City of Franklin, NH Tattoo Parlors

To mark or color the skin by pricking in coloring matter so as to form indelible marks. The practice of marking the body by the production of scars is prohibited.

TATTOO ARTIST

Any person who actually performs the work of tattooing.

TATTOO ESTABLISHMENT

Any room or space where tattooing is practiced or where the business of tattooing is conducted or any part thereof.

TATTOO OPERATOR

Any person who controls, operates, conducts or manages any tattoo establishment, whether actually performing the work of tattooing or not.

§ 269-3 Permit required; mobile establishments prohibited.

No person shall operate a tattoo establishment or engage in the practice or business of tattooing as a tattoo operator or as a tattoo artist unless such person shall first obtain a permit from the City of Franklin Health Department or its Health Officer or his or her duly appointed agent (hereinafter referred to as "Health Officer"). Applications for such permits shall be made in writing on a form prescribed by the City of Franklin, wherein the applicant shall agree to conform to all rules and regulations governing such places now in effect or as subsequently enacted and to authorize and permit such examination and inspection as may be deemed necessary by the Health Officer.

Mobile tattoo establishments shall not be permitted within the city limits.

§ 269-4 Terms of permit; fee.

A tattoo parlor is required to have a permit and will be charged yearly a fee of $150 for the issuance of such a permit. Said tattoo parlor is to be located in a commercially zoned space of no less than 500 square feet and is to be divided into three separate areas (waiting area, operating room and sterilization/work area).

Form and transfer of permits. All permits shall be issued annually during the month of January and in the name of the individual person or incorporated business applying therefor, shall give the location of the tattoo establishment where said applicant will operate and shall not be transferable.

Public display of permit. It shall be the duty of the operator or owner of a tattoo establishment to display the current permit in a conspicuous place where it may be readily observed by the public.

§ 269-5 Inspections; suspension or revocation of permit.

It shall be the duty of the Health Officer to cause inspections to be made on a recurring basis at least twice per year of all tattoo establishments and the equipment thereof. If said place of business is not maintained, conducted or operated in conformity with the requirements of this chapter as now enacted or as subsequently amended, then the Health Officer may suspend or revoke the permit of the operator or artist until said tattoo establishment and the operation thereof are made to conform to the requirements of this chapter.

§ 269-6 Tattooing of minors or intoxicated persons prohibited.

Pursuant to RSA 639:3, II, the tattooing of any person under the age of 18 is prohibited. It shall be the duty of the operator to verify that any person being tattooed is 18 years of age or older.

It shall be illegal to tattoo a person exhibiting signs of intoxication or drug abuse.

§ 269-7 Records of operator.

Records for each patron or customer shall be kept and maintained by the operator of each tattoo establishment, which record shall contain the name, address and signature of each patron or customer. All records shall be available for inspection upon request of the Health Officer. Records shall be maintained for a minimum of two years.

The operator shall inquire if the patron has at any time experienced a jaundice condition or been infected with hepatitis. Those indicating a history of jaundice or hepatitis shall not be tattooed.

The operator is required to have each patron sign an informed consent document listing the potential side effects and the permanent nature of the tattoo.

§ 269-8 Separate operating room required.

Each tattoo establishment shall have an operating area which shall be separate and apart from a waiting room, a public room or rooms that may be used for other than tattooing purposes. Patrons or customers shall be tattooed only in said operating room.

The operating area shall be equipped with hot (at least 180°) and cold running, potable water, together with such sinks and basins as may be necessary.

Furniture and furnishings used within the operating room shall be constructed of such material as to permit proper cleansing with hot or cold disinfecting solutions.

There shall be no exposed sewerage lines overhead so as to create a potential hazard to the sanitary environment of the establishment.

All operating tables shall be constructed of easily cleanable material with a smooth, washable finish and at least six feet from any observer or waiting customers and/or separated by a panel at least four feet high.

The operating room shall have proper and sufficient lighting as needed to perform the tattooing process.

§ 269-9 Cleanliness.

There shall be available within said tattoo establishment adequate hot and cold potable, running water, soap, betadine, germicidal solution, individual hand scrub brushes and fingernail files or orange sticks for each tattoo artist.

Each tattoo artist shall scrub his or her hands and forearms with betadine solution or soap and brush, clean his or her fingernails with an individual file or orange stick and thoroughly rinse his or her hands in a germicidal solution before working on each patron or customer. An individual disposal towel or napkin shall be used for drying the tattoo artist's hands and arms after rinsing. Hibiclens or other hospital-grade surgical scrub may be substituted for betadine.

Each tattoo artist shall wear clean clothes or a lab coat. Surgical gloves shall be worn during the tattooing process. All surgical gloves shall be disposed of after each patron.

Disinfectants.

