Recently released an update of its popular booklet, Stay Healthy and Safe While Giving Manicures and Pedicures. Available in Englishand Vietnamese, the booklet provides practical tips that nail salon workers can use to protect themselves from chemical exposure, ergonomic hazards, and infectious diseases. In response to the growing demand for “green” salons, this booklet also suggests ways in which salons can protect the environment while also protecting the health of workers and consumers.
Over the past four years, has partnered with the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative to provide free workplace health and safety trainings to nail salon workers and owners using this booklet. The training encourages workers and owners to take action and adopt concrete changes in their salons. In our post-training evaluations, workers and owners report making changes such as wearing gloves, opening doors and windows for ventilation, taking stretching breaks, etc.
Let’s Talk About Health and Safety (English) (Vietnamese)is a set offlashcardsthat allows workers to practice speaking in English in response to difficult health and safety situations.
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I learned about disinfecting tools a long time ago from school. It’s helpful to be reminded. I follow these steps in keeping my tools clean. — nail salon worker The training gives you ideas to see what is harmful and expands your knowledge… People are trying to help the nail salon industry develop and grow in a good way and that makes me happy. — nail salon worker I want all people in the store to know about health so it can be easier and better for all of us. The clients will be happy too. — nail salon owner
Follow this link to find a Healthy Nail Salon near you. These nail salons are recognized as Healthy Nail Salons by the San Francisco Department of the Environment.Look for the Healthy Nail Salon sticker in the window of your salon.Nail salons are mostly small businesses that employ or contract with trained professionals to provide clients with nail services including, but not limited to, nail filing and polishing, artificial nail application, and other hand- and foot-care treatments.
The more than 375, 000 nail technicians working in salons across the United States face possible health hazards every day. The hazards include exposure to chemicals from glues, polishes, removers, and other salon products; muscle strains from awkward positions or repetitive motions; and risk of infection from contact with client skin, nails, or blood.
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Information on nail salon hazards and preventing illness and injury is also available for workers in OSHA’s publication “Stay Healthy and Safe While Giving Manicures and Pedicures: A Guide for Nail Salon Workers” (PDF
A flier and wallet card including information on worker rights and health effects are available from the US Department of Labor’s OSHA and Wage and Hour Division.
This web page gives important information about these hazards and the steps that nail salon workers and employers can take to prevent injuries and illnesses.
Health Hazards In Nail Salons”
Without taking the correct safety precautions each day, these chemicals can cause breathing problems; red, irritated eyes; dry, cracked skin; and other health problems. More…
Working in certain positions or repeating the same motion puts stress on a worker’s body and can cause aches and pains. These hazards are often called “ergonomic” hazards.Aches and pains can be caused by bending over a work table for a long period of time; resting hands, wrists, forearms and/or elbows against hard surfaces or sharp edges of work tables; and using repetitive movements like filing and buffing nails. More…
Nail salon workers can be exposed to biological hazards if they come into contact with infected skin, nails, or blood from a co-worker or client.Diseases that can result from exposure to infected blood include hepatitis and AIDS. Nail salon workers can also get fungal infections, such as athlete’s foot, from clients. More…
Nail Salon Health And Safety
Suburban Chicago Environmental, Health, Safety Specialist & Loss Control & Risk professional. I am "Passionate About Safety" - Full-Time Job Leads Always Welcomed! ~ Contact me through LinkedIn View all posts by Jack BentonBack to Basics is a weekly feature that highlights important but possibly overlooked information that any EHS professional should know. This week, we examine nail technician safety and OSHA’s recommendations for dealing with nail salon hazards.
EHS covers all kinds of workplaces and expands into industries where many might not consider the potential safety concerns at first glance. Nail salons are businesses that employ or contract with trained professionals to provide clients with nail services such as nail filing and polishing, artificial nail application, and other hand and foot care treatments.
According to OSHA, nail technicians face a wide variety of health hazards every day at work. They are exposed to chemicals found in glues, polishes, removers, emollients, and other salon products that can cause health issues such as asthma and other respiratory diseases, skin disorders, liver disease, reproductive loss, and cancer. Nail technicians also experience muscle strains from awkward positions and repetitive motions, and they have a high risk of contracting infections from the skin, nails, and blood of their clients.
Evening Nail Technician
OSHA has several recommendations for nail technicians to help keep them safe when dealing with these three main types of hazards: chemical, ergonomic, and biological hazards.
Nail technicians use products that contain chemicals that may affect their health every day at nail salons, including acetone, different kinds of acetate, and even formaldehyde, says OSHA. The chemicals produce harmful vapors, dusts, or mists, and workers are at risk of getting the products on their skin, in their eyes, and potentially ingesting the chemicals if they are transferred onto food. Exposure to these chemicals and inhalation of these fumes can “add up, ” because the products are being used daily and many of them are used simultaneously. The risk is increased as well when nail technicians work long ours and when there is poor ventilation in the salon.
Employers should choose safer products for their workers to use and make sure that they read about the ingredients beforehand. They should select “3-free” products, which are made without toluene, formaldehyde, and dibutyl phthalate, and acid free products, and make sure that they know the potential health effects of each product.
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Employers should provide proper ventilation in the salon to remove chemicals from the air as much as possible. This can be done by opening doors, windows, and ceiling vents to let in fresh air, and by always keeping the nail salon’s exhaust system on. If there is no exhaust system, the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system should be on and running. Many salons will not need respiratory protection, but if respirators are found to be necessary, such as N95s or dust masks, they must comply with OSHA’s respiratory protection standards.
Chemicals should be properly labelled in bottles with the information from the manufacturer’s label, and bottles should be closed tightly when they are not in use. Use only the amount of product needed to perform the service and avoid keeping extra product at each workstation. Make sure that workers follow the proper methods of disposal for each chemical and wash their hands before eating, drinking, applying cosmetics, and smoking. They should also avoid eating at their workstations and keep their food and drinks covered at all times.
There are several different kinds of movement and positions, also known as ergonomic hazards, that nail technicians have to do in order to provide their services. Nail technicians have to lean over worktables for a long time and do repetitive movements like filing and buffing nails. They have to rest their hands, wrists, forearms, and elbows against hard surfaces or sharp edges, which commonly causes injury to the workers’ muscles, bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, and nerves, OSHA states.
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To reduce ergonomic hazards, workers should use adjustable chairs that can be raised and lowered and give proper back support, and position their bodies so that their feet stay flat on the floor, they avoid sharp edges, and with enough room between the back of the knees and the seat to ensure proper blood flow. They should adjust the lighting to see and lift up the client’s hand or foot to avoid bending over. Towels or foam pads can be used to soften the work surface, and soft pads on tool handles can make them easier to hold. Workers should pace their work, take frequent breaks, and do gentle stretching exercises in between sessions to give their muscles and joints a chance to move.
Nail technicians must make physical contact with their clients to do their jobs, which opens the door to biological hazards such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses. According to OSHA, nail technicians are at a higher risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) if they come into contact with blood, and fungal infections of the nails and feet if they touch an infected client or use equipment that has not been cleaned.
Employers must follow the OSHA standard for bloodborne pathogens if their workers are going to come into contact with blood or other potentially infectious material, and provide them with training, vaccination, and personal protective equipment
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