Take a look at our ten safety essentials pages. These pages will guide you through the essentials for managing health and safety in your business. The areas below contain specialist advice for you to consider when writing your risk assessments and implementing safe systems of work & procedures to keep staff and visitors safe.

When undertaking your risk assessment for your business you may wish to look at the following example to give you ideas of hazards and control measures:

Risk assessment for a hairdressing salon (PDF, 103KB)

Whenever there is person to person contact, there is a risk of cross infection. Many beauty therapies involve breaking the skin, which can lead to infections in the client, if good hygiene practices are not followed.

• Hygiene in beauty therapy (PDF, 754KB) (HABIA)

What you must do

You must ensure that your employees and anyone else who could be affected by your work (such as visitors and members of the public), are kept safe from harm. You must assess the risk from slips and trips and take reasonable precautions.

What you should know

Slips and trips remain the single most common cause of major injury in the workplace. Most accidents occur when

• smooth cleaned floors are left wet;
• spills are not cleaned up quickly and effectively; 
• when there is failure  to keep the floor free from contamination (Such as hair or powders); and
• trailing cables from hair-dryers or other equipment create hazards.

Electricity can kill or severely injure people and cause damage to property. However, employers can take simple precautions when working with or near electricity and electrical equipment to significantly reduce the risk of injury to you, your workers and others around you.

In order to comply with the law you should:

• Ensure the electrical installation is inspected and maintained in good repair; and
• Ensure that any portable appliances are inspected and tested regularly (PAT Test);
• Keep a records of inspections and tests.

See our Electrical safety page for comprehensive guidance.

What you must do

Employers have a legal duty to manage the risk of musculoskeletal disorders which their workers are exposed to. Before anyone can start to control the risks in the workplace they need to know what they are, how serious they are and who is exposed to them. The first step to managing the risk is through risk assessment. This should be carried out to decide if there are enough precautions in place or if more needs to be done to prevent harm.

An assessment of the risk of musculoskeletal problems should take account of:

• All tasks involved .
• The individual capacity of the employee.
• The loads involved.
• The work environment.

This assessment should also consider the main risk factors such as manual handing, awkward postures, work organisation and vibration from equipment.

Manual handling activities should be avoided if it is reasonably practicable. If not reasonably practicable employers should assess the risk from the activity and implement effective control measures.

In practice, employers have found that initiatives for reducing musculoskeletal problems in the workplace are most successful if they involve employees and their representatives working together on risk assessment and investigating accidents.

Key messages

• you can easily take action to prevent or minimise this type of injury;
• the preventive measures are cost effective;
• involving staff is key to success;
• training staff in proper lifting techniques, use of handling aids and raising awareness of the risks will reduce the likelihood of injuries in the future;
• early detection and reporting of aches and pains is crucial.

Further information

• Manual Handling at Work a brief guide
• Manual Handling guidance on the regulations
• Manual Handling Assessment Charts (MAC)Tool
• Good Handling Techniques

The duty to manage asbestos is directed at those who manage non-domestic premises: the people with responsibility for protecting others who work in such premises, or use them in other ways, from the risks to ill health that exposure to asbestos causes.

Duty holders must:

• take reasonable steps to find out if there are materials containing asbestos in non-domestic premises, and if so, its amount, where it is and what condition it is in
• presume materials contain asbestos unless there is strong evidence that they do not
• make, and keep up-to-date, a record of the location and condition of the asbestos- containing materials - or materials which are presumed to contain asbestos
• assess the risk of anyone being exposed to fibres from the materials identified
• prepare a plan that sets out in detail how the risks from these materials will be managed
• take the necessary steps to put the plan into action
• periodically review and monitor the plan and the arrangements to act on it so that the plan remains relevant and up-to-date
• provide information on the location and condition of the materials to anyone who is liable to work on or disturb them

For further information see:

• HSE - Managing Asbestos
• HSE - Managing asbestos in buildings, a short guide
• HSE - Managing my asbestos, a step by step guide

• Some ingredients in beauty and cleaning products can irritate the skin leading to dermatitis (e.g. solvents in nail varnish removers).
• Some ingredients can cause skin allergies and asthma (e.g. liquids and powders in acrylic systems for artificial nails).
• Dust filings from artificial nails can cause wheezing, chest tightness and asthma.
• Acrylic fumes can cause headaches, dizziness and nausea.
• Contact with blood and tissue residues from piercing or tattooing can cause infection.

There are simple things you can do to prevent ill health.

Preventing exposure to harmful substances usually means a combination of some of the following controls:

• Keep the workplace well ventilated.
• Use good work techniques that avoid or minimise contact with harmful substances and minimise leaks and spills.
• Practice good hand care – remove contamination promptly, wash hands properly, dry thoroughly and moisturise regularly.
• Provide an extractor hood or down draught table for nail work.
• For some tasks, you may also need to provide personal protective equipment like protective gloves, aprons and eye protection.

