[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Health
of the Town of Ashland 5-29-1984; amended in its entirety 8-24-2000. Amendments noted where applicable.]
Under the authority of Section 31 of Chapter
111 of the General Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the
Board of Health of the Town of Ashland, has adopted the following
as an addition to the regulations of said Board: RULES AND REGULATIONS
GOVERNING THE PRACTICE OF MASSAGE, VAPORS, POOL, SHOWERS OR OTHER
BATHS.
MASSAGE — The manipulation or
conditioning of part or parts of the body by manual, mechanical or
other means as a beauty treatment, for purported health or medical
treatment, or for the purpose of invigoration.
The office, place of business, or premises where massage
is practiced or where therapeutic or conditioning baths of water,
vapor, or other substance are given.
Approved by the Board of Health of Town of Ashland.
A course on the art and science of massage, which includes
both theory and practice and is approved by the Board of Health of
the Town of Ashland.
Corporation, company, association, society, firm, partnership,
and joint stock company, as well as an individual, male or female,
as the case may be.
A.
License. No person shall practice massage or conduct
for the giving of massage, vapors, pool, shower or other baths for
hire or reward, or advertise or hold himself or herself out as being
engaged in the business of massage or the giving of said baths in
the Town of Ashland, without being licensed therefor from the Board
of Health.
B.
Requirements. No person shall be licensed to practice
massage or conduct an establishment for giving massage, vapors, pool,
shower or other baths unless he or she meets the following requirements:
(1)
Be twenty-one (21) years of age or older.
(2)
A satisfactory criminal record.
(3)
Submit to the Board of Health a completed application
containing all the information requested by said form.
(4)
Have completed an approved course of massage.
(5)
No license to practice massage shall be granted for
the exclusive purpose of practicing massage in the home of patrons.
D.
License expiration. Licenses automatically expire
on December 31st of each year.
A.
License. Every establishment for giving massage or
vapors, pool, shower, or other baths shall meet the following standards:
(1)
It shall be well lighted and well ventilated.
(2)
No room used by the licensee in the conduct of his/her
business shall be used as a bedroom.
(3)
There shall be an adequate supply of hot and cold
running water at all times.
(4)
There shall be approved toilet and washing facilities
within the premises, readily available to the persons and affording
sufficient privacy. Each shower shall have a foot tub with a 0.3 to
0.6 percent solution of available chlorine or its equal as a disinfectant.
Each establishment shall be equipped with the following minimum facilities:
one women's facilities toilet and lavatory and one men's toilet, urinal
and lavatory for each 40 patrons or fraction thereof.
(5)
Where patrons of both sexes are accommodated at the
same time, adequate arrangements shall be made for separation of rooms
and facilities used by each sex.
(6)
All rooms of the establishment and furniture and equipment
therein shall be kept clean at all times.
(7)
All rooms used for reception and treatment of patrons
shall be arranged so as to afford adequate fire protection and shall
have satisfactory means of egress in case of fire, as approved by
the Building Inspector.
(8)
All robes, sheets, blankets, pillowcases, wearing
apparel, or other materials, which may come in direct contact with
the body, shall be adequately cleaned and washed after each use according
to latest modern methods.
(9)
All equipment, instruments and devices which may come
in contact with the body shall be subjected to an approved bactericidal
treatment after each use by (a) immersion for at least two (2) minutes
in a lukewarm chlorine bath containing at least 50 p.p.m. of available
chlorine or its equal or (b) immersion in hot water of over a temperature
of 170° Fahrenheit for at least two (2) minutes. If the equipment,
instruments and devices, which may come in contact with the body,
cannot be subjected to treatment as found in items (a) and (b) of
this subsection, an impervious sheeting shall be supplied by the owner
and put on the surface of contact and shall be discarded after each
use.
(10)
Every individual employed by an establishment for the giving of massage, vapors, pool, shower or other baths shall be licensed under § 297-3 thereof.
(11)
Operating hours shall be between the hours of
9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. All patrons are to be out at 10:00 p.m.; all
personnel out at 11:00 p.m. Cleaning and sanitation requirements are
to be performed during operating hours.
B.
(Reserved)
D.
License expiration. Licenses shall automatically expire
on December 31st of each year.
A.
Persons excepted. Physicians, physical therapists
or chiropodists (podiatrists) registered in the commonwealth are excluded.
A person registered as a barber or an apprentice under the provisions
of Section 87 or Section 87 I of Chapter 112 of the General Laws or
as a hairdresser, operator, or a student under the provisions of Sections
87 I to 87 JJ, inclusive, of said Chapter 112 of the General Laws,
may practice facial and scalp massage without being licensed under
the chapter.
B.
Exceptions in cases of persons licensed by other communities.
A person licensed to practice massage or conduct an establishment
for giving massage in any other town in the commonwealth may, at the
request of a physician, attend patients, specified by the physician,
in Ashland. He shall, if requested, submit to the Board of Health
office a copy of his license from another community and written confirmation
of the physician's request.
C.
Establishment exceptions. Hospitals, nursing and convalescent
homes, and other similar licensed institutions, where massage and
baths may be given, are excluded from the definition of an establishment.
D.
Penalties. Whoever violates any provision of these
rules and regulations shall be punished by a fine of not more than
$100, or imprisonment for not more than six (6) months or both, in
accordance with Section 53, Chapter 140 of the General Laws.
E.
Invalidation. If any clause, section, paragraph, sentence,
or phrase of these rules and regulations shall be decided invalid
for any reason whatsoever, such decision shall not affect the remaining
portions of these regulations, which shall remain in full force and
effect, and to this end the provisions of these regulations are hereby
declared severable.
