Mining Occupational Safety and Health Research Grants; Availability of Funds for FY 1998

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

[Program Announcement 98056]

Mining Occupational Safety and Health Research Grants;

Availability of Funds for FY 1998

A. Purpose

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National

Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), announces the

availability of fiscal year (FY) 1998 funds for a research grant

program for Mining Occupational Safety and Health Research Grants. This

program addresses the ``Healthy People 2000'' priority area of

Occupational Safety and Health. The purpose of the program is to

develop knowledge that can be used to prevent occupational diseases and

injuries to miners. NIOSH will support hypothesis-testing research

projects to identify and quantify occupational health and safety

hazards to miners, develop methods and technologies to measure and

control these hazards, and translate research findings so that they can

be applied to solve health and safety problems in mines.

B. Eligible Applicants

Applications may be submitted by public and private nonprofit and

for-profit organizations and by governments and their agencies; that

is, universities, colleges, research institutions, hospitals, other

public and private nonprofit and for-profit organizations, State and

local governments or their bona fide agents, and federally recognized

Indian tribal governments, Indian tribes, or Indian tribal

organizations.

Note: Pub. L. 104-65 states that an organization described in

section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that engages

in lobbying activities is not eligible to receive Federal funds

constituting an award, grant, cooperative agreement, contract, loan,

or any other form.

C. Availability of Funds

Approximately $700,000 is expected to be available in FY 1998 to

fund 4-8 research project grants. This money is in addition to the

funds available for the previous RFA 807 announced in August 1997.

Organizations that submitted applications for RFA 807 may revise and

resubmit under this announcement. The amount of funding available may

vary and is subject to change. Awards will range from $50,000 to

$200,000 in total costs (direct and indirect) per year. It is expected

that the awards will begin on or about September 30, 1998, and will be

made for a 12-month budget period within a project period of up to 3

years.

Continuation awards within an approved project period will be made

on the basis of satisfactory progress as evidenced by required reports

and the availability of funds.

D. Programmatic Interest

The Mine Safety and Health Research Program has been fully

coordinated with the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) plans

and recommendations. The NORA document is available through the NIOSH

homepage at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/nora.html. The focus of grants

should emphasize research in the following topical areas which are in

priority order:

(1) Hearing Loss Prevention

Conduct laboratory and field research on noise-induced hearing loss

in miners; Conduct field dosimetric and audiometric surveys to assess

the extent and severity of the problem and to identify those mining

segments in greatest need of attention and to objectively track

progress in meeting loss prevention goals; Conduct field and laboratory

research to identify noise generation sources and to identify those

areas most amenable to intervention activities; Develop, test, and

demonstrate new control technologies for noise reduction; Develop

strategies and methods to improve the effectiveness of hearing

protectors for miners; Assess the effect of using hearing protectors on

miner safety; Evaluate technical and economic feasibility of controls;

Develop, evaluate, and recommend implementation strategies to promote

the adoption and use of noise reduction technology.

(2) Mining Injury Prevention

Conduct laboratory, field, and computer modeling research to focus

on human physiological capabilities and limitations and their

interactions with mining jobs, tasks, equipment and the mine work

environment; Research on causes and prevention of low back disorders,

slips and falls, and materials handling injuries in miners; Study

effects of human behavior on mining injuries; Design and conduct

epidemiological research studies to identify and classify risk factors

that are causing or may be causing traumatic injuries to miners;

Evaluate and recommend implementation strategies for injury prevention

and control technologies; Research to improve response to mine

emergencies, and to enhance the effectiveness of mine rescue teams;

Identify and evaluate research opportunities using a systems approach

for intervention and prevention; and Develop cost analysis

methodologies to evaluate performance and engineering control

strategies.

(3) Dust and Toxic Substance Control

Research to develop or improve personal and area direct reading

instruments for measuring mining contaminants, including but not

limited to respirable dust, silica, diesel engine emissions, and other

toxic substances and mixtures; Conduct field tests, experiments, and

demonstrations of new technology for monitoring and assessing mine air

quality; Conduct laboratory and field research to develop airborne

hazard reduction control technologies; Carry out field surveys in mines

to identify work organization strategies that could result in reduced

dust or toxic substance exposure; Evaluate the performance, economics,

and technical feasibility of engineering control strategies, novel

approaches, and the application of new or emerging technologies for

underground and surface mine dust and toxic substance control systems;

Develop and evaluate implementation strategies for using newly

developed monitors and control technology for exposure reduction or

prevention.