The controls you need will depend on the task or treatment. Click the links below for more specific information.

• Working with substances hazardous to health - a brief guide
• Control of Substances Hazardous to Health - Approved Code of Practice
• SR02 - Diluting chemical concentrates (PDF)
• SR04 Manual cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces (PDF)
• SR11 - Hairdressing (PDF)
• SR12 Electrolysis, piercing, tattooing and micro-pigmentation: General ventilation (PDF)
• SR13 Nail bars: Engineering controls (PDF)
• RR623 - Occupational asthma, respiratory issues and dermatitis in hairdressers and nail bars
• Handwashing and applying cream

The dangerous substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 (DSEAR) require risks from the indoor storage of dangerous substances to be controlled by elimination or by reducing the quantities of such substances in the workplace to a minimum and providing mitigation to protect against foreseeable incidents.

• In a small business you should not have more than 50 litres of flammable substances on-site. 
• Keep lids on containers at all times.
• Decant small quantities of chemicals for use at the workstation, do not bring larger containers into the treatment areas.
• Do not have any naked flames in the workplace, such as candles or cigarettes. 

Click on the links below for more specific information:

• Storage of flammable liquids in process areas and work rooms
• SR24 Storing chemical products (PDF)
• Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002, Approved Code of Practice

Exposure to skin sensitisers or repeated exposure to skin irritants can lead to occupational dermatitis (OD). It is an important and common type of work-related ill-health. If you detect the signs of OD early and modify a worker’s exposure, the risk of developing long-term (irreversible) skin problems is reduced. The main cases in the beauty industry are exposure to latex, solvents, soaps, cleaning products, irritating chemicals; frequent hand washing and prolonged glove use. As an employer you should undertake regular checks of staff for issues arising,ensure that staff receive treatment for conditions and that you address the cause of the considers to prevent re-occurances.

Click the links below for more specific information.

• G403 Health surveillance for occupation dermatitis
• Poster - Skin checks for dermatitis
• HSE - Occupational health

Our skin piercing pages contain relevant information for all skin piercing practices such as tattooing, cosmetic piercing, acupuncture, electrolysis ans semi-permanant make-up. You should consider the general health and safety guidance on this page and use the skin piercing pages for specific control measures related to your treatments/art. 

There are many hazards associated with use of sunbeds, some are listed below;

Ultra Violet Radiation

Reducing health risks from the use of ultraviolet (UV) tanning equipment 

UV Sunbeds poster (PDF, 102KB)

Infection Control

Equipment surfaces that come in contact with the users (including goggles) should be cleaned immediately after use with the cleaning fluid specified by the manufacturer.  Reusable goggles, which are worn, must be cleaned and sanitised after every use as conditions such as conjunctivitis can be spread from one customer to another.

Use of goggles

You must not let persons use UV sunbeds without using proper goggles or single deflectors/shields (cones). IF a person does not have any goggles, then they must not be allowed to use the sunbeds.

Sunbed regulations

A person who has a sunbed business is legally required to prevent sunbed use by children. This includes preventing them from entering areas where sunbeds are in use. Our Sunbeds pages have more information on use of sunbeds.

Undertaking work on artifical nail's poses a number of hazards:

• ‘Liquid and powder acrylic systems’ and ‘UV nails’ can cause dermatitis;
• Acrylic fumes can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, irritation and some chemicals can be carcinogenic.
• Dust filings from artificial nails can cause asthma;
• Poor hygiene procedure can cause infections for both the client and nail technician.

For more detailed information see:

• SR13 Nail bars: Engineering controls (PDF)
• G406 New and existing engineering controls: Local Exhaust Ventilation

The Council cannot recommend or endorse any products, it is up to the duty holder to ensure any products purchased and fitted comply with the relevant standards, however the following products maybe useful for controlling fumes in a nail bar:

• HV!-20 Nail Extraction unit
• Pure 250 Nail Dust Filtration and Fume Extraction System
• Ravair Vapour, Dust and Virus Extraction Unit

Waxing services - code of practice (PDF, 4.4MB)

Fish pedicures (PDF, 531KB)

• Guidance for Employers on the Control of Artificial Optical Radiation at Work Regulations (AOR) 2010
• Treatment guidelines for the use of laser and intense pulse light device for hair reductions and treatment of superficial vascular and benign pigmented legions
• Safe use of lasers & IPL (PDF, 2.2MB) (HABIA)

You will also need to ensure that you have suitable fire precautions in place, this includes measures such as undertaking a fire risk assessment, means of fire detection (e.g. smoke alarm), dedicated means of escape (e.g. fire exits) and means of raising the alarm in case of fire (e.g. fire alarm)

• A guide to making your small non-domestic premises safe from fire
• Fire safety risk assessment offices and shops

Fire safety precautions are enforced by Lancashire Fire and Rescue and not the Council.