). Federal law requires OMB to approve or 
disapprove paperwork packages between 30 and 60 days after the 30-day 
notice is published. 44 U.S.C. 3507 (b)-(c); 5 CFR 1320.12(d); see also 
60 FR 44978, 44983, Aug. 29, 1995. OMB believes that the 30-day notice 
informs the regulated community to file relevant comments and affords 
the agency adequate time to digest public comments before it renders a 
decision. 60 FR 44983, Aug. 29, 1995. Therefore, respondents should 
submit their respective comments to OMB within 30 days of publication 
to best ensure having their full effect. 5 CFR 1320.12(c); see also 60 
FR 44983, Aug. 29, 1995.
    The summary below describes the nature of the information 
collection requirements (ICRs) and the expected burden, and are being 
submitted for clearance by OMB as required by the PRA.
    Title: Causal Analysis and Countermeasures to Reduce Rail-Related 
Suicides.
    OMB Control Number: 2130-0572.
    Type of Request: Extension without Change of a Previously Approved 
Information Collection.
    Affected Public: 280 Railroad Personnel/Members of the Public/
Affected Families and Friends.
    Abstract: Pedestrian trespassing on railroad property resulting in 
serious injury or death is one of the two most serious safety problems 
(the second being grade crossing collisions) facing the railroad 
industry and its regulators not only in the United States but also in 
other countries. It is widely believed in this country that the 
reported prevalence and incidence of railway suicide vastly under-
represents the nature and extent of the problem. There is no central 
reporting system within the railroad industry or the suicide prevention 
field that provides verifiable information about how many trespass 
deaths are accidental vs. intentional. Therefore, there are no 
verifiable measures of the extent of rail-related suicides in the 
United States. While railroad companies must report trespass incidents 
resulting in serious injury or death to the U.S. Federal Railroad 
Administration (FRA), injuries or deaths that are ruled by a medical 
examiner or coroner to be intentional are not reported. Preliminary 
figures from 2006 indicate there were approximately 500 deaths and 360 
injuries reported to the FRA--an increase of 100 incidents over the 
previous year--but suicides are not represented in these numbers. 
Unverifiable estimates from a number of sources range from 150 to more 
than 300 suicides per year on the U.S. railways.
    Like any other incident on the rail system, a suicide on the tracks 
results in equipment and facility damage, delays to train schedules, 
and trauma to railroad personnel involved in the incidents. As a 
result, FRA last year awarded a grant for the first phase of a 5-year 
project to reduce suicides on the rail system to the Railroad Research 
Foundation (part of the Association of American Railroads) and its 
subcontractor, the American Association of Suicidology (AAS). In the 
course of five years, the research project's goals include:
     A prevalence assessment to determine verifiable numbers of 
suicides on the rail system,
     Development of a standardized reporting tool for industry 
use,
     A causal analysis and root cause analysis of suicide 
incidents that occur during the grant cycle, and
     Design and implementation of suicide prevention measures 
for the Nation's rail system to reduce suicide injuries and deaths.
    This request to the Office of Management and Budget is for re-
approval in order to complete Phase II of the project, the causal 
analysis. In order to understand as much as possible about people who 
intend to die by placing themselves in the path of a train, and 
therefore to design prevention strategies, AAS has been conducting 60 
psychological autopsies over the course of two years on people who die 
by rail-related suicide. Psychological autopsy is a recognized and 
accepted method for obtaining information about physical, emotional and 
circumstantial contributors to a person's death. The 60 psychological 
autopsies for the FRA project involve interviews with informants to 
these incidents including family members and friends, employers and co-
workers, and rail personnel involved in the incidents.
    After conducting a root cause analysis of this data, AAS will then 
work with the industry to design, pilot test and implement effective 
countermeasures with the goal of reducing deaths, injuries and 
psychological trauma.
    Form Number(s): FRA F 6180.125A; FRA F 6180.125B.
    Annual Estimated Burden Hours: 537 hours.
    Title: Confidential Close Call Reporting System Evaluation-Related 
Interview Data Collection.
    OMB Control Number: 2130-0574.
    Type of Request: Revision of a Previously Approved Collection.
    Affected Public: Rail Employees and Key Non-railroad Stakeholders.
    Abstract: In the U.S. railroad industry, injury rates have been 
declining over the last 25 years. Indeed, the industry incident rate 
fell from a high of 12.1 incidents per 100 workers per year in 1978 to 
3.66 in 1996. As the number of incidents has decreased, the mix of 
causes has also changed toward a higher proportion of incidents that 
can be attributed to human and organizational factors. This combination 
of trends--decrease in overall rates but increasing proportion of human 
factors-related incidents--has left safety managers with a need to 
shift tactics in reducing injuries to even lower rates than they are 
now.
    In recognition of the need for new approaches to improving safety, 
FRA has instituted the Confidential Close Call Reporting System 
(C\3\RS). The operating assumption behind C\3\RS is that by assuring 
confidentiality, employees will report events which, if dealt with, 
will decrease the likelihood of accidents. C\3\RS, therefore, has both 
a confidential reporting component, and a problem analysis/solution 
component. C\3\RS is expected to affect safety in two ways. First, it 
will lead to problem solving concerning specific safety conditions. 
Second, it will engender an organizational culture and climate that 
supports greater awareness of safety and a greater cooperative 
willingness to improve safety.
    If C\3\RS works as intended, it could have an important impact on 
improving safety and safety culture in the railroad industry. While 
C\3\RS has been developed and implemented with the participation of 
FRA, railroad labor, and railroad management, there are legitimate 
questions about whether it is being implemented in the most beneficial 
way, and whether it will have its intended effect. Further, even if 
C\3\RS is successful, it will be necessary to know if it is successful 
enough to implement on a wide scale. To address these important 
questions, FRA is implementing a formative evaluation to guide program 
development, a summative evaluation to assess impact, and a 
sustainability evaluation to determine how C\3\RS can continue after 
the test period is over. The evaluation is needed to provide FRA with 
guidance as to how it can improve the program, and how it might be 
scaled up throughout the railroad industry.
    Program evaluation is an inherently data driven activity. Its basic 
tenet is that as change is implemented, data can be collected to track 
the course and

