2.1 Salon Facilities, Plumbing and Nail-Salon Ventilation Standards

Salon Facilities, Plumbing and Nail-Salon Ventilation

Exam Focus: The written exam draws facility items straight from 19 NYCRR §§ 160.16 and 160.22. Memorise the six universal facility requirements, the list of acceptable floor coverings, the 50 cfm per-station nail ventilation floor, the 12-inch source-capture rule, and the fact that ventilation must run whenever the nail salon is occupied — not merely when services are underway.

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1. Universal Facility Requirements

19 NYCRR § 160.16(b) requires that, on top of the State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code, the New York City Construction Code, the State Sanitary Code and the State Industrial Code, every appearance enhancement business provide:

1. Hot and cold running water
2. Toilet facilities and wash basins for clients and employees
3. Illumination sufficient for the safe provision of licensed services
4. Covered containers for hair, paper and other waste material
5. Sufficient space or working area to ensure the safety and health of both operator and client
6. In a nail salon, a mechanical ventilation system meeting § 160.16(b)(6)

2. Sanitary Facilities Under § 160.22

The facility "shall be kept clean and in good repair" and "dangerous conditions or hazards shall not be permitted." The regulation then gets specific:

Deep-nap carpeting is the answer candidates most often miss. It is not on the acceptable list because it traps hair and chemical dust and cannot be properly cleaned.

3. Food, Beverages and Ignition Sources

§ 160.23 — food and beverages may not be prepared, kept or sold on the licensed premises. Two exceptions: foodstuffs prepared or kept in a separate, adequately ventilated room with fumes exhausted away from the public area, and beverages kept in covered containers.

§ 160.12 — open sources of ignition, flame or sparks, including candles, gas burners and cigarettes, are prohibited, so that products or chemicals are not inadvertently ignited. Owners, managers and individual operators are all responsible for compliance. An owner may designate a smoking area for employees and clients, but it must be separated from the operational areas and properly ventilated. Given the flammability of aerosols, alcohol-based products and acetone, this is a live safety rule, not a formality.

4. Nail Salon Mechanical Ventilation — § 160.16(b)(6)

New York's nail-salon ventilation rule is engineered and specific. Note the citation carefully: it is § 160.16(b)(6), part of "Facilities: ancillary provisions". It is not § 160.28, which is the photograph requirement.

The system must comply with the 2015 International Mechanical Code (IMC) as amended by the NYS 2016 Uniform Code Supplement, and must:

• Supply outdoor air at not less than the greater of (a) the nail-salon ventilation standards in Sections 401 and 403 of the 2015 IMC, or (b) 50 cubic feet per minute (cfm) for each nail station.
• Include a mechanical exhaust system designed and constructed to capture all chemical vapours, fumes, dust and other air contaminants at their source and exhaust them to the outdoor atmosphere.
• Provide at least one exhaust inlet for each nail station, factory-installed by the station manufacturer or field-installed not more than 12 inches horizontally and not more than 12 inches vertically from the point of chemical application or where the client's nails are placed.
• Exhaust at not less than the greater of the 2015 IMC rate or 50 cfm per nail station.
• Discharge exhaust where it will not cause a nuisance and cannot be drawn back in by the outdoor air intakes.
• Never recirculate exhaust air into the nail salon, into any other space in the building, or transfer it to another space.
• Be balanced so that outdoor air is supplied at a rate equal to the exhaust rate.
• Operate at or above those minimum rates at all times when the nail salon is occupied by any person — not merely while services are being performed.

A "nail station" is defined in § 160.16(a)(4) as a table or work area where a nail specialty service is performed; where more than one service can be performed at a table at the same time, each portion counts as a separate station — and therefore requires its own exhaust inlet and its own 50 cfm.

Compliance dates. Any nail salon obtaining a new business licence on or after 3 October 2016 had to meet these specifications immediately; salons licensed before that date had until 3 October 2021. A signed certification from the installer, manufacturer or a registered design professional — a New York registered architect or licensed professional engineer — must be kept on the premises and made available to the Department on inspection.

Nothing in the rule overrides a higher or more restrictive standard from the building, fire, sanitary or environmental codes.

5. Respiratory and Eye Protection

§ 160.20 requires the owner to provide protective equipment for practitioners:

• A properly fitted N-95 or N-100 respirator approved by NIOSH, used in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications, when buffing or filing artificial nails or using acrylic powder.
• Gloves, when handling potentially hazardous chemicals or waste, during clean-up, or when performing any procedure that risks breaking a client's skin.
• Eye protection, when pouring or transferring potentially hazardous chemicals from bulk containers and when preparing hazardous chemicals for nail care services.

The regulation phrases these as equipment practitioners "shall have access to and may use". The duty to supply sits with the owner; the decision to wear sits with the practitioner, except where another rule — such as the mandatory gloves for waxing in § 160.20(k) — makes it compulsory.