Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Standard for the Flammability of Mattresses and Mattress Pads and Standard for the Flammability (Open Flame) of Mattress Sets, 73504-73506 [2013-29148]

Agencies

• Consumer Product Safety Commission

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 235 (Friday, December 6, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73504-73506]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-29148]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[Docket No. CPSC-2010-0055]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Standard for the Flammability of Mattresses and 
Mattress Pads and Standard for the Flammability (Open Flame) of 
Mattress Sets

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or 
Commission) requests comments on a proposed extension of approval of a 
collection of information from manufacturers and importers of 
mattresses and mattress pads. The collection of information is set 
forth in the Standard for the Flammability of Mattresses and Mattress 
Pads, 16 CFR part 1632 and the Standard for the Flammability (Open 
Flame) of Mattress Sets, 16 CFR part 1633. These regulations establish 
testing and recordkeeping requirements for manufacturers and importers 
subject to the standards. The Commission will consider all comments 
received in response to this notice, before requesting an extension of 
approval of this collection of information from the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB).

DATES: The Office of the Secretary must receive comments not later than 
February 4, 2014.

[[Page 73505]]


ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2010-
0055, by any of the following methods:

Electronic Submissions

    Submit electronic comments in the following way:
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
    The Commission is no longer accepting comments submitted by 
electronic mail (email), except through www.regulations.gov.

Written Submissions

    Submit written submissions in the following way:
    Mail/Hand delivery/Courier (for paper, disk, or CD-ROM 
submissions), preferably in five copies, to: Office of the Secretary, 
Consumer Product Safety Commission, Room 820, 4330 East West Highway, 
Bethesda, MD 20814; telephone (301) 504-7923.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and docket number for this notice. All comments received may be posted 
without change, including any personal identifiers, contact 
information, or other personal information provided, to https://www.regulations.gov. Do not submit confidential business information, 
trade secret information, or other sensitive or protected information 
electronically. Such information should be submitted in writing.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information contact: 
Robert H. Squibb, Consumer Product Safety Commission, 4330 East West 
Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; (301) 504-7815, or by email to: 
rsquibb@cpsc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Background

    There are approximately 671 establishments producing mattresses: 
Approximately 571 produce conventional mattresses and approximately 100 
establishments produce nonconventional mattresses (such as futons, 
sleep sofa inserts, hybrid water mattresses) in the United States. The 
Standard for the Flammability of Mattresses and Mattress Pads, 16 CFR 
part 1632, (part 1632 standard) was promulgated under section 4 of the 
Flammable Fabrics Act (FFA), 15 U.S.C. 1193, to reduce unreasonable 
risks of burn injuries and deaths from fires associated with mattresses 
and mattress pads. The part 1632 standard prescribes requirements to 
test whether a mattress or mattress pad will resist ignition from a 
smoldering cigarette. The part 1632 standard requires manufacturers to 
perform prototype tests of each combination of materials and 
construction methods used to produce mattresses or mattress pads and to 
obtain acceptable results from such testing. Manufacturers and 
importers must maintain the records and test results specified under 
the standard. OMB previously approved the collection of information 
under control number 3041-0014, with an expiration date of December 31, 
2013.
    The Commission also promulgated the Standard for the Flammability 
(Open Flame) of Mattress Sets, 16 CFR part 1633, (part 1633 standard) 
under section 4 of the FFA to reduce deaths and injuries related to 
mattress fires, particularly those ignited by open flame sources, such 
as lighters, candles, and matches. The part 1633 standard requires 
manufacturers to maintain certain records to document compliance with 
the standard, including maintaining records concerning prototype 
testing, pooling, and confirmation testing, and quality assurance 
procedures and any associated testing. The required records must be 
maintained for as long as mattress sets based on the prototype are in 
production and must be retained for three years thereafter. Although 
some larger manufacturers may produce mattresses based on more than 100 
prototypes, most mattress manufacturers base their complying production 
on 15 to 20 prototypes. OMB previously approved the collection of 
information for 16 CFR part 1633 under Control Number 3041-0133, with 
an expiration date of May 31, 2016. The information collection 
requirements under the part 1633 standard do not duplicate the testing 
and recordkeeping requirements under the part 1632 standard.
    Because the collection of information required under the part 1632 
and part 1633 standards relate to reducing fire hazards associated with 
mattresses and mattress pads, the Commission now proposes to request an 
extension of approval for the collection of information for both 
standards under a single control number, 3041-0014.

