Health & Safety
Registration of Business/Activities
Premises carrying out the activity of Cosmetic Piercing
What are the risks associated with piercing?
The greatest risk associated with ear piercing is the contracting of Hepatitis B. This is a very resilient virus and spreads easily from person to person via contact with small amounts of infected blood, tissue fluids or serum. It is so resilient that the virus has been known to survive for eight years on inanimate surfaces in a laboratory. The incubation period for Hepatitis B is from two to six months, most commonly about three months, and the infected person is very infectious for the whole of that period.
What are the symptoms?
The earliest symptoms of infection are fever accompanied by an intense loss of appetite. The skin and eyeballs may go yellow (although this may not always happen) and the urine can go dark. Patients may feel severely ill for months. In the most severe cases the liver may fail and occasionally the patient may die. Others may develop chronic liver disease and even cancer of the liver, although this is rare in this country.
What do I as a Piercer have to do to meet requirements?
Firstly, it is a requirement that ear piercers premises and the persons carrying out ear piercing register with the local authority both when opening new premises and when a new occupier takes over existing premises.
Is there a fee?
Yes, there is a one off fee of £50.
Once I've registered, is that all I have to do?
No. This is simply a means of informing the council where you are. Once you've registered, your premises will be inspected by an Officer from the Environmental Health Department and you should not commence piercing until your premises and practices have been approved. Following approval it is likely that any future inspection will be combined with an inspection under the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978, which covers additional areas of health and safety.
- Cosmetic Piercing Registration Form (.doc 29Kb)
- Cosmetic Piercing Bye Laws (.pdf 57Kb)
