11.3 Facility Standards, License Posting, Inspection Reports, and Home Salons
Key Takeaways
- Every Georgia salon, shop, or school where cosmetology services are practiced or taught must allow reasonable Board inspection during regular business hours; refusal can bring sanctions including revocation of the certificate of registration.
- A salon or shop must have a permanent, definite location; home salons must separate domestic space with tight floor-to-ceiling walls and no connecting doorway, and they need not post a shop sign unless the owner elects to do so under O.C.G.A. § 43-10-18.
- Facility and practitioner licenses, or current online verification, must be posted within 15 feet of the facility entrance in an open area, or at each work station, unobstructed and easy for customers and inspectors to read.
- The most recent inspection report must be posted in an open public area; a passing or paid-citation report is posted within 30 days of the inspection date and serves as the final report under the rule's stated conditions.
- Owners must post Board-required consumer signage covering intact healthy skin, the credo-blade ban, no reused pumice, and service animals only, plus health and safety rules that customers can read.
The inspector already has the right to walk in
Rule 240-4-.01(1) is the inspection sentence. All facilities (salons/shops or schools) wherein cosmetology services are practiced or taught in Georgia must provide suitable quarters equipped to give adequate services. ALL facilities are subject to inspection by any Board member or inspector, who shall have the power and right to enter into and make reasonable inspection of any facility during regular business hours. Refusal of or failure to permit or cooperate with such reasonable inspection shall subject an individual and/or a facility holding a license issued by the Board to sanctions, including revocation of the certificate of registration.
That rule is why a Georgia theory item about "the owner may reschedule any inspection that is inconvenient" is a fail. Regular business hours are the window. Cooperation is the duty.
Permanent location, home salons, suites, and mobile units
A salon/shop shall have a permanent and definite location in which the licensed professions, including esthetician practice, are practiced under Board laws and rules (240-4-.01(2)).
Home salons are allowed, with two structural limits candidates mix up:
- A salon/shop operating from within a person's home, residence, or private structure must comply with all provisions of state law and Board rules, except that it shall not be necessary for a salon/shop operating in a private home to post a salon/shop sign unless the person elects to do so under O.C.G.A. § 43-10-18 (240-4-.01(2)(a)). No exterior sign is not a waiver of disinfection, posting of individual licenses, or inspection.
- The use of salon/shop space for sleeping, dining, or any other domestic purpose is prohibited. The salon/shop and the domestic space cannot be connected by a doorway or opening (240-4-.01(3)). Space used for a salon/shop must be separated by tight, floor-to-ceiling high walls from other residential and commercial space to prevent the spread of hair, skin, dirt, dust, and debris (240-4-.01(4)).
Commercial suites are the exception to full-height walls: commercial space used in its entirety for salon/shop space and divided into "suites" may use partitions seven (7) feet in height, and individual suites must have a door that closes and locks (240-4-.01(4)(a)–(b)). Suite shops must display facility licenses so it is clear which salon/shop license each practitioner is working under (240-4-.02(9)).
Mobile units, including kiosks, carts, mobile homes, trailers, and motor homes, shall not be issued a license as a salon/shop unless they meet all Board requirements and are anchored on the ground operating in a permanent location (240-4-.01(2)(b)). A van facial business that is not anchored as a permanent location is not a licensed shop under this rule.
Walls, ceiling, floors, furniture, and equipment must be kept free from excessive dust, dirt, and debris. Equipment must be kept in good and safe working condition (240-4-.01(5)).
Each facility shall provide — on the premises or in the same building as, and within 300 feet of, the salon — adequate toilet and lavatory facilities. Adequate means at least one toilet and one sink or shampoo bowl with running hot and cold water (240-4-.01(6)). Those rooms need toilet tissue, soap dispenser with soap or other hand-cleaning material, sanitary towels or another hand-drying device such as a wall-mounted electric blow-dryer, and a waste receptacle (240-4-.01(7)).
| Facility issue | Rule 240-4-.01 result |
|---|---|
| Home treatment room opening through a bedroom door | Prohibited connection between salon space and domestic space |
| Home salon without an exterior shop sign | Allowed unless the owner elects to post under O.C.G.A. § 43-10-18 |
| Suite with a 7-foot partition and a locking door | Allowed in commercial space used entirely as salon/shop suites |
| Unanchored mobile cart or motor home | Not issued a salon/shop license |
| Toilet 400 feet away in another building | Fails the 300-foot / same-building adequacy test |
Fifteen-foot license posting
Rule 240-4-.02(1) is the customer-and-inspector visibility rule. Each facility shall post the license issued by the Georgia State Board of Cosmetology and Barbers, or a current copy of the online verification of licensure, within fifteen feet of the facility entrance at all times in an open area of the facility, or at each work station, so as to be unobstructed and easily viewable for both customers to read and for inspection by the Board.
