Nail salon owner calls for regulatory body to govern industry
The owner of a beauty salon says she wants to see more regulation of her industry to improve safety for customers.
While Manitoba does not have regulations specific to the nail salon and spa industry, there is a section in the Public Health Act that gives officials the power to shut down any business it considers a health hazard.
Of the 11 complaints the province considered serious enough to warrant a health inspection, the vast majority were about nail salons reusing tools designed for one-time use.
Jocelyn Diamond, owner of the Studio Spa by Diamond Esthetics, has been an esthetician for nine years. She has heard a number of horror stories from clients about their experiences at other nail salons.
The worst one by far was from a friend whose mother's foot had to be amputated after a fungal infection went untreated.
"Unfortunately because the industry is not regulated, there's nobody going out there and giving you a rule book saying, 'Hey, this is what you have to do and these are the rules you have to follow,'" Diamond said.
If customers want to complain about a business, they can either call Apprenticeship Manitoba, which can't do much beyond telling them if the establishment is licensed and certified, or they can call health inspectors, Diamond said.
Diamond thinks nail salons should have a governing body similar to tattoo parlours.
"If we had people on board and create an association, a governing body to help regulate the industry, maybe it would be less taxing on the government, it would be less work for the province to do, if we could self-regulate and self-police. At least we know what we're looking for."
Manitoba's former chief provincial public health officer said the province doesn't need regulation to act.
"If they found it completely unacceptable and they didn't think the problem could be easily solved, or especially if there are repeat complaints, then it could be dealt with under the Public Health Act as a health hazard, including closing it down," said Dr. Joel Kettner.
Customers need to know to complain
Diamond said many customers don't know enough to file a complaint.
"There's not enough public knowledge for people to speak up if something were to happen."
Anyone who feels a salon is not following proper safety protocol can make a complaint to the public health inspector. The form is available on the province's website.
Kettner said the province should also look at posting checklists inside salons so customers can see what safe practices are recommended, as well as contact info for clients to file a complaint.
Martin Colledge, registrar with the College of Podiatrists of Manitoba, said there are no statistics that detail the risk of health problems from nail salons in the province.
In an email, he said there is a strong argument to be made for regulation of the nail salon industry, given there is a high risk of contamination. He suggests the province could study other jurisdictions, such as British Columbia, Ontario or Newfoundland, to see if their models would work in a Manitoba context.
"My intuition is that cost would be negligible and unlikely then to have any significant impact on the function of the industry other than to make it safer," he said.
Spa safety checklist
Manitoba Health has published a spa safety checklist. It lists items meant to be used on one client only then thrown away, as well as items that can be cleaned and disinfected after each use.
It also shows how relatively inexpensive the one-time use items can be. For example, 150 Emery boards for filing nails cost $10, which works out to about seven cents per customer. At $14 dollars for 160 nail buffers, the cost is nine cents each.
Wooden cuticle pushers cost $5 for 200. That's three cents each.
Added up, the 10 items on the list that an esthetician would use on a client during a manicure or pedicure amounts to $1.92 per customer.
An average pedicure costs $35 to $95, and a manicure costs $30 to $75.
With files from Caroline Barghout