As professional tanning salon operators, you work hard to follow the
guidelines of responsible tanning; but what about that salon owner down
the street? You know, the one who doesn’t adequately train his staff,
and sticks people into tanning units for the maximum exposure time, every
time? He’s definitely not playing by the rules, giving tanning a bad rep
and something should be done to stop him, right? If you think that “something”
is contacting your state legislator, think again! These lawmakers aren’t
going to stop at simply enacting a few laws to govern how tanning salons
do business – they’re likely to try to over-regulate it.
John Overstreet, ITA Executive Director, spends most of his time working
to stop regulations from becoming burdensome to tanning salon owners.
Almost every month, he leads a team of ITA representatives and salon owners
to various state legislatures to speak out against the many problematic
proposals that have come down the pike. That’s why he’s shocked when he
hears of salon pros who actually want regulations in their states. “Typically,
it involves a well-meaning salon owner who’s upset that other salons in
her area are operating on the edge and giving the industry a bad name,”
Overstreet commented. “Oftentimes, they approach a legislator and ask
them about regulating indoor tanning to stop the other salons’ improper
business practices. What they don’t realize is that this does more harm
than good because they have no idea how easily it can get out of control.”
“Legislators will begin looking to see what other states have done to
regulate indoor tanning, because all of those bills can be accessed easily
on the Internet,” Overstreet stated. “Then, they begin to incorporate
items that the other states utilize, and many of these proposed regulations
can be extremely troublesome for salon pros. Much of the regulations that
lawmakers are willing to add to tanning proposals are what this organization
has been combating for the past three years.”
The latest trend in tanning regs is aimed at curbing teen tanning. Many
proposals over the past two years have called for banning it outright
or severely limiting it by requiring signed permission from a doctor.
“In some cases, we’ve seen legislation that specifically states what types
of bins towels must be stored in, as well as regulations that would require
salons to clean their clients’ personally-owned eyewear,” Overstreet added.
“There have also been proposals that would have required customers to
list all prescription and over-the-counter medication and require salon
pros to determine if any of the medications are photosensitive.”
Overstreet says the problem of regulations could be compounded when inspectors
visit a salon. “Each individual inspector can interpret the rules in a
different way,” he commented. “Because of that, we’ve heard of cases where
salon owners were fined because an inspector found a tiny smudge on a
sunbed’s acrylic, and others have been fined for not putting towels in
the ‘proper’ bin. These kinds of situations can get very frustrating,
not to mention costly, for salon owners.”
The ITA urges salon pros concerned about business practices in their state
to contact the organization. “We understand that salon operators who use
improper business practices make it difficult for everyone and need to
be aware of the bigger picture. “Although we hate to say it, additional
legislation doesn’t always make that problem go away, and it creates more
difficulties for everyone when legislators start looking to regulate our
industry.”
