If you're a hairdresser, barber, or running a beauty salon, complying with health and safety laws keeps your clients and employees safe. Health and safety experts walk you through 10 key areas to remember.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is the primary legislation regarding health and safety for businesses in England, Scotland and Wales. Various regulations concerning particular aspects of health and safety have been made under this Act, including the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, which provide for the requirement to carry out risk assessments.
In Northern Ireland, The Health and Safety at Work Order 1978 (Northern Ireland) is the equivalent primary legislation, under which various regulations have been made, including the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 2000 (Northern Ireland).
The above legislation applies to all businesses irrespective of size and covers all employees.
Poor health and safety practices not only put staff at risk of injury but also put you and your business at risk of enforcement action in the event of breaches of the legislation. Magistrates’ Courts can issue fines and even custodial sentences in the event of a conviction.
The main legal principles for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland under the above legislation are that:
Some ingredients in beauty and cleaning products can irritate the skin leading to dermatitis (e.g. solvents in nail varnish removers). Workers in hairdressers, beauty salons and nail bars are at potential risk of developing skin and respiratory ill health conditions if good working practices and effective exposure control methods when using hazardous substances are not applied.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has identified that up to 70% of hairdressers suffer from work-related skin damage such as dermatitis at some point during their career, although most cases are preventable through putting in place the correct control measures.
Further guidance for hairdressers on how to prevent dermatitis is available on the HSE website.
All hazardous substances should be identified.Hazardous chemicals or substances should be handled and stored securely.The risk of emission and inhalation through vapours should be controlled. These include vapours from chemical products used for cleaning and beauty and hairdressing products containing chemicals, such as hair dyes (particularly hydrogen peroxide for permanent dyes). Any chemicals that are more hazardous should be kept in limited access areas.
A template hazardous substances form and fact sheet guidance on hazardous substances is available on the FSB Legal Hub . The HSE has published separate hazardous substance guidance for nail bars.
Appropriate equipment for carrying out hair and beauty treatments and other work activities should be provided for use by staff and it must be adequately maintained. Where safer, alternative products cannot be used, precautions should be taken to minimise the risk when using hazardous products. This may include the provision of personal protective clothing (PPE) for staff, such as the use of gloves or face masks to prevent contact with the skin or inhalation. Staff should not have to pay for their own PPE.Customers’ clothes must be fully protected with gown and towels for relevant treatments or hair cuts.
Tools, equipment, and work surfaces must be kept clean, well maintained, and sterilised or disinfected to prevent cross-infection/contamination.Broken equipment should be removed and labelled as ‘out of use’.
A template work equipment checklist and fact sheet guidance on PPE can be downloaded from the FSB Legal Hub.
This involves the appointment of competent staff to provide supervision and instruction and the provision of health and safety training where required, for example, for first aid and other aspects of health and safety relevant to the employee’s work activities or the products they use in any customer treatments.
Managers/supervisors must ensure all staff are fully inducted and trained to comply with health, safety and welfare measures in the salon.For example, staff should be reminded that flammable products such as aerosol hairsprays must be kept away from naked flames and other heat sources and that manufacturers’ instructions must always be followed.
This will include ensuring that staff, for example:
A template training record, so that you can evidence the fact that your staff have received appropriate training, is available on the FSB Legal Hub, together with further training templates and guidance.
Employees have theirown duties under health and safety legislation as follows:
Provision for reporting and recording incidents in the workplace, such as accident books, must beput in place. Certain accidents or incidents must be reported to the HSE.
Factsheet guidance on accident reporting and a template accident, incident, near-miss record form is available on the FSB Legal Hub.
Ensure the business has a health and safety policy and risk assessments , which are kept under regular review so that they remain adequate and up-to-date. These need to be in writing where you employ 5 or more staff. However, where you employ fewer staff, it is best practice for you to have these in writing, so you can evidence these have been carried out.
A template risk assessment form and health and safety policy are available on the FSB Legal Hub.
In addition, a fire risk assessment will need to be carried out for the premises from where you operate your business. A template fire risk assessment form is available on the FSB Legal Hub.
Risk assessments should be carried out to identify the level of first aid provision needed and everyone at work must be made aware of first aid arrangements. Legislation requires that there should be appropriate facilities for first aid, including first aid boxes in appropriate locations and access to the appropriate number of qualified first aiders.
The number of first aiders required varies depending on the size of the organization and the likelihood of accidents occurring, as identified by the risk assessment. As a general guideline, one first aider should be appointed for every 50 people. In higher risk areas, this ratio may need to be increased. Large or higher risk premises should have a first aid room. Factsheet guidance on first aid is available on the FSB Legal Hub.
Although not a statutory requirement, businesses should ensure they have in place adequate insurance to cover accidents to members of the public and customers, such as public liability insurance. As soon as you employ anyone, you are legally required to obtain employers’ liability insurance . Your certificate for employers’ liability insurance must be displayed, either physically on the premises or electronically.
You must also display the health and safety poster on your premises. You can download one for free from the HSE, available in different sizes.
The person who will be responsible for helping the business meet its health and safety duties can be the director or owner of the business, a senior employee (such as a manager or supervisor), someone from outside the business, or a combination of all three. But whoever they are they must be competent. A competent person is someone who has the necessary skills, experience, and knowledge to manage health and safety.
If you have someone who is competent within the business it is advisable to use them rather than someone external, as they are best placed to know the risks specific to your business.
It'snot strictly necessary for the competent person to have formal training or to have attended a health and safety training course; however, this may help them to complete the necessary task and can assist you in proving evidence of your competencies should you wish to apply for a third-party health and safety accreditation scheme, or in the event of an HSE visit.
Whatever your sector, FSB Health and Safety takes the stress out of compliance. With workplace health and safety advice from industry experts, as well as online documentation and on-demand training, you’re in safe hands.
Understand and follow clean, tidy and safe standards of working in the salon. Are able to follow measures identified by the employer's risk assessment. Remove spillages, report slippery surfaces, e.g. oils and spills, and remove or report obstacles. Use clean/sterilised/disinfected tools, equipment and work surfaces.
What are the safety procedures in the salon? › What are some preventive measures for a hairdresser?Standard Precautions include — Hand hygiene. Use of personal protective equipment (e.g., gloves, masks, eyewear). Respiratory hygiene / cough etiquette. Sharps safety (engineering and work practice controls).
What are 3 things disinfectants must have in it to used in salons? ›All EPA-registered liquid disinfectants (Learn more about EPA-registered disinfectants): Must have the words “bacterial, fungicidal, and virucidal” on the label. Must be mixed, used, stored, and disposed of according to manufacturer's label instructions.
What are two methods used in the salon to ensure hygiene? ›Take care to prevent cross client contamination by sterilizing instruments between each client treatment. Metal instruments such as cuticle nippers, scissors and tweezers should be sterilised in an autoclave. Bowls, dishes and other salon equipment should be washed thoroughly in warm water and detergent.
What are the 5 safety considerations? › Basic Safety Rules