B. Burden Hours

Respondents' Costs

    For testing and recordkeeping under the part 1632 standard, based 
on data collected from the rulemaking proceeding, CPSC staff estimates 
that 671 respondents will each spend 26 hours for testing and 
recordkeeping annually for a total of 17,446 hours (671 establishments 
x 26 hours). Staff bases the hourly compensation for the time required 
for a technical employee to test prototypes and record test results on 
an hourly compensation of $61.80 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 
``Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,'' June 2013, Table 9, total 
compensation of all management, professional, and related occupations 
in goods-producing industries: https://www.bls.gov/ncs). Staff estimates 
the annualized cost to respondents would be $1,078,162 (17,446 hours x 
$61.80).
    In addition, under the part 1633 standard, based on data collected 
from the rulemaking proceeding, CPSC staff estimates additional testing 
and recordkeeping requirements will take approximately 4 hours and 44 
minutes per establishment, per qualified prototype. Assuming that 
establishments qualify their production with an average of 20 different 
qualified prototypes, about 94.6 hours (4.73 hours x 20 prototypes) per 
establishment per year would be required for testing and recordkeeping 
for the part 1633 standard. (Note that pooling among establishments or 
using a prototype qualification for longer than one year will reduce 
this estimate.) This translates to an annual recordkeeping time cost to 
all mattress producers of 63,477 hours (671 establishments x 94.6 
hours) for the part 1633 standard. Based on an hourly compensation for 
the time required of $61.80 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 
``Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,'' June 2013, Table 9, total 
compensation of all management, professional, and related occupations 
in goods-producing industries: https://www.bls.gov/ncs), total estimated 
costs for recordkeeping for both mattress standards are about $3.9 
million (63,477 hours x $61.80).
    Thus, the total cost to the estimated 671 respondents for the 
information collection requirements under 16 CFR part 1632 and 16 CFR 
part1633 is estimated to be approximately $4.9 million.

Federal Government's Costs

    The estimated annual cost of the information collection 
requirements to the federal government to review 16 CFR part 1632 is 
approximately $101,890. This sum includes 10 staff months and travel 
costs expended for examination of the information in records required 
to be maintained by the part 1632 standard. This estimate is based on 
an annual wage of $84,855 (the equivalent of a GS-12 Step 5 employee) 
with an additional 30.6 percent added

[[Page 73506]]

for benefits (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ``Employer Costs for 
Employee Compensation,'' June 2013, Table 1, percentage of wages and 
salaries for all civilian management, professional, and related 
employees) for total annual compensation $122,269 per full time 
employee.
    The estimated annual cost of information collection requirements to 
the federal government to review 16 CFR part 1633 is approximately 
$2,939. This represents 50 staff hours for record review. This estimate 
uses an average hourly wage of $40.80 (the equivalent of a GS-12 Step 5 
employee) with an additional 30.6 percent added for benefits (U.S. 
Bureau of Labor Statistics, ``Employer Costs for Employee 
Compensation,'' June 2013, Table 1, percentage of wages and salaries 
for all civilian management, professional, and related employees) for 
total hourly compensation $58.78.
    Staff estimates the total cost to the federal government for 
information collections for both mattress standards is $104,829.

C. Request for Comments

    The Commission solicits written comments from all interested 
persons about the proposed collection of information. The Commission 
specifically solicits information relevant to the following topics:
     Whether the collection of information described above is 
necessary for the proper performance of the Commission's functions, 
including whether the information would have practical utility;
     Whether the estimated burden of the proposed collection of 
information is accurate;
     Whether the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected could be enhanced; and
     Whether the burden imposed by the collection of 
information could be minimized by use of automated, electronic or other 
technological collection techniques, or other forms of information 
technology.

    Dated: December 3, 2013.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2013-29148 Filed 12-5-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P