(4) Social and Economic Consequences of Mining Illness and Injury

Analyze all effects of mining illness and injury on miners, their

families, communities and States; Assess the effectiveness of health

services provided to miners for prevention and care of occupational

illness and injury; Assess the economic burden of mining illnesses and

injuries and potential economic benefits of their prevention.

(5) Surveillance

Develop and evaluate new surveillance methods for mining-related

illnesses and fatal and nonfatal injuries to improve collection and

analysis of

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health and safety data; Collect demographic information on miners to

analyze health and safety data; Develop improved methods to describe

trends in incidence of mining-related fatalities, morbidity, and

traumatic injury; Develop and evaluate methods to conduct surveillance

on the use of new and emerging technologies, the use of engineering

controls, and the use of protective equipment in the mining sector;

Analyze the effectiveness of prevention and control interventions in

mining; Conduct mining-relevant risk analyses.

E. Submission and Deadline

Letter of Intent (LOI)

Your letter of intent should identify the announcement number, name

of principal investigator, and specify the priority area to be

addressed by the proposed project. The letter of intent does not

influence review or funding decisions, but it will enable CDC to plan

the review more efficiently, and will ensure that each applicant

receives timely and relevant information prior to application

submission.

The Letter of Intent must be submitted on or before June 1, 1998,

to: Joanne Wojcik, Grants Management Specialist, Grants Management

Branch, Procurement and Grants Office, Announcement 98056, Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Room 300, 255 East Paces Ferry

Road, NE., M/S E-13, Atlanta, Georgia 30305-2209.

Application

Submit the original and five copies of PHS-398 (OMB Number 0925-

0001) (adhere to the instructions on the Errata Instruction Sheet for

PHS 398). Forms are in the application kit. On or before June 25, 1998,

submit the application to: Joanne Wojcik, Grants Management Specialist,

Grants Management Branch, Procurement and Grants Office, Announcement

98056, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Room 300, 255

East Paces Ferry Road, NE., M/S E-13, Atlanta, Georgia 30305-2209.

If your application does not arrive in time for submission to the

independent review group, it will not be considered in the current

competition unless you can provide proof that you mailed it on or

before the deadline (i.e., receipt from U.S. Postal Service or a

commercial carrier; private metered postmarks are not acceptable).

F. Evaluation Criteria

Upon receipt, applications will be reviewed by CDC for completeness

and responsiveness. Applications determined to be incomplete or

unresponsive to this announcement will be returned to the applicant

without further consideration. If the proposed project involves

organizations or persons other than those affiliated with the applicant

organization, letters of support and/or cooperation must be included.

Applications that are complete and responsive to the announcement

will be reviewed for scientific and technical merit by an initial

review group and will be determined to be competitive or non-

competitive, based on the review criteria relative to other

applications received. Applications determined to be non-competitive

will be withdrawn from further consideration and the principal

investigator/program director and the official signing for the

applicant organization will be promptly notified.

Applications judged to be competitive will be discussed and

assigned a priority score. Following initial review for technical

merit, the applications will receive a secondary review for

programmatic importance.

Review Criteria for Technical Merit Are as Follows

1. Significance--Does this study address an important problem

related to the topical research issues outlined in this solicitation?

If the aims of the application are achieved, how will scientific

knowledge be advanced? What will be the effect of these studies on the

concepts or methods that drive this field?

2. Approach--Are the conceptual framework, design (including

composition of study population), methods, and analyses adequately

developed, well-integrated and appropriate to the aims of the project?

Does the applicant acknowledge potential problem areas and consider

alternative approaches?

3. Innovation--Does the project employ novel concepts, approaches

or methods? Are the aims original and innovative? Does the project

challenge existing paradigms or develop new methodologies or

technologies.

4. Principal Investigator--Is the investigator appropriately

trained and well suited to carry out this work (particularly but not

exclusively) in the area of the proposed project? Is the work proposed

appropriate to the experience level of the principal investigator and

other researchers, if any?