[[Page 57548]]

consequences of the change. Because of the setting in which C\3\RS is 
being implemented, that data must come from the railroad employees 
(labor and management) who may be affected. Critical data include 
beliefs about safety and issues related to safety, and opinions/
observations about the operation of C\3\RS.
    The ongoing study is a five-year demonstration project to improve 
rail safety, and is designed to identify safety issues and propose 
corrective action based on voluntary reports of close calls submitted 
to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Because of the innovative 
nature of this program, FRA is implementing an evaluation to determine 
whether the program is succeeding, how it can be improved and, if 
successful, what is needed to spread the program throughout the 
railroad industry. Interviews to evaluate the close call reporting 
system will be conducted with two groups: (1) Key stakeholders to the 
process (e.g., FRA officials, industry labor, and carrier management 
within participating railroads); and (2) Employees in participating 
railroads who are eligible to submit close call reports to the 
Confidential Close Call Reporting System. Different questions will be 
addressed to each of these two groups. Interviews will be semi-
structured, with follow-up questions asked as appropriate depending on 
the respondent's initial answer.
    The confidentiality of the interview data is protected by the 
Privacy Act of 1974. FRA fully complies with all laws pertaining to 
confidentiality, including the Privacy Act. Thus, information obtained 
by or acquired by FRA's contractor, the Volpe Center, from key 
stakeholders and railroad employees will be used strictly for 
evaluation purposes. None of the information that might be identifying 
will be disseminated or disclosed in any way. In addition, the 
participating railroad sites involved will require Volpe to establish a 
non-disclosure agreement that prohibits disclosure of company 
confidential information without the carrier's authorization. Also, the 
information is protected under the Department of Transportation 
regulation Title 49 CFR Part 9,which is in part concerned with the 
Department involvement in proceedings between private litigants. 
According to this statute, if data are subpoenaed, Volpe and Volpe 
contractors can not ``provide testimony or produce any material 
contained in the files of the Department, or disclose any information 
or produce any material acquired as part of the performance of that 
employee's official duties or because of that employee's official duty 
status'' unless authorized by agency counsel after determining that, in 
legal proceedings between private litigants, such testimony would be in 
the best interests of the Department or that of the United States 
Government if disclosed. Finally, the name of those interviewed will 
not be requested.
    Annual Estimated Burden Hours: 242 hours
    Addressee: Send comments regarding this information collection to 
the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management 
and Budget, 725 Seventeenth Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503, 
Attention: FRA Desk Officer. Comments may also be sent electronically 
via e-mail to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) 
at the following address: oira_submissions@omb.eop.gov.
    Comments are invited on the following: Whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the Department, including whether the information will 
have practical utility; the accuracy of the Department's estimate of 
the burden of the proposed information collection; ways to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.
    A comment to OMB is best assured of having its full effect if OMB 
receives it within 30 days of publication of this notice in the Federal 
Register.

    Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on September 15, 2010.
Kimberly Coronel,
Director, Office of Financial Management.
[FR Doc. 2010-23478 Filed 9-20-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P