Hairdressers’ and nail bars’ occupational risks

Occupational asthma, respiratory issues and dermatitis in hairdressers and nail bars

Workers in hairdressers, beauty salons and nail bars are at potential risk of developing skin and respiratory ill health conditions if good working practices and effective exposure control methods are not applied. This inspection initiative in London focused on HSE’s priorities for preventing dermatitis and asthma caused or made worse by work.

Between October 2006 and April 2007, Local Authority Environmental Health Practitioners inspected 205 hairdressing and nail salons and returned the inspection checklists to HSL for analysis.

Health and safety in nail bars:

This report on health and safety in nail bars was funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Nail bars are a rapidly expanding small business sector. 71 nail technicians answered a researcher-administered, self-reported occupational health questionnaire. Their data were compared with that from 64 control subjects.

• Compared with the control group, the nail technicians reported a statistically significant, increased prevalence of work-related symptoms, including nasal, neck, shoulder, wrist/hand and lower back problems.
• Compared with the control group, the nail technicians reported elevated levels of work-related lower respiratory symptoms, headaches, upper back and leg and foot problems. These were not statistically significant.
• Very few of the nail technicians interviewed used products containing methyl methacrylate (MMA) and over half were aware of advice or information discouraging the use of acrylic nail products containing MMA. Over a quarter of the nail technicians did not know whether the products they used contained ethyl methacrylate (EMA) or MMA.