Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of Currently Approved Information Collection: Hazardous Materials Safety Permits Publication: Federal Register Agency: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Byline: Thomas P. Keane Date: 8 June 2023 Subjects: American Government , Safety, Trucking

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 110 (Thursday, June 8, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37596-37597]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-12255]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2022-0236]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of Currently 
Approved Information Collection: Hazardous Materials Safety Permits

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Department 
of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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[[Page 37597]]

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FMCSA 
announces its plan to submit the Information Collection Request (ICR) 
described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review 
and approval and invites the public to comment. FMCSA is seeking to 
renew an existing ICR titled, ``Hazardous Materials Safety Permits.'' 
This ICR requires companies holding safety permits to develop 
communication plans that allow for the periodic tracking of hazardous 
materials shipments. A record of the communications that includes the 
time of the call and location of the shipment may be kept by either the 
driver (e.g., recorded in the logbook) or the company. These records 
must be kept, either physically or electronically, for at least 6 
months at the company's principal place of business or readily 
available to the employees at the principal place of business. This ICR 
has been updated only to the extent that the number of motor carriers 
with an active Hazardous Materials (HM) Safety Permit has increased 
from 987 to 1065.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received on or before July 10, 
2023.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this information 
collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for 
Public Comments'' or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Melissa Williams, Office of 
Safety, Hazardous Materials Division, DOT, FMCSA, 6th Floor, West 
Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001; 202-
366-4163; melissa.williams@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Hazardous Materials Safety Permits.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0030.
    Type of Request: Renewal of a currently approved information 
collection.
    Respondents: Motor Carriers subject to the Hazardous Materials 
Safety Permit requirements in 49 CFR part 385, subpart E.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 1065.
    Estimated Time per Response: 5 minutes. The communication between 
motor carriers and their drivers must take place at least two times per 
day. It is estimated that it will take 5 minutes to maintain a daily 
communication record for each driver.
    Expiration Date: September 30, 2023.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 750,000 hours [9 million trips x 5 
minutes per record / 60 minutes per hour = 750,000, rounded to the 
nearest thousand].
    Background: The Secretary of Transportation is responsible for 
implementing regulations to issue safety permits for transporting 
certain HM in accordance with 49 U.S.C. 5101 et seq. The HM Safety 
Permit regulations (49 CFR part 385, subpart E) require initial or 
first time HM Safety Permit carriers to file the Unified Registration 
System Form MCSA-1. Update and renewal applications must be filed with 
FMCSA using the ``Combined Motor Carrier Identification Report and HM 
Permit Application'' (Form MCS-150B). The HM Safety Permit regulations 
also require carriers to have a security program. As part of the HM 
Safety Permit regulations, carriers are required to develop and 
maintain route plans so that law enforcement officials can verify the 
correct location of the HM shipment. FMCSA requires companies holding 
permits to develop a communications plan that allows for the periodic 
tracking of the shipment. This information covers the record of 
communications that includes the time of the call and location of the 
shipment. The records may be kept by either the driver (e.g., recorded 
in the logbook) or the company. These records must be kept, either 
physically or electronically, for at least 6 months at the company's 
principal place of business or be readily available to employees at the 
company's principal place of business.
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of 
this information collection, including: (1) whether the proposed 
collection is necessary for the performance of FMCSA's functions; (2) 
the accuracy of the estimated burden; (3) ways for FMCSA to enhance the 
quality, usefulness, and clarity of the collected information; and (4) 
ways that the burden could be minimized without reducing the quality of 
the collected information.

    Issued under the authority of 49 CFR 1.87.
Thomas P. Keane,
Associate Administrator, Office of Research and Registration.
[FR Doc. 2023-12255 Filed 6-7-23; 8:45 am]
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