A quick Google search of the World Wide Web using the key words “Tanning Salon Cancer” takes approximately 0.21 seconds and returns about 834,000 results. What the results reveal is a myriad of articles – and sometime accompanying blogs – stating emphatically either tanning salons cause cancer or tanning salons don’t cause cancer. The debate goes on. Of course there are news articles mentioning various lawsuits by individuals against tanning salons. Litigation is on the rise where people with skin cancer are claiming they were not adequately warned about the potential dangers of tanning salons.
Protect Your Salon
Reread the statement about litigation on the rise against tanning salons. Notice that the lawsuits are made by people “claiming they were not adequately warned about the dangers of tanning salons.” It’s very important to recognize the rise in lawsuits is not based on an absolute scientific fact linking skin cancer to tanning salons, but it’s based on people claiming they were not warned. This article is not the forum to enter the debate on whether tanning salons cause more incidents of skin cancer than the sun; rather, it is intended to help tanning salons make informed decisions about warning language on their tanning consent forms.
Recently tanning salons made the national news when the World Health Organization scientists placed ultraviolet tanning beds on their list of the “most dangerous forms of cancer-causing radiation.” Also on the list of cancer-causing radiation is overexposure to the UV rays from the sun, but this has been widely known for many, many years and is no longer as newsworthy. Proper education of your tanning customers about potential skin damage from your tanning beds will go a long way to protect you from costly litigation.
Documentation
Many times I’m asked how often a tanning consent form needs to be signed. There is some debate among salon owners about the form, its completion and how to keep track of who signed a valid consent. In today’s litigious society, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Documentation that can easily be found is one of the best forms of litigation-prevention salon owners can have. Imagine a salon that has a consent form – or acknowledgement of having previously signed a consent form – for every time a customer used the beds. Now imagine a salon that has one consent form signed during the customer’s first visit and no acknowledgement of that consent since that first visit. Which salon do you suppose will have a better chance at defending against potential litigation?
There are companies that specialize in electronic document storage, including having electronic signature pads, commonly used at amusement park entrances – where customers read a “hold harmless” agreement, acknowledge that they understand the risks they are about to take and consent to those risks. The form can be stored by name, date or a combination of other information. Electronic storage saves space, and in the event of litigation, it is easy to show how many times the customer was made aware of potential risks from using artificial tanning beds.
For a sample consent form, click here.
Note: Some content within this article may be controversial in relation to health risks and tanning. The ultimate goal of this article is intended to help tanning salon owners make informed decisions about warning language on their tanning consent forms and to better protect themselves from litigation.
If you would like a risk assessment of your tanning salon’s policies and procedures, please contact Bill Coons, loss control director for THOMCO, at 888.546.4042 or by e-mail at bill.coons@thomcoins.com. For more information on electronic records storage and hold-harmless agreements, e-mail Coons at the address just mentioned.
