760-1406 Inspection of Body Art Establishments, Access, Inspection of Records. Issuance of Notices; Service of Notices

1. The Commissioner or any duly authorized representative may inspect each body art establishment located within his jurisdiction and may make as many additional inspections and reinspections as are necessary for the enforcement of this Article.

Whereas the Department may inspect body art establishments "as many additional" should be replace with "reasonable."

2. The Commissioner or any duly authorized representative, after proper identification, shall be permitted to enter, at any reasonable time, any body art establishment within its jurisdiction for the purpose of making inspections to determine compliance with this Article.  He/she shall be permitted to examine whatever records exist to obtain pertinent information pertaining to persons receiving body art procedures, and pertaining to sterilization of equipment and or instruments. There shall be a person familiar with these records in the shop during the hours of operation.

Whereas the Department may inspect body art establishments this provision exceeds reasonable and takes liberties without consideration given to the establishments themselves. Certainly the Department should not be prevented from entering for observation and non-intrusive inspections that would not disrupt the business. Any business disruption inspection other than an emergency situation should be arranged beforehand at a mutually agreeable reasonable time and date.

The second sentence we interpret as a license to violate personal expectations of privacy. This wording: "permitted to examine whatever records exist" for the purpose "to obtain pertinent information" appears ill-conceived. Who determines which records are pertinent? Are bank records pertinent? Phone records? This needs expert legal advice to be acceptable.

The last sentence "a person familiar with these records in the shop during the hours of operation" is an unnecessary demand and burden. These records are clerical in nature and unrelated to exposure procedures, incidents or emergency health matters that are time sensitive to protect employees and patrons. They have no bearing on emergency health matters. Availability should be upon request in a reasonable amount of time after reasonable cause is shown for those records to be examined.

3. Whenever the Commissioner or any duly authorized representative makes an inspection of a body art establishment, the Department's findings shall be recorded on an inspection report form provided for this purpose, and a copy of such inspection report form shall be furnished to the permit holder or person in charge.

4. Whenever the Commissioner or any duly authorized representative makes an inspection of a body art establishment and discovers that any of the requirements of this Article have been violated, the Commissioner or any duly authorized representative shall notify the permit holder or person in charge of such violations by delivering to him/her a copy of the inspection report or other written notice. In such notification, the Commissioner or any duly authorized representative shall:

            a. Set forth specific violations found.
            b. Establish a specific and reasonable period of time for the correction of the violations that have been found.

5. Notices provided for under this section shall be deemed to have been properly served when the original of the inspection report or other notice has been delivered personally to the permit holder or person in charge, or such notice has been sent by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested to the last known address of the permit holder. A copy of such notice shall be filed with the records of the Department.

6. The most recent record of inspection by a representative of the Department shall be retained on the premises until the next inspection and this report shall be available for review by any person upon request. A notice provided by the Department indicating the availability of this most recent report must be prominently displayed to the public alongside the establishment's permit. This notice is provided in Appendix F of this Article.

These are personal views and opinions of Wes Wood and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Unimax Supply Co Inc.
Copyright 2006