Mail-In Audiometer Calibration for Michigan Employers

Mail-in calibration for Michigan employers

Foster Special Instruments calibrates audiometers at our bench at 6941 Cornell Road, Suite B, Blue Ash, Ohio 45242, near Cincinnati. You ship the unit to us, we calibrate it to ANSI S3.6, and it comes back to your Michigan location with a calibration certificate for your hearing conservation file.

Michigan is a ground shipment from Cincinnati, and a tracked, insured label keeps the unit accounted for. We calibrate most major brands whether or not you bought from us, including Benson, Tremetrics, Maico, GSI, and Welch Allyn / Hill-Rom.

Who we serve in Michigan

Michigan's automotive plants and the supplier base behind them are some of the heaviest users of hearing conservation programs in the country. Stamping, machining, casting, and assembly all produce noise, and the health systems in Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Ann Arbor run large occupational health programs.

We calibrate for plants, suppliers, clinics, and schools across both peninsulas.

OSHA and the audiometer in Michigan

Michigan operates MIOSHA, the Michigan state occupational safety and health program, as its state plan for most private employers. Federal 29 CFR 1910.95 is the reference many programs build on, and calibration to ANSI S3.6 is the common benchmark for the instrument.

In Michigan, as everywhere, OSHA 29 CFR 1910.95(h) ties audiometric testing to audiometers that meet ANSI S3.6. The work happens in layers, and each layer has an owner.

• Daily: your staff listens to the audiometer and tests a person with stable known thresholds. This is the employer's check.
• Annually: an acoustic calibration check. Our bench covers this.
• Every two years: an exhaustive calibration. We perform this as well.

29 CFR 1910.95(h), Appendix E

Packing and shipping your audiometer

Pack the audiometer in its original case or a padded box. Send the headphones, bone vibrator, and response switch that you use with it, because they are calibrated as a set. Include the serial number, your company name, a contact person, and the return address in Michigan.

Use a tracked, insured label for the trip out of Michigan. When the unit is back on your bench, the certificate lists the results, and a reminder goes out before the next due date.

On-site visits and booth testing in Michigan

Southern Michigan is within driving range of our Blue Ash shop, so on-site calibration is possible when several instruments or sites can be batched into one trip.

A single audiometer in Michigan is better served by mail-in. Call the office and we will tell you which makes sense for your setup.

A booth in Michigan that is measured on site against ANSI S3.1 gets its result printed as the Room Acoustics Level Test section on the audiometer certificate.

Loaners and other instruments

If your audiometer needs an extensive repair, we lend you a free loaner so your testing keeps going. Programs in Michigan often send other instruments with the audiometer, which saves a second shipment.

• Spirometers and the 3 L syringes used to check them.
• Breath alcohol testers. We calibrate them and train technicians. Foster does not sell or perform drug or alcohol testing.
• Vision testers.
• EKG machines.

Michigan cities we hear from

Mail-in works from every part of Michigan. Cities such as Detroit, Grand Rapids, Warren, Sterling Heights, Lansing, Ann Arbor, Flint, Kalamazoo, Dearborn, and Troy are all reachable the same way, and so is any town not on this list. Call 513-891-0868 or see the main audiometer calibration page for the full service.