Georgia tanning laws for salon owners

What Georgia requires at the front desk

Georgia's tanning law is chapter 31-38 of the Official Code of Georgia, titled Tanning Facilities. It covers any place that gives consumers access to UV tanning equipment, including salons, health clubs, apartments and condominiums, whether or not they charge for it. The Department of Public Health registers facilities, and the chapter itself sets the rules your staff follow every day.

1. Check the age of every new UV client. Under 14, the answer is no (31-38-8(b)).
2. For a client aged 14 to 17, a parent or legal guardian signs a written consent form at your facility before the first session. A form brought from home does not meet the at-the-facility requirement.
3. Hand every client protective goggles, make sure they wear them, and sanitize the goggles before each use. The bed's own UV does not count as sanitizing (31-38-7).
4. Let only one consumer use a unit at a time, and make sure no unit's timer can be set past the manufacturer's maximum recommended exposure time (31-38-5(b)).
5. Post the warning sign from 31-38-4 within three feet of each tanning station, with capital letters at least two inches high and lower-case letters at least one inch high, where the client sees it before the equipment is switched on.
6. When a client reports an injury, or says the equipment caused one, write it up within five working days and keep the report for three years (31-38-8(a)).
7. Do not advertise tanning as safe, free from risk or good for health. Georgia treats that as an unfair or deceptive act under the Fair Business Practices Act (31-38-8(e)); see tanning salon advertising claims.

Registering with the Department of Public Health

Every tanning facility must be registered before it opens (31-38-4.1). The department's application asks for the facility and owner's name, address and phone number, the number of beds and booths, and the manufacturer and model of each UV lamp type you use. The fee is $25 per facility plus $15 per tanning device, it is not prorated, and certificates expire every January 1, so renewal is yearly. The department publishes a list of registered facilities on its tanning page.

When you add beds or change lamp types, the per-device fee and lamp list change with them, so keep the department's records in step with your floor.

Equipment rules and penalties

• Use only equipment made to the federal sunlamp standard, 21 CFR 1040.20, as shown on its identification label (31-38-5(a)). The FDA tanning bed regulations guide explains that standard.
• Wire equipment to the National Electrical Code with ground fault protection, and fit physical barriers so nobody can touch or break the lamps (31-38-5(c) and (d)).
• Stand-up booths need markings or rails for the right distance, handrails, nonslip floors, sturdy construction and nonlatching doors that open outward (31-38-6).
• Replace lamps with the labeled type and the same spectral distribution; see tanning bed lamp replacement.

Operating out of compliance is a misdemeanor (31-38-9). A consumer harmed by a violation can also sue in superior court for at least $1,000 plus damages, attorney's fees and court costs (31-38-10).

Do adults have to sign anything in Georgia?

Chapter 31-38 asks for a signature only from the parent or guardian of a 14- to 17-year-old. The Attorney General's consumer page on tanning, last updated in July 2020, also describes a signed warning statement before a consumer's first use and before contract renewals. Having adults sign a statement at the first visit and at each renewal meets that page's description as well as the statute. For the exact wording expected, ask the Consumer Protection Division.

How TanVision helps with Georgia's paperwork

TanVision's consent forms let clients sign on their own phone or a tablet, and each signed record keeps the exact wording they agreed to. At check-in a session cannot start without a signed statement and a date of birth on file, and a client under the salon's minimum age cannot start without guardian consent on file.

TanVision's minimum age is 18 by default, and with Minors and UV rooms at Yes, the default at Settings > Tanning rules, guardian consent on file lets a younger client tan, so it will not refuse a 13-year-old whose parent signed. Refusing under-14s is your desk's job. At No, check-in refuses UV rooms to every client under the minimum age, including the 14- to 17-year-olds Georgia allows with consent. Georgia also wants the parent to sign at the facility, so have the parent sign on your counter tablet rather than sending a link home.

Exposure safety refuses a typed time above the maximum you set for each room. Client records show each client's consent status, recent visits and notes. For other states, see tanning laws by state.