5.3 Facility Requirements, Animals, Disease, and Posted Notices
Key Takeaways
- Establishments must provide continuous hot and cold running water installed under the Arkansas State Plumbing Code; toilets may not be used to store implements or supplies used on the public.
- Hand-washing facilities need a soap dispenser with soap and disposable towels or an air dryer; common towels and bar soap are prohibited.
- Work-area floors must be smooth, non-absorbent, and durable; ventilation must be free of excessive heat, steam, condensation, vapors, smoke, and harmful fumes and meet Mechanical Code HVAC requirements.
- Animals are prohibited inside except service animals accompanying a client with a disability—the owner must describe the impairment the animal is trained to assist so it is not merely a pet—and fish in a decorative aquarium.
- Post the most recent inspection sheet, current licenses (establishment, practitioners, students, instructors), and the ADH Cosmetology online complaint website and phone; never display an expired or invalid license.
Facility rules are how ADH inspects the room you work in
Section 205 of the ADH Cosmetology and Body Art Rules sets physical-facility standards for schools of cosmetology, postsecondary schools, establishments, and mobile salons. Section 108 sets consumer postings. Together they are the “look around the room” part of the Arkansas State Law exam: water, toilets, hands, trash, pests, floors, light, air, animals, disease, and what must hang on the wall.
The Purpose of the rules includes regulating sanitation so as to prevent the spreading of communicable diseases. That purpose sentence is the why behind every sink and every “no expired license” line. Independent OpenExamPrep teaching in this section stays with that 2024 rule text rather than inventing a homemade list of reportable salon diseases.
Water, plumbing, and where tools may not live
A supply of continuous hot and cold running water shall be provided to accommodate all services performed throughout the workday and shall be installed in accordance with the Arkansas State Plumbing Code. All water-carried sewage shall be disposed of by an approved sewage disposal system constructed and operated to ADH standards. “Continuous” means the supply lasts the workday for the services you actually perform—not a pitcher filled at a neighboring business, and not cold-only water because the heater failed.
Where toilet facilities are made available or otherwise required, those fixtures and other plumbing shall also be installed under the Arkansas State Plumbing Code and meet ADH standards. No toilet facility shall be used for storage of implements or supplies for services performed on the public. Clippers in a bathroom cabinet, extra files on the toilet tank, and a wet jar on the restroom sink all fail that sentence. The restroom is a restroom, not overflow storage for the manicure table.
Hand washing: dispensers, not bars; disposable or air, not a common towel
Each school, establishment, and mobile salon shall provide hand-washing facilities installed in accordance with the Arkansas State Plumbing Code. The facilities shall have a soap dispenser (with soap) and disposable towels or an air dryer for hands. Common towels and bar soap are prohibited.
A shared cloth roller, a bar in a wet soap dish, and a salon towel reused for hands are prohibited even if they “look boutique.” Before serving each client, every person performing cosmetology services shall thoroughly wash his or her hands with soap and water or any equally effective cleansing solution. The person and the attire worn while serving a client shall at all times be clean. Hand washing is both a facility fixture rule and a personal-cleanliness rule; missing either one is still a miss.
Garbage, insects, rodents, cleanliness, floors, light, and air
Garbage and refuse shall be kept in durable, easily cleanable containers that do not leak and do not absorb liquids. Accumulation is not permitted. Dispose of waste often enough to prevent odor and the attraction of insects and rodents. A collapsing cardboard box under the table is not a durable, non-absorbing container.
Each school, establishment, and mobile salon shall be kept so as to prevent the harborage or feeding of insects or rodents. Floors, mats, and fixtures shall be clean and in good repair.
Floors and floor covering in the working area or clinical area shall be constructed of smooth, non-absorbent, durable material and maintained in good repair. Carpet under a pedicure spa is the classic fail: it absorbs, it cannot be wiped as a work floor, and it is not the material the rule describes.
Permanently fixed artificial light sources shall be installed to provide sufficient light on the working or clinical area. Clip-on party lights are not a substitute for fixed lighting that lets you see the nail unit, the water line, and whether a wet jar has gone cloudy.
