Habia clarifies health and safety regulation for salons

The Hair and Beauty Industry Authority (Habia) has issued clarification regarding new health and safety legislation for salons. 

Habia said new legislation could be misinterpreted as allowing enforcement agencies to charge salons for inspections.

As part of the new Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations 2012, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will charge businesses for re-inspections when they do not meet the required standards.

However, the majority of businesses in the beauty industry are salons and come under Local Authority remit. This means that they will remain unaffected by the change, and will not face charges for health and safety inspections.

Wendy Nixon, health and safety expert at Habia, said: "Whilst we encourage salons to remain vigilant on all health and safety matters, they should rest assured that these changes in no way affect them and that they are not going to be charged for inspection."