Among them was tattoo studios, where surgical masks are required on the part of both service provider and client to start with.
Where gloves are required for treatments, it should be changed after each client and should not be shared. Fresh and clean towels must be used for each customer.
Tattooists change plastic aprons after each customer and must wear nitrile (non-plastic) gloves. They are required to use aseptic techniques and must refrain from sharing gloves. Tattoo artists must use fresh paper towels for each customer and wet work surfaces with disinfectant, also applying plastic wrap and a clean dental bib for each client.
Hand sanitising measures also apply to all service providers and tools and equipment must be sanitised or washed with soap before and after each use.
All bottles with products must be wiped down with 70 per cent alcohol solution after serving each customer at the end and beginning of each business day. All tattoo ink bottles must be kept clean and in a separate area and not be touched without clean gloves.
The regulations state that spray bottles may not be used for tattoo cleaning, as this causes the liquid to become airborne. Only squirt bottles are to be used to apply cleaning solutions onto paper towels and not directly onto the tattoo. Covid-19 protocols must be established and communicated to employees and clients.
Using posters has been advised. Employees aged 60 or older and those with co-morbidities, must be dissuaded from working.
Those who experience flu-like symptoms, are diagnosed with Covid-19 or have been in contact with a Covid-19 patient must inform their employees and may not enter salon premises or go to work. Booking systems and client registers must be kept up to date for Covid-19 tracing purposes. Pens used for at any studio, salon, or parlour must be disinfected between each customer visit, or customers should use their own pens.
Clients should not be allowed to bring guests, nor may food and beverages be provided at any salons. Service providers and clients should not touch unnecessarily and massages at basins are not allowed. Time limits have been advised to minimise contact between persons. Tattoo parlours must store medical waste in a separate area, and all medical waste must be collected by a registered medical waste company regularly.
Indemnity forms must be filled out by every tattoo or piercing customer and an addendum must be added to the form to state that the customer is aware of, and accepts the dangers of having a close contact procedure done during Covid-19.
