Under the Health Protection and Promotion Act, R.R.O. 1990, Ontario Regulation 136/18: Personal Service Settings, Southwestern Public Health (SWPH) inspects all personal service settings in Oxford County, Elgin County, and the City of St. Thomas.
All of the inspection reports for personal service settings including barber shops/hairdressers, nail and aesthetic salons, hair removal salons, tattoo and body piercing studios, are available on our disclosure website, Health Inspect.
What is a personal service setting?
A personal service setting is defined in the Health Protection and Promotion Act, R.S.O. 1990, as premises at which personal services are offered where there is a risk of exposure to blood or body fluids and includes premises at which hairdressing and barbering, tattooing, body piercing, nail services, electrolysis and other aesthetic services are offered.
What is the role of a Public Health Inspector?
Public Health Inspectors (PHI’s) visit personal service setting to conduct routine inspections, compliant investigations, and where required re-inspections. During inspections and/or investigations, PHI’s ensure that premise owners/operators are following the requirements outlined in Ontario Regulation 136/18: Personal Service Settings. If there are infractions, education is provided to owners/operators to achieve compliance. Should infractions continue or be an immediate risk to the safety of customers and/or workers, legal action may occur (i.e., tickets and/or closure orders).
At the end of each inspection, a written report is provided to the operator and is publicly posted on the Health Inspect disclosure website.
Please Note: if a personal service setting is considered an immediate health risk it is ordered to close and cannot reopen until compliance is achieved.
Disclosure of personal service setting inspection reports
All inspections completed by PHI’s can be publicly accessed through our Health Inspect website, which is continuously updated to reflect the most recent inspection. If you are unsure whether a personal service setting has been inspected by SWPH or not, look for the health inspect sign.