C3RS Survey Fast Track Clearance Submission Form

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery” (OMB Control Number: 2130-0593)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Fast Track Clearance for the Collection of

Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C³RS) Program: Employee and Manager Satisfaction Survey.

PURPOSE:

The Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C³RS) is a Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) funded program to improve railroad industry safety practices. By learning about potentially unsafe conditions, or close call events, that pose the risk of more serious consequences, corrective actions can be taken. C³RS is a safety initiative that allows railroad employees to report “close calls” or safety incidents that are not FRA-reportable events.

FRA with Volpe is seeking approval of an information collection request on user satisfaction information from employees of railroads that have implemented Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C³RS). C³RS is a safety initiative that allows railroad employees to report “close calls” or safety incidents that are not FRA-reportable events. This work seeks to improve the C³RS program through a short, anonymous, voluntary, data collection of user satisfaction data from a convenience sample (i.e., FRA and Volpe are not looking to perform statistical analyses or generalize to a population).

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

The target audience for this information collection consists of railroad employees and managers of employees who work in C³RS-participating crafts from 18 commuter and short line railroads that are currently participating in the C³RS program.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [x] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group [ ] Other: ______________________

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: Heidi Howarth .

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally, Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [x] No

2. If Yes, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [x] No

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [x] No

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden1
18 (C3RS) Participating Railroads	2,733 Employees	5 mins	228
	150 Managers	5 mins	13
Totals	2,883		241 Hours

TOTAL BURDEN HOURS: 241 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is _$5,645________

The survey is currently planned as a one-time administration; therefore, we do not anticipate an annual recurrence. Labor is estimated at $5,645 for a team of five (GS 7 – 15). There is no cost to the project for a survey platform, as we have been granted use of a DOT shared-services license for online survey administration.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [x] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)?

If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

We will work closely with C³RS Peer Review Teams (PRT) at each of the 18 C³RS-participating railroads to access the survey sample: NJT, ATK, SRC, MNR, LIRR, Metra, MBTA/Keolis, SEPTA, DCTA, NCTD, NSHR, BPRR, NOPB, SMW, DLRR, GOOS, HOG, and GC. ²

As part of the C³RS program, PRTs exist within each of the specified railroads in order to conduct root cause analysis of reported safety incidents that are initially processed by NASA. The purpose of the PRT is to identify corrective actions to mitigate the issues identified in NASA reports, that they then propose to the C³RS Support Team for implementation at the railroad.

Because PRT members are employees at the railroad (they take on PRT responsibilities in addition to their position at the railroad), they have access to contact information for C³RS-participating craft employees and managers, i.e., the target sample of survey participants who have experience with the C³RS program.

We will therefore supply each PRT the appropriate secure URLs to access employee and manager versions of the survey. PRTs will subsequently reach the target audience of C³RS program participating craft employees and managers using their organization’s email platform and relevant email distribution lists.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[x] Other, Explain: contacts at individual railroads will distribute URLs to the online survey instruments to the target participant sample over email.

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [x] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

Instructions for completing Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback”

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Provide the name of the collection that is the subject of the request. (e.g. Comment card for soliciting feedback on xxxx)

PURPOSE: Provide a brief description of the purpose of this collection and how it will be used. If this is part of a larger study or effort, please include this in your explanation.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Provide a brief description of the targeted group or groups for this collection of information. These groups must have experience with the program.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: Check one box. If you are requesting approval of other instruments under the generic, you must complete a form for each instrument.

CERTIFICATION: Please read the certification carefully. If you incorrectly certify, the collection will be returned as improperly submitted or it will be disapproved.

Personally Identifiable Information: Provide answers to the questions. Note: Agencies should only collect PII to the extent necessary, and they should only retain PII for the period of time that is necessary to achieve a specific objective.

Gifts or Payments: If you answer yes to the question, please describe the incentive and provide a justification for the amount.

BURDEN HOURS:

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
		5 minutes	250
GRAND TOTAL BURDEN HOURS			250 hours

Category of Respondents: Identify who you expect the respondents to be in terms of the following categories: (1) Individuals or Households; (2) Private Sector; (3) State, local, or tribal governments; or (4) Federal Government. Only one type of respondent can be selected per row.

No. of Respondents: Provide an estimate of the Number of Respondents.

Participation Time: Provide an estimate of the amount of time (in minutes) required for a respondent to participate (e.g. fill out a survey or participate in a focus group)

Burden: Provide the Annual burden hours: Multiply the Number of Respondents and the Participation Time then divide by 60.

FEDERAL COST: Provide an estimate of the annual cost to the Federal government.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents. Please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them. If the answer is yes, to the first question, you may provide the sampling plan in an attachment.

Administration of the Instrument: Identify how the information will be collected. More than one box may be checked. Indicate whether there will be interviewers (e.g. for surveys) or facilitators (e.g., for focus groups) used.

Submit all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

1 Totals may not add due to rounding.

2 NJT = New Jersey Transit; ATK = Amtrak; SRC = Strasburg Rail Road Company; MNR = Metro North Railroad; LIRR = Long Island Railroad; Metra = Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation; MBTA/Keolis = Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority; SEPTA = Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority; DCTA = Denton County Transportation Authority; NCTD = North County Transit District; NSHR = North Shore Railroad; BPRR = Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad; NOPB = New Orleans Public Belt Railroad; SMW = St. Mary’s Railway West; DLRR = Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad; GOOS = Goose Lake Railway; HOG = Heart of Georgia Railroad; GC = Georgia Central Railway.

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