5. Environment--Does the scientific environment in which the work

will be done contribute to the probability of success? Do the proposed

experiments take advantage of unique features of the scientific

environment or employ useful collaborative arrangements? Is there

documentation of cooperation from industry, unions, or other

participants in the project, where applicable? Is there evidence of

institutional support and availability of resources necessary to

perform the project?

6. Gender and minority issues--Are plans to include both sexes and

minorities and their subgroups adequately developed (as appropriate for

the scientific goals of the project)? Are strategies included for the

recruitment and retention of human subjects?

7. Human Subjects--Are the procedures proposed adequate for the

protection of human subjects and are they fully documented? Are all

procedures in compliance with applicable published regulations (see

``Other Requirements'').

8. Vertebrate animals--Are the procedures proposed adequate for the

welfare of vertebrate animals and are they fully documented? Are all

procedures in compliance with applicable published regulations?

9. Budget--Is the budget reasonable and appropriate for all direct

costs and period/s of requested support and are all entries adequately

justified?

Review Criteria for Programmatic Importance Are as Follows

1. Relevance to mine safety and health, by contributing to

achievement of research objectives specified in Section 501 of the

Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977.

2. Magnitude of the problem in terms of numbers of miners affected.

3. Severity of the disease or injury in the mining population.

4. Usefulness to applied technical knowledge in the identification,

evaluation, or control of occupational safety and health hazards in

mines on a national or regional basis.

The Following Will Be Considered in Making Funding Decisions

1. Technical merit of the proposed project as determined by the

initial peer review.

2. Programmatic importance of the project as determined by

secondary review.

3. Availability of funds.

4. Program balance among priority areas of the announcement.

G. Other Requirements

Technical Reporting Requirements

Provide CDC with original plus two copies of--

1. Progress reports (annual);

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2. Financial status report, no more than 90 days after the end of

the budget period; and

3. Final financial and performance reports, no more than 90 days

after the end of the project period.

Send all reports to: Joanne Wojcik, Grants Management Specialist,

Grants Management Branch, Procurement and Grants Office, Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Room 300, 255 East Paces Ferry

Road, NE., M/S E-13, Atlanta, GA 30305-2209.

The following additional requirements are applicable to this

program. For a complete description of each, see Attachment I (in the

application kit).

AR98-1--Human Subjects Requirements

AR98-2--Requirements for Inclusion of Women and Racial and Ethnic

Minorities in Research

AR98-3--Animal Subjects Requirements

AR98-10--Smoke-Free Workplace Requirements

AR98-11--Healthy People 2000

AR98-12--Lobbying Restrictions

H. Authority and Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number

This program is authorized under the Public Health Service Act,

section 301(a) (42 U.S.C. 241(a)), as amended and the Federal Mine

Safety and Health Act of 1977, section 501 (30 U.S.C. 951) as amended.

The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance number is 93.262.

I. Where To Obtain Additional Information

Please refer to Program Announcement 98056 when you request

information. For a complete program description, information on

application procedures, an application package, and business management

technical assistance, contact: Joanne Wojcik, Grants Management

Specialist, Grants Management Branch, Procurement and Grants Office,

Announcement 98056, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),

Room 300, 255 East Paces Ferry Road, NE., M/S E-13, Atlanta, GA 30305-

2209, telephone (404) 842-6535, Email address: [email protected].

For program technical assistance, contact: Roy M. Fleming, Sc.D.,

Research Grants Program, National Institute for Occupational Safety and

Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1600 Clifton

Road, NE., Building 1, Room 3053, M/S D-30, Atlanta, GA 30333,

Telephone: (404) 639-3343, FAX: (404) 639-4616, Internet: [email protected].

To receive additional written information and to request an

application kit, call 1-888-GRANTS4 (1-888 472-6874). You will be asked

to leave your name and address and will be instructed to identify the

Announcement number of interest. Also, this and other CDC Announcements

can be found on the CDC homepage on the Internet,(http://www.cdc.gov)

under the ``Funding'' section, as well as on the NIOSH homepage (http:/

/www.cdc.gov/niosh under ``Extramural Program.'' For your convenience,

you may be able to retrieve a copy of the PHS Form 398 from (http://

www.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html).

Please Refer to Announcement Number 98056 when Requesting

Information and Submitting an Application.

Dated: May 1, 1998.

Diane D. Porter,

Acting Director, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health,

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

[FR Doc. 98-12212 Filed 5-7-98; 8:45 am]

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