Safety and sanitation: Tattoos, body art, and body piercing

Every tattoo, body piercing, or body art business must meet all the following safety and sanitation standards.

Business locations

• Each location must have separate areas for:
  • Work stations. This area must be separated from living quarters by a floor to ceiling wall and closed doors during business hours. Workstations cannot overlap each other or share a workspace.
  • Equipment cleaning. This area must be separated from living quarters by a floor to ceiling wall and closed doors during business hours. Locations that use only disposable equipment are exempt from having a separate equipment cleaning area.
  • Waiting room. The waiting area must be physically separated from the work stations and equipment cleaning area.
• Each business must have access to 2 separate sinks:
  • An equipment cleaning sink, with hot and cold running water, for disinfecting supplies, tools, equipment, and other materials. This sink must be labeled "not for public use."
  • A hand washing sink, with hot and cold running water, for public use. These sinks must be supplied with single-use hand soap and disposable towels or an air dryer.
• Each workstation must have a sealable, rigid, puncture-proof sharps container. Each container must be labeled with the international biohazard symbol.
• Floors in work station areas must be made of a smooth, durable, nonabsorbent, nonporous material that is easily cleanable and can be kept sanitary at all times.
• All other floors and floor coverings must be kept clean and in good repair, or replaced so they don't become a hazard to safety or health.
• All surfaces, including counters, tables, and client chairs, must be made of smooth, nonabsorbent, and nonporous material that is easily cleanable and can be kept sanitary at all times.
• Business locations must be kept free of rodents and vermin, and protected from insect infestation.

Hand washing

After restroom use and before providing services to clients, employees must wash their hands with single-use soap or hand sanitizer and use disposable or single-use hand-drying towels or an air dryer.

Items that come in contact with a client

• If an item that comes in direct contact with the client's skin doesn't require disinfecting, it must be sanitized.
• If an item that come in direct contact with the client's skin can't be sanitized and disinfected, it must be thrown away in a covered waste receptacle immediately after use.
• Disposable protective gloves must be thrown away in a covered waste receptacle as soon as they are removed.
• Liquids must be dispensed with a squeeze bottle or pump.
• Creams and lotions must be dispensed using a disposable or sanitized and disinfected applicator.

Tools and implements

• Electrical tools and implements must be disinfected after each client in the following order:
  • Remove any foreign matter or debris.
  • Disinfect with an EPA hospital-grade disinfectant.
• New, or sanitized and disinfected, tools and implements must be stored separately from all others.
• Roller storage containers and their contents must be sanitized, disinfected, and free of foreign material.
• Storage cabinets, work stations, and storage drawers for sanitized and disinfected tools and implements must be clean, free of debris, and used only for sanitized and disinfected tools and implements.
• All used nondisposable tools and implements must be kept in a separate, puncture resistant container.

Trash

• Waste containers must be emptied, sanitized, and disinfected daily.
• All chemical, flammable, toxic or otherwise harmful waste material must be deposited in a hands-free covered waste receptacle and disposed of properly at the close of each business day.
• All nonchemical waste must be deposited in a hands-free covered waste receptacle to avoid the potential for cross contamination through exposure to infectious waste.
• Trash containers in the reception or office area, which don't contain waste related to the performance of services, don't need to have covers.

Related information

• Bloodborne pathogens and needlestick prevention (www.osha.gov)