Tattoo shops and body-piercing businesses in Bartholomew County will be required to pay annual fees, pass regular inspections, and have all employees undergo specialized training starting next year.
The Bartholomew County Commissioners on Monday unanimously voted to approve the second reading of an ordinance that regulates the safe and sanitary operation of tattoo and body piercing facilities. Ordinances must be passed on two readings to be fully approved — the commissioners approved the first reading during a meeting on Aug. 5.
Local businesses specializing in tattoos and/or body piercings will have to pay $250 for an annual license once the ordinance goes into effect on Jan 1. It will allow health officials to inspect licensed facilities on a regular basis, similar to routine restaurant inspections.
In addition, each individual tattoo artist and body piercer would have to show proof of having received the Hepatitis B vaccine or show proof of having declined the vaccination by signing a waiver, the ordinance states. Those workers will also be required to have a minimum level of specified training, as well as pay $25 a year for the same permit, Bartholomew County Director of Environmental Health Link Fulp said. The proposed ordinance also prohibits the application of a tattoo or body piercing to a minor without lawful consent.
“I think part of the feedback has been, it’s about time,” Fulp told the commissioners.
Tattoo and body piercing shops are not currently licensed by the county health department and are only inspected by local health officials when they receive a complaint. Under state law, tattoo artists don’t need to undergo formal training on tattooing or register with the Indiana Department of Health. State law does, however, require tattoo artists to receive annual training on how diseases are spread by contact with blood.
The ordinance has been something the county health department has been interested in for some time, Fulp previously said, and is required as part of Health First Indiana funding the county opted into.
“This is a core component of the Health First Indiana funds, which we have opted in to accept, and that is one of the final programs the environmental health, vital records and public health emergency preparedness has to develop in order to meet the deliverables of that grant,” Fulp told the commissioners on Monday morning.
Bartholomew County received $400,000 through Health First Indiana last year for environmental health services. Overall, Fulp said, his health department will receive $1.8 million this year for both nursing and environmental health.
To get the money, each county must report required metrics on core public health service areas including maternal and child health, trauma and injury prevention, chronic disease prevention and more, the Health First Indiana website states.
The Bartholomew County Health Department already complied with all program requirements, except the inspection of tattoo parlors and body piercing businesses, Fulp said.
Regulations and inspections of a tattoo business are necessary to provide for the enforcement of the ordinance, as well as to affix penalties, Fulp said.
Feedback from local businesses about the change has been largely positive, according to Fulp.
“It gives them credibility and some sort of validation,” Fulp said. “The artists are in favor because oftentimes they will move from county to county, and if they have an artist license from one county, they’re more likely to be accepted in another surrounding county.”
