Rhode Island tanning laws for salon owners

What Rhode Island's tanning law covers

Rhode Island's Tanning Facility Safety Standards Act, chapter 23-68 of the General Laws, dates from 1996. It tells the Department of Health (RIDOH) to set safety standards, requires yearly registration, and sets fines of up to $500 for a first offense and up to $1,000 for each later one (§ 23-68-7). The working detail sits in RIDOH's rule, 216-RICR-40-10-24.

The current version of the rule took effect June 5, 2025. The rule's own purpose statement lists what changed: updated federal references, "or their designee" in the definition of Director, the defined term "sanitize", and the service-animal wording. The age, spacing, statement and record rules did not change. The statute last changed in 2018, when the parental-consent and prescription routes for minors were removed.

The Law Revision Office's lists of General Laws sections affected by each session's bills show nothing in chapter 23-68 for 2024, 2025 or 2026; the same list for 2018 shows § 23-68-4 amended by S 2299 and H 7136. A full-text search of the Code of Regulations for "tanning" returned the tanning rule, RIDOH's fee rule and three rules from other agencies on unrelated subjects. We found no working full-text search of the General Laws on the General Assembly's site, so the statute side of this page rests on chapter 23-68, read section by section.

At the front desk

1. Under 18: no UV tanning, with no consent route. Children may not wait in the room while a parent or guardian tans.
2. First visit: the client reviews and signs the six-point warning statement, and signs again at least every 12 months. File the signed copy in their record.
3. Spacing: one session per 48 hours for the first three to five sessions, then one per 24 hours, or the manufacturer's schedule if it is less frequent. Tell the client the manufacturer's schedule before the first sessions.
4. Before each session, make sure the client has protective eyewear. Show them the unit's maximum exposure time, the right distance, and where the emergency shut-off is and how it works.
5. One client per tanning room, except where a room holds two or more units or a client needs help; a helper also wears eyewear.
6. Keep a trained staff member on site whenever the beds run, and let only trained staff control the timers.
7. Injury: if a client sought medical attention, report it to RIDOH within five working days.

Also keep on hand the list of common photosensitizing agents for clients to read, the emergency numbers for your area, and a written procedure manual. Advertising for "unlimited" packages must include the maximum exposure schedule. For the federal side, see FDA tanning bed regulations.

Registration and equipment

• Register each location with RIDOH before opening, renew by August 31 each year, and display the certificate. Keep proof of liability insurance.
• Post the warning sign within one meter of each unit, including the line that the product should not be used on persons under 18.
• Sanitize beds and reusable eyewear after each use (with disposable sheets on the beds, sanitize the beds periodically through the day instead), and test the sanitizer's strength when you mix it and at least weekly.
• Test every timer at least once every 12 months and keep the results. Record hour-meter readings at each service.
• Keep lamp equivalency certificates on file, and never resell used lamps.

Our guides on tanning bed timer rules, lamp replacement and tanning bed sanitation cover these tasks in more depth.

How TanVision helps

With TanVision's consent forms, clients sign on their own phone or a tablet, and the signed record keeps the signature and the exact wording they agreed to. You can edit the wording at Settings > Waiver wording to carry the six warnings, and add a required checkbox confirming the client reviewed the photosensitizing drug list. A session cannot start without a signed statement and a date of birth on file. TanVision has no waiver expiry and no re-sign interval, so track the 12-month re-sign yourself. Scan ID reads a client's date of birth from the barcode on a US or Canadian driver's license or ID card with a USB 2D scanner and records the day the ID was checked; it does not compare the photo with the person.

TanVision's minimum age is 18 by default, the same as Rhode Island's. Set Minors and UV rooms to No at Settings > Tanning rules, and check-in refuses UV rooms to every client under 18, even with guardian consent on file; at Yes, the default, consent on file lets them start any room, UV included, with only a warning. The gap between UV sessions is one number for every client, set at Settings > Tanning rules, so it cannot express the 48-hour spacing for first sessions; the desk enforces that. Exposure safety refuses a typed time above the limit or the room's own maximum; the limits follow the salon's own settings, capped at each unit's maximum, and do not load the manufacturer's schedule.

Client records show recent visits, newest first, with the date, room and minutes. TanVision has no injury-report form or timer-test log, so keep those yourself. Compare neighboring Massachusetts and Connecticut, or see the state list.