Lismore City Council
Hairdressers, beauty salons, tattoos and piercing parlours
New business owners
Before opening or purchasing an existing hairdresser or skin penetration business, it is vital that you contact Council and register. If you are building a business from scratch, you should contact our Duty Planner and Public Health Officer to discuss your proposal. If you need to lodge a DA, please go to our Planning & Development section for details.
If you are planning to establish or take over operation of a business, please complete the form below.
Health Premises Registration (Beauty and Skin Penetration)
Health premises – hygiene
Beauty treatments that pierce the skin have the potential to cause infection. Therefore it is important that businesses undertaking beauty treatments maintain high standards of hygiene and ensure sterilisation procedures are effective.
What is skin penetration?
Skin penetration is defined as any procedure or treatment that intentionally penetrates the skin. This includes but is not limited to hair removal (by wax or electrolysis), acupuncture, tattooing, ear and body piercing, colonic lavage, cuticle cutting, waxing, electrolysis, semi-permanent make-up and any beauty treatment which involves the deliberate penetration or removal of the skin and any other procedure prescribed by the Public Health Act 2010.
The definition does not include hairdressers or barbers as their practices do not involve the deliberate penetration of the skin. They are required to follow infection control procedures when skin is accidentally cut or penetrated and to prevent the spread of skin infections.
If skin penetration procedures are not undertaken correctly they have the potential to transmit bacterial and fungal infections, as well as viral infections such as HIV, Hepatitis B and C. Infection control procedures must be implemented to protect the health of the client and the operator.
Inspections
Skin penetration premises, as well as beauty and hairdressers, are inspected to ensure they comply with infection control requirements and basic health and hygiene.
Enquiries and complaints
Council is required to investigate all general complaints about health premises relating to poor hygiene.
For further information phone our Public Health Officer on (02) 6625 0500.
For a full list of health regulations and factsheets pertaining to beauty treatments, skin penetration and hairdressing, visit NSW Health.
Useful links
These websites may provide useful information including legislation and fact sheets:
New South Wales Health (look for A-Z Health Topics)
Public Health Act and Regulations
