Colorado Body Art Studios Face Possible Regulations

June 25th, 2009 · No Comments

Body Art Studios Soon May Face Regulations
By Debbie Bell
Published : June 19, 2009

FREMONT COUNTY, CO – Commissioners to consider resolution at June 30 meeting.

Local body art studios soon could face regulations requiring licensing and inspection by the county.

The Fremont County Commissioners will consider formally adopting a resolution at the June 30 meeting of the County Board of Health. Like restaurant inspections, the county’s Environmental Health Office would be charged with inspecting all body art studios located in the county, including those in different municipalities.

In April, the commissioners conducted a public hearing on the proposed body art regulations and heard no public comment. Fremont County Environmental Health Officer Sid Darden said he drafted the regulations based on similar ones in place in El Paso County and on state regulations that were adopted in 2001.

“The regulations address minimum requirements for body art establishments and tattoo parlors, the sterilization and storage of instruments, infection and exposure control, body art procedures and annual inspections,” Darden said in a written statement. “The regulations also will require a minor under the age of 18 to have a signed parental consent form before obtaining any tattoo or body piercing.”

Also during the June 30 meeting, the commissioners will consider a resolution imposing a $150 annual inspection fee and a $75 fee for a plan review or plan revision application. If adopted by the Board of Health, the body art regulations will take effect July 1.

Darden said the regulations should offer some reassurance to body art customers who can ask to see the license and know the studio has been inspected and approved. Some of the body art studios already have welcomed the regulations and licensing, which will keep transient artists from setting up shop and moving on after a day or two, Darden said.

The commissioners will meet with the Fremont County Board of Health at 1 p.m. June 30 in Room 208 of the Fremont County Administration Building, 615 Macon Avenue.

Source : Canon City Daily Record