HC Board of Health approve changes to tanning ordinance

MT. PLEASANT - Tanning bed owners in Henry County will see an increase in cost when applying to have their equipment inspected by the county.

Last month, the Henry County Board of Health voted to approve an ordinance that would allow the county to perform inspections. They were previously done by the State of Iowa, but no longer have the resources to continue the work. Instead, the state has given counties authority to complete the inspections.

Bruce Hudson, Henry County Environmental Health Coordinator, said there are fewer than 10 tanning salons in Henry County, but because they serve hundreds of people, he felt it important that inspections were being performed regularly. Tanning salons are still required to register with the Iowa Department of Public Health, although that entity will not be performing the inspections.

All inspections for the last fiscal year have been completed, he said. During the inspections, a number of things are looked at including ensuring clients who use the services are not on certain medications and are using specific lotions. He estimated that during the last round of inspections, about 75 percent of those they interacted with at the salons were unaware of things he was pointing out as being against code.

'It's beneficial, I think, to not let it go rogue, because then you could have all these problems,” he said.

At the Board of Health meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 20, the board approved a change to the ordinance that would take the price from $33 per bed per inspection to $40.

'Basically, for the time it takes, $33 is pretty cheap,” said Jeff Cole with the Henry County Department of Enviromental Health.

Cole said a typical inspection takes about an hour because he must inspect the bulbs and check proper signage among other tasks. The change to the ordinance will be sent to the county attorney for approval before it goes into effect.