How Safe Is Your Nail Salon?
If you go into a salon for a manicure or a pedicure, you may not be giving much thought to safety. After all, you’re just getting nails done—what could go wrong? But in fact, injuries at nail salons are more common than you may think they are.
Injuries are Common
People are injured all the time in nail salons. Many of the injuries start out seemingly small—a scrape here, or a minor, small, seemingly superficial laceration there. But because of bacteria, and sometimes the underlying conditions of the victims (such as peripheral artery disease, diabetes, or blood diseases), those small injuries can lead to things like amputations.
How Small Injuries Become More Serious
How does a simple trip to the salon end up in an amputation? Often, it is because salons don’t use proper or thorough cleaning techniques, and thus, the instruments being used are carriers of bacteria which can enter someone’s bloodstream when there is even the slightest mishap.
Many salons also do not thoroughly train staff, leading to staff that either doesn’t know how to use the instruments (many of which are sharp and easily capable of producing minor cuts), or else, who are not trained in how to properly clean and sterilize equipment.
Identifying Infections
What can make nail salon injuries so dangerous is that they are seemingly minor—we may dismiss them as simply being a minor cut. But how do you know when your injury is one to start growing more concerned about?
-If the areas of soreness, or discoloration gets worse, grows, and grows beyond the area of the initial cut, there could be an infection. In some cases, the soreness may be so bad, that range of motion on the entire digit (the toe or finger) may be affected.
-The area may swell, look like it is full of fluid, and become discolored
-You may feel sick, as if you have a cold or the flu
Is Your Salon Safe?
There is no way to be completely certain that your nail salon is using all the safety procedures that it should. However, there are some preliminary steps you can taken when you are at a nail salon
- Look at the equipment itself. Equipment should be stored somewhere sterile when not in use. There should be places for instruments to be cleaned between uses. The instruments themselves should seem new, in that they shouldn’t appear dirty, or rusty.
- Are the workers distracted? Workers should not be on phones, or watching TV, or focused on anything other than the task at hand.
- Is the salon organized? Are supplies stored neatly, in boxes, or are they laying about everywhere?
You can help with your own safety as well, by not shaving before you go to the salon, so as to avoid the possibility of having an open nick or scrape, which could allow bacteria to enter your bloodstream. And never go to the salon with even a small cut on the areas that are going to be worked on at the salon.
Our Rhode Island personal injury lawyers at Robert E. Craven & Associates are here to help you if you have been injured in a salon. Call 401-453-2700 today.
Sources:
osha.gov/nail-salons
cedars-sinai.org/blog/manicure-safety.html
