Office of the Secretary July 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Deaths from drug overdose have risen steadily over the past two decades and have become the leading cause of injury death in the United States. Prescription drugs, especially opioid analgesicsa class of prescription drugs such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine, and methadone used to treat both acute and chronic painhave been increasingly implicated in drug overdose deaths over the last decade. Alarmingly, deaths related to opioid analgesic overdose have quadrupled since 1999, and this increase in deaths has been linked to parallel increases in opioid prescribing. As part of its comprehensive response to the opioid epidemic, HHS is actively working to stem overprescribing of opioids in a number of ways, including by providing clinicians with the tools and education they need to make informed prescribing decisions. In particular, HHS has developed a number of activities that support opioid analgesic prescriber education. This Request for Information (RFI) seeks comment on the most promising approaches in prescriber education and training programs and effective ways to leverage HHS programs to implement/expand them.

The Department of Labor (DOL) is submitting the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)] sponsored information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Benzene Standard,'' to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval for continued use, without change, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq. Public comments on the ICR are invited.

The Department of Labor (DOL) is submitting the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sponsored information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Personal Protective Equipment for General Industry,'' to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval for continued use, without change, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq. Public comments on the ICR are invited.

The Department of Defense is publishing this notice to announce the following Federal advisory committee meeting of the Defense Business Board. This meeting is open to the public.

This document corrects a final rule which replaces the existing process by which the Federal Aviation Administration (Agency or FAA) approves portable oxygen concentrators (POC) for use on board aircraft in air carrier operations, commercial operations, and certain other operations using large aircraft. The FAA currently assesses each POC make and model on a case-by-case basis and if the FAA determines that a particular POC is safe for use on board an aircraft, the FAA conducts rulemaking to identify the specific POC model in an FAA regulation. The final rule replaces the current process and allows passengers to use a POC on board an aircraft if the POC satisfies certain acceptance criteria and bears a label indicating conformance with the acceptance criteria. The labeling requirement only affects POCs intended for use on board aircraft that were not previously approved for use on aircraft by the FAA. Additionally, the rulemaking will eliminate redundant operational requirements and paperwork requirements related to the physician's statement. As a result, the rulemaking will reduce burdens for POC manufacturers, passengers who use POCs while traveling, and affected aircraft operators. The final rule also made conforming amendments to the Department of Transportation's (Department or DOT) rule implementing the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) to require carriers to accept all POC models that meet FAA acceptance criteria as detailed in this rule.