Ventilation: each school, establishment, and mobile salon shall be free of excessive heat, steam, condensation, vapors, smoke and harmful fumes and shall meet the HVAC requirements under the Mechanical Code, as adopted by the HVACR Licensing Board. For nail work that means monomer vapor and filing dust are not supposed to hang in still, steamy air. The rule names the Mechanical Code; it does not ask you to recite duct sizes on the State Law exam.
| Facility item | ADH requirement |
|---|---|
| Water | Continuous hot and cold running water; Arkansas State Plumbing Code; approved sewage disposal |
| Toilets | Plumbing Code; never store public-service implements or supplies there |
| Hands | Soap dispenser with soap plus disposable towels or an air dryer; no common towels or bar soap |
| Garbage | Durable, easily cleanable, non-leaking, non-absorbing; no accumulation |
| Pests | Premises kept so insects and rodents cannot harbor or feed |
| Work floors | Smooth, non-absorbent, durable; clean and in good repair |
| Lighting | Permanently fixed artificial light sufficient on the working or clinical area |
| Ventilation | Free of excessive heat, steam, condensation, vapors, smoke, and harmful fumes; Mechanical Code HVAC |
| Animals | Prohibited except a service animal with a described trained impairment, and fish in a decorative aquarium |
| Postings | Most recent inspection sheet; current licenses; ADH complaint website and phone; nothing expired |
Animals: two exceptions only
Animals are prohibited from being inside a school of cosmetology, postsecondary school of cosmetology, establishment, or mobile salon, with two exceptions:
- Service animals accompanying a client with a disability. If an authorized Department representative observes an animal, the establishment, mobile salon, or school owner shall describe the impairment for which the animal is trained to provide assistance in order to ensure that the animal is not simply a pet.
- Fish in a decorative aquarium.
A staff dog in the back, a cat “for Instagram,” and an undocumented companion animal without a described trained impairment do not fit the exceptions. The inspector’s question is not “is the animal friendly?” It is “is this a service animal trained for a described impairment, or a decorative fish tank?” Emotional-support language without that trained-impairment description does not convert a pet into a service animal under this rule.
Infectious or communicable disease — purpose without an invented list
No person afflicted with an infectious or communicable disease which may be transmitted during the performance of the acts of cosmetology or any of its branches, or afflicted with an infestation of animal parasites, shall be permitted to work or train in a school, establishment, or mobile salon.
No school or establishment shall require or permit a student or practitioner to massage any surface of the skin or scalp where such skin is inflamed, open, irritated, or where a skin infection or eruption is present, and/or knowingly work upon a person suffering from any infectious or communicable disease or on a client with an animal-parasite infestation which may be transmitted during the performance of the act.
The rules then state that the term “infectious or communicable disease” shall not include human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or any other disease that similarly does not pose a significant risk to the health or safety of others during the performance of an act of cosmetology or any of its branches.
Teach that as written. The public-health purpose is to stop services that would endanger others by spreading a condition through the work. Do not memorize a homemade list of “reportable salon diseases” that ADH did not print in this section. Visible open, inflamed, or infected skin on the service area is already a stop. Parasite infestation that can transmit during the service is a stop. HIV is expressly carved out of that term because the rule finds it does not pose a significant risk during ordinary cosmetology acts. That carve-out does not cancel blood-exposure PPE, and it does not cancel the HIV-1 and hepatitis B Virus disinfectant required when a tub contacted blood. Those are different sentences in different subsections.
Posted notices — inspection sheet, licenses, complaints, nothing expired
Consumer Information (Section 108) requires conspicuous posting in a designated place in the reception area, at individual workstations, or in the clinic area of:
- A copy of the most recent inspection sheet
- Establishment, mobile salon, and school licenses, plus practitioners’ licenses, student permits, and instructor licenses (and artist licenses where body art applies)
- A copy of the online complaint website and phone number for the ADH Cosmetology or Body Art Section
No license which has expired or become invalid for any reason whatsoever shall be displayed by any person in connection with the practice of cosmetology or any of its branches.
ADH inspections of establishments occur at least annually, and more often if complaints are received. The posted inspection sheet is how the public sees the last official look at sanitation. The Cosmetology Section publishes contact information on healthy.arkansas.gov, including (501) 682-2168; whatever current complaint URL and phone the Section publishes is what must be on the wall—not a faded photocopy of an expired license and not a five-star review screenshot.
If a manicurist’s license expired, it comes off the wall and the person does not work. Display is not a souvenir. Student permits and instructor licenses follow the same conspicuous-posting rule in schools. An inspector who cannot see a current license in reception, at the workstation, or in the clinic area is already looking at a Consumer Information miss before any wet-jar test begins.
Which hand-washing setup does ADH require in an Arkansas cosmetology establishment?
Which animals may be inside an Arkansas school of cosmetology, establishment, or mobile salon?
Which posting combination does ADH Consumer Information require in the reception area, at individual workstations, or in the clinic area?
How should a candidate apply the infectious-or-communicable-disease rule without inventing a reportable-disease list ADH did not print in this section?