Mail-In Audiometer Calibration for West Virginia Employers

Mail-in calibration for West Virginia 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 West Virginia location with a calibration certificate for your hearing conservation file.

West Virginia is a short ground run from Cincinnati, and a tracked label lets you follow the unit both ways. 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 West Virginia

West Virginia's chemical plants along the Kanawha Valley, coal and energy operations, metal and wood products shops, and federal facilities all rely on hearing conservation programs. Many of these employers also run small in-house health rooms where one audiometer carries the whole program.

That single instrument is the one we most want to keep current, so a missed calibration date does not interrupt your testing.

OSHA and the audiometer in West Virginia

Private employers in West Virginia fall under federal OSHA, so 29 CFR 1910.95 is the rule your hearing conservation program is measured against. Audiometer calibration to ANSI S3.6 is the common benchmark, and your certificate is the record that shows the instrument was verified.

In West Virginia, 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 West Virginia.

Use a tracked, insured label for the trip out of West Virginia. 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 West Virginia

West Virginia is close enough to our Blue Ash shop that on-site calibration is possible when several instruments or sites can be batched into one trip.

For a single audiometer in West Virginia, mail-in is usually simpler. Call the office and we will help you choose.

A booth in West Virginia 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 West Virginia 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.

West Virginia cities we hear from

Mail-in works from every part of West Virginia. Cities such as Charleston, Huntington, Morgantown, Parkersburg, Wheeling, Beckley, Clarksburg, Fairmont, South Charleston, and Martinsburg 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.