(1)

The following table summarizes the disinfectants that shall be used in the tattooing procedure:

Agent	Preparation	Uses
Hypochlorite (e.g. Chlorox)	Make up daily; 5,000 parts per million	Disinfection of needles before disposal
Glutaraldehyde (e.g. Cidex)	Make up weekly using activator; do not dilute	Pigment capsule, motors and damp wiping motors
70% Spirit/alcohol	Do not dilute	Skin, tabletops and metals
Clear phenolics (e.g. Hycolin)	Make up daily	Tabletops and damp wiping motors
Tincture of green soap	Make up daily; 5-1	Disinfects skin and equipment

(2)

Solutions of proven equivalence may be approved by the Health Officer.

§ 269-10 Sterilization and storage of equipment.

A steam sterilizer approved by the Health Officer shall be on site at each establishment. Tattoo instruments and accessories, dyes, stencils and other materials used in tattooing that come in contact with the patron or customer shall be stored in closed cabinets which shall be maintained in a sanitary condition.

Instruments used in tattooing, such as needle bars, grips and tubes, shall be sterilized before using on each customer by autoclaving at a temperature of 121.5° C. or 250.7° F. for 55 minutes under a pressure of 15 pounds per square inch.

Autoclaving shall be the method of sterilization. All tubes, grips and needle bars shall be left in the self-sealing sterilization pouches used during the autoclaving process.

§ 269-11 Operating room floor, walls and ceiling.

The floor of the operating room of the tattoo establishment shall be of impervious material and shall be, at all times, maintained in a clean condition. The walls and ceiling of the operating room shall be a light color, shall be maintained in good repair without flaking or chipping and shall be of such material as to permit cleaning.

§ 269-12 Sanitary facilities.

The tattoo establishment shall have proper facilities for the disposition of biomedical waste materials as now defined by state or federal regulations and as subsequently defined. A contract with an approved, licensed biomedical waste company is required.

Sufficient toilet, urinal and hand washing facilities shall be accessible to customers, operators and artists within the tattoo establishment.

§ 269-13 Preparation of area to be tattooed.

When it is necessary to shave the area to be tattooed, a new blade for each patron shall be used. When a safety razor is employed, the permanent parts of said razor shall be treated as hereinafter set forth for the care of a straight razor.

If a straight razor is used, it shall be cleaned with soap and water, rinsed in clean water and then sterilized by autoclaving (per § 269-10B) before the razor is used again on another person.

After shaving the area to be tattooed or if the area does not need to be shaved, the site of the tattoo shall be cleaned with soap and hot water and rinsed with clean water and germicidal solution applied in a sanitary manner before the design is placed on the skin. Only individual towels shall be used in preparing the site to be tattooed, and they shall be properly disposed of after use on each patron.

If petroleum jelly (e.g. Vaseline) is applied, it shall be done with a sterile swab or sterile syringe.

§ 269-14 Stencils.

If acetate stencils are to be used, the stencil for transferring the design to the skin shall be thoroughly cleaned and rinsed in a germicidal solution approved by the Health Officer following each use and shall be maintained in a clean, sanitary condition.

§ 269-15 Tattooing process.

A sterile set of needles shall be used for each patron or customer. Needles used in tattooing shall be sterilized by autoclaving (per § 269-10B) after each use and, if not immediately used, stored in sterile containers. The open end of the needle tube of the tattooing machine shall be cleaned and sterilized in a similar method after each use. The use of disinfectants does not constitute an approved sterilization method.

Excess dye applied to the skin shall be removed with individual, pattern-free paper towel. The area tattooed shall then be medicated and the entire site covered with surgical dressing. The use of paper napkins, other materials and masking tape for dressings is prohibited.

Single-service or individual containers of dye or ink shall be used for each patron, and any remaining ink or dye in the container following the procedure shall be discarded.

Single-use containers shall be disinfected prior to use.

Tattooing, including the changing or repairing of previous tattoos, shall not be performed on the hands below the wrist line, on the feet below the ankle, on the head or face above the collar line or on the genitalia, nor shall such tattooing be undertaken at the site of an obviously recent hypodermic injection.

No tattoo operator or artist shall remove or attempt to remove any tattoo.

§ 269-16 Written instructions required; reporting infections.

Written instructions, approved by the Health Officer, shall be given to each patron or customer on the care of the tattooed site to prevent infection after each tattooing. A copy of these instructions shall also be posted in a conspicuous place in the tattoo establishment, clearly visible to the person being tattooed.

All infections resulting from the practice of tattooing which become known to the operator shall be reported to the Health Officer by the owner of the tattoo establishment.

§ 269-17 Violations and penalties.

Anyone operating an unlicensed tattoo establishment or an establishment that has had its license revoked or an establishment in an unapproved site shall face court action and fines up to $1,000 per offense (RSA 31:39, III, effective August 9, 1983). If said unlicensed tattoo establishment is in a private residence (unapproved site), the fine will be $1,000, and confiscation of all tattoo equipment, per offense.

At the discretion of the Health Officer, noncompliance with any of the provisions of this chapter may result in the issuance of a citation for each day of noncompliance.