Facility owner(s) shall ensure that each employee posts, in an open and public area, the current license/permit or a current copy of the online verification of licensure (240-4-.02(2)). A printed GOALS verification that is current satisfies the "or online verification" clause. A photo of an expired pocket card on a phone does not.
Schools have extra signage. Schools shall have exterior signage indicating the type of school facility license (240-4-.02(7)) and shall post a sign stating "Service by Students Only" (240-4-.02(8)).
Inspection reports on the wall
Rule 240-4-.02(3) requires facilities to have posted in an open and public area at all times a copy of the most recent inspection report, with this timing:
- If the licensee is issued a passing inspection report, the inspector's report shall be posted within 30 days of the date of inspection and serves as the final inspection report.
- If the licensee is cited and pays the citation within the required time, the inspector's report shall be posted within 30 days of the date of inspection and serves as the final inspection report.
- If the licensee is cited and does not pay, the inspector's report shall be posted within 30 days of the date of inspection until the citation reaches final disposition at a Board meeting or citation hearing. If the Board modifies the citation, the licensee may post the Board's final disposition report. If the Board upholds the citation, the inspector's report remains posted as the final inspection report.
Health, safety, and sanitation rules governing facilities shall be posted in an open and public area so customers can easily read them. An electronic copy of the rules is acceptable (240-4-.02(5)).
Required consumer signage
Rule 240-4-.02(6) requires facility owners to post the required signage available on the Board's website. If other signage is used, it must include this wording:
- Cosmetology laws, rules, and regulations are available upon request.
- All cosmetology services shall only be performed on intact, healthy scalp, skin, and nails.
- Customers should not shave their legs the same day as receiving pedicure services to reduce the risk of infection.
- Any razor-like implement, such as a credo blade, shall not be used. In order to reduce the chance of injury or infection, licensees shall not use any razor-type callus shavers designed and intended to cut growths of skin such as corns or calluses, e.g., credo blades.
- In order to prevent the spread of bacteria, pumice stones shall not be reused from one customer to another.
- No pets — Only guide and service animals are allowed in a Salon/Shop.
Inspector walk-through: a Savannah suite on a Tuesday
A Board inspector arrives at 10:40 a.m. during posted hours. The suite door locks. The facility license is on the corridor wall inside 15 feet of that suite's entrance, and each esthetician's current license or printed online verification is at the station, unobstructed. The most recent inspection report is in a frame next to the consumer sign. The sign states intact healthy skin, no credo blades, no reused pumice, and service animals only. Health and safety rules are open on a tablet at the desk (electronic copy allowed). Hands are washed between clients. Clean tweezers sit in a labeled airtight box; dirty extractors sit in a separate labeled box. The EPA disinfectant was mixed that morning. No pet, other than a client's service dog, is in the suite. The toilet and hot/cold sink are in the same building within 300 feet.
Now break the same walk. The owner says "come back Thursday." That refusal is a revocation-level risk under 240-4-.01(1). The facility license is in a locked office 40 feet from the door. A practitioner's license expired last month and the station shows a photocopy of the old card. Last year's inspection report is still in the frame. A credo blade is in the "callus" drawer. A personal cat is on the wax warmer. Each of those facts is a separate Rule 240-4 citation waiting to happen.
A home salon in Augusta can skip the exterior shop sign and still fail if the treatment room opens into the kitchen, if licenses are in a bedroom drawer, or if the owner treats the inspection as optional. Home-based is not unregulated; it is fully regulated minus the optional sign.
Where must a Georgia salon post the facility license or a current copy of online licensure verification under Rule 240-4-.02?
A Georgia esthetician converts a spare bedroom into a home salon. Which facility statement matches Rule 240-4-.01?
A Savannah shop receives a passing Board inspection on June 1. When must the inspection report be posted, and what if a later citation is unpaid?
Rule 240-4-.02 required consumer signage must include which cluster of client-facing warnings?