VGB_Supporting_Statement_20190905

INFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST (ICR)
Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act
Verification of Compliance Form
SUPPORTING STATEMENT
A.

Justification

1.

Information to be collected and circumstances that makes the collection of
information necessary
The CPSC administers and oversees compliance with the Virginia Graeme
Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (“Act”) (Pub. L. No. 110-140). The Act is
designed to prevent the tragic and hidden hazard of drain entrapment and
eviscerations in public pools and spas.
To achieve its purposes, the Act requires, among other things, each swimming
pool and spa drain cover manufactured, distributed, or introduced into commerce
meet specific requirements of the CPSC recognized performance standard, and
that each public pool and spa be equipped with anti-entrapment devices or
systems that comply with the recognized performance standard.
CPSC, directly or through State contracted employees, inspects and assesses
public pools and spas for compliance with the Act. A form is used to record
observations and assessments of compliance. OMB has previously approved
this information collection and the form associated with it (e.g., OMB Approval
No. 3041-0142).

2.

Use and sharing of collected information
The CPSC will use the information collected on the form to identify and
document public pool and spa facilities that have not installed compliant covers
and other anti-entrapment devices that may be required. Compliance efforts are
then taken to ensure appropriate covers and/or anti-entrapment devices are
installed.

3.

Use of Information Technology (IT) in information collection
The collection of information would occur through a form that CPSC staff will fill
in during the course of the pool and spa inspection.

4.

Efforts to Identify Duplication
The Verification of Compliance Form (“form”) provides for very detailed
information recordation for each individual pump located at a pool or spa facility.
The CPSC staff is unaware of any other source of this information other than
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directly from pool managers.
5.

Impact on Small Businesses
The form does not have a disproportionate impact on pool owners or operators
because the form will be filled out entirely by the field investigators during the
normal course of the pool or spa inspection. Depending on the size of the facility
being inspected, the average time to inspect a pool or spa facility should not
exceed three hours for the pool owner/operator. The pool or spa manager would
not necessarily need to be present throughout the entire inspection.

6.

Consequences to federal program or policy activities if collection is not
conducted or is conducted less frequently
Failure to provide the information sought by the questionnaire would impair the
CPSC’s ability to identify noncompliant pools or spas and specifically what drain
covers are noncompliant. The failure to obtain this information could lead to the
use of non-compliant drain covers and pose a risk of serious injury to the public.

7.

Special circumstances requiring respondents to report information more
often than quarterly or to prepare responses in fewer than 30 days
Not applicable.

8.

Agency’s Federal Register Notice and related information
Given the limited purpose and nature of the information collection, no
consultation outside the agency was necessary. Federal Register (FR) notice, 84
FR 27772, was published June 14, 2019. Comments received were addressed in
the 30-Day FR notice.

9.

Decision to provide payment or gift
The CPSC will not provide any payment or gifts to pool and spa
owners/operators in connection with the information collection.

10.

Assurance of confidentiality
The information recorded in response to the questions on the form would be
subject to the Freedom of Information Act and its exemptions to public
disclosure.

11.

Questions of a sensitive nature
No questions of a sensitive nature are asked.
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12.

Estimate of hour burden to respondents
Investigators will be talking to either the pool owner/operators or staff at the time
of the inspection. Investigators will be collecting drain cover and sump
certification documents, and equipment room information. It is estimated that
three hours will be required to inspect a pool or spa facility. The total testing
burden hours are at most 300 (100 inspections x 3 hours per inspection). We
estimate that hourly compensation for the time required for inspecting is $58.34
(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,”
December 2018, Table 9, total compensation for management, professional, and
related workers in service-producing industries: http://www.bls.gov/ncs). We
estimate the annual cost to be $17,502 ($58.34 x 300).

13.

Estimate of other total annual cost burden to respondents and
recordkeepers
There are no costs to respondents beyond those presented in Section A.12.
There are no further operating, maintenance, or capital costs associated with the
collection.

14.

Estimate of annualized cost to the federal government
The CPSC estimates that it will take an average of four hours to review the
information collected from the oral communications with pool owners/operators
or staff. The annual cost to the Federal government of the collection of
information in these regulations is estimated to be $25,984. This is based on an
average wage rate of $64.96(the equivalent of a GS-12 Step 5 employee). This
represents 68.4 percent of total compensation with an additional 31.6 percent
coming from benefits (BLS, December 2018, percentage of total benefits for all
civilian management, professional, and related employees), or $64.96 x 4 hours
x 100 inspections.

15.

Program changes or adjustments
The number of annual inspections has decreased from 200 to 100 per year.

16.

Plans for tabulation and publication
Information collected under this requirement will not be published.

17.

Exemption for display of expiration date
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The agency does not seek an exemption from displaying the expiration date.
18.

Exemption to certification statement
Not applicable.

B. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methods
Not applicable.

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