Tattoo and body piercing artists are both exposed to blood, bodily fluids and possible blood borne pathogens. OSHA and the CDC have laid out the guidelines that are required by federal law to be followed by tattoo and piercing artists in regulated areas. But not all areas are regulated, and not all artists obey the law.
Would you know if your artist was following Standard Precautions? They might wear gloves or clean their work area and make it look like they’re being clean, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Did you know SP rules even determine how hands should be washed, how gloves should be removed and how areas should be disinfected? Just putting on “a show” of cleanliness doesn’t mean the artist or client is protected from dangerous pathogens.
Conscientious, professional artists, even in non-regulated areas, follow Standard Precautions. They know what they need to do to protect themselves and their clients. The APT (Alliance of Professional Tattooists) offers a course and seminars on Standard Precautions and general infection control, and independent artists with experience in these matters also offer training courses. But the ones who usually don’t have access to this type of information is the client. And the best way for the client to know if the artist is doing the right thing is to learn Standard Precautions themselves.
The Red Cross offers an online course in Universal Precautions for Tattoo Artists and Body Piercers that is available to anyone – even those who are not in the business themselves and just want to learn for their own protection. For $25, you can take this course at your own convenience and you’ll receive a certificate of completion in the mail after passing the test at the end. It actually takes less than two hours to finish the course, but you’re allowed access to it for 14 days, so it’s very flexible.
I highly recommend that all tattoo and piercing clients take this course for their own information. I also recommend any artists in non-regulated states take it and display their certificate so their clients know they are following the standards even if local law doesn’t require them to. In an industry where a routine procedure can turn deadly when certain practices aren’t followed, we should all take safety very seriously.
Visit the Red Cross Online Course website to sign up for this invaluable class.
*In 1996, the term Universal Precautions was replaced by Standard Precautions by the CDC, in order to include other non-blood exposure risks such as bodily fluids, feces, mucus, etc. However, many publications – including those that remain on the CDC website – still use the term Universal Precautions, so I am using them interchangeably for the sake of clarity.