Noise Exposure and Evaluation at Tire- Changing Facilities.

Thirty (30) personal noise-exposure samples were collected on 20 tire-changing and repair technicians in three tire-changing facilities to determine their personal noise exposures and to estimate the maximum number of tire changes that could be performed without exceeding occupational exposure limits. Of the 30 projected 8-h time-weighted average noise samples, none exceeded the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Permissible Exposure Limit, 1 (3%) exceeded the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Action Level, and 18 (60%) exceeded the American Conference for Governmental Industrial Hygienists Threshold limit Value of 85 dBA, indicating the need for a hearing loss prevention program. The average shift time for the technicians was 6 h and 42 min and the average number of tire changes was 18.