21.3 Civil Penalties and HLO Enforcement
Key Takeaways
- At the direction of the Board of Cosmetology, the Health Licensing Office may impose the forms of discipline listed in ORS 676.612 against a person practicing barbering for grounds in 676.612 or for violating ORS 690.005–690.225 or the rules adopted under those statutes (ORS 690.167).
- OAR Chapter 817 Division 90 publishes presumptive 1st, 2nd, and 3rd offense schedules. Those amounts apply except at the Office’s discretion under ORS 676.992. Fourth and subsequent offenses go to ORS 676.992, which authorizes a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000 for each cosmetology violation and up to $5,000 in disciplinary-proceeding costs.
- Penalty categories track the shop: facility and independent-contractor registration (817-090-0025); practitioner (0035); authorization holders (0045); home facility (0055); water supply and disposal (0065); towels and linens (0070); waste (0075); dispensing cosmetic preparations (0080); sanitation or disinfectant (0085); disinfecting tools (0090); cleanable surfaces (0095); clean conditions (0100); client health and safety (0105); safe working conditions (0110); chemical use and storage (0115).
- OAR 817-090-0115 chemical penalties on the current schedule are $300 / $500 / $1,000 for a 1st / 2nd / 3rd offense of unsafe storage, mixing outside a dispensing area, mixing or using near ignition, or an open flame at the workstation during a chemical service.
- ORS 690.225 requires HLO to inspect facilities for compliance with the Board’s health, safety, infection-control, and licensing rules. ORS 676.612(2)(o) makes failing to cooperate with an investigation, inspection, or request for information a prohibited act. Posting the latest inspection certificate in public view is separately penalized under 817-090-0045(3).
21.3 Civil Penalties and HLO Enforcement
Quick Answer: The Health Licensing Office (HLO), at the direction of the Board of Cosmetology, may discipline under ORS 676.612 and ORS 690.167. OAR 817-090 is the presumptive 1st / 2nd / 3rd civil-penalty schedule. The fourth offense, and any departure from the schedule, sits under ORS 676.992 — a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000 for each cosmetology violation. ORS 690.225 is why an inspector can walk your shop for health, safety, infection control, and licensing. ORS 676.612(2)(o) makes failing to cooperate with that inspection a prohibited act.
Division 60 told you how to store and mix. Division 90 tells you what the Office may assess when you do not. The laws exam will not ask you to memorize every cell of every schedule. It will ask you which category a miss belongs in, how the 1st / 2nd / 3rd ladder works, and — for chemical storage — the current dollar amounts in OAR 817-090-0115.
Who disciplines, and what the statute allows
ORS 690.167: in the manner prescribed in ORS chapter 183 for contested cases, and at the direction of the Board of Cosmetology, HLO may impose a form of discipline listed in ORS 676.612 against any person practicing barbering, hair design, esthetics, nail technology, or natural hair care for any of the grounds listed in 676.612 and for any violation of ORS 690.005 to 690.225 or the rules adopted thereunder. Two moving parts: the Board directs, the Office imposes, and the process is a contested case. HLO is not freelancing a fine because an inspector had a long drive.
ORS 676.612(1) lists the tools: refuse to issue or renew, suspend or revoke, otherwise condition or limit an authorization, discipline, or place on probation. ORS 676.612(2) is the prohibited-act list. For this chapter, hold two of those letters:
- (n) Violation of any rule regulating the occupation — that is how an OAR 817 miss becomes discipline.
- (o) Failing to cooperate with the office in any investigation, inspection or request for information. Obstructing, hindering, or refusing an inspection is not a “facilities” footnote. It is a statutory prohibited act.
ORS 676.992(1)(b) authorizes HLO to impose a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000 for each violation of ORS 690.005 to 690.225 and any rule adopted under those statutes. ORS 676.992(2) allows other proper disciplinary action, including assessment of costs of disciplinary proceedings, not to exceed $5,000. ORS 676.992(4) requires the Office, when imposing a civil penalty, to consider immediacy and extent of the threat to public health or safety, prior violations, the person’s history of correcting violations, and other aggravating or mitigating factors. Every Division 90 schedule in force repeats the same hinge: the printed 1st / 2nd / 3rd amounts apply except at the discretion of the Office pursuant to ORS 676.992; for the 4th and subsequent offenses, the provisions of ORS 676.992 apply.
That is the structure to memorize. First three trips: the schedule, unless the Office uses 676.992 discretion (for example a more serious threat to health). Fourth trip: 676.992, not a fourth printed rung, with a statutory ceiling of $5,000 per violation.
Fifteen schedules — learn the category, then the chemical dollars
OAR Chapter 817 Division 90 is not one table. It is fifteen penalty rules. The laws exam uses the titles as much as the dollars. A dirty restroom is not a chemical-storage violation. Mixing peroxide at the chair is not a home-facility sign violation.
| Rule | Category the title names | What the current schedule is for |
|---|---|---|
| 817-090-0025 | Facility and independent contractor registration | Operating without a valid facility license or IC registration; allowing an uncertified person to practice |
| 817-090-0035 | Practitioner | Performing a field of practice without proper certification; advertising without required numbers; practicing outside a licensed facility without freelance authorization |
| 817-090-0045 | Authorization holders | Fraudulent alteration or use of an authorization; failing to post a valid authorization; failing to post the most recent inspection certificate |
| 817-090-0055 | Home facility | Failing to identify a residential facility by house number or a sign visible from the street |
| 817-090-0065 | Water supply and disposal | No immediate hot and cold water in the working area; water that fails pressure or purity (emergency suspension possible); improper liquid-waste disposal |
| 817-090-0070 | Towels and linens | Dirty or unlaundered towels; clean towels stored dirty; chemically soiled towels not in a closed fire-retardant container; soiled towels not in a covered container |
| 817-090-0075 | Waste disposal | Chemical waste not closed at end of service or not fire-retardant at close; uncovered service waste; dirty outer cans; blood waste and sharps mis-disposed |
| 817-090-0080 | Dispensing of cosmetic preparations | Failing to dispense client-contact powders, liquids, wave solutions, or creams without contaminating the unused portion; reuse of those substances |
| 817-090-0085 | Sanitation or disinfectant | Wrong level of disinfectant, incomplete immersion, weak or dirty solutions, or not enough solution for the volume of business |
| 817-090-0090 | Disinfecting tools and implements | Clipper blades not high-level disinfected; clean tools stored with soiled; articles that contacted a client not disinfected, cleaned, or discarded |
| 817-090-0095 | Cleanable / non-absorbent surfaces | Equipment or floors in service areas not cleanable and non-absorbent; equipment not clean and in good repair |
| 817-090-0100 | Clean conditions | Restrooms, shampoo bowls, drawers, stations, hair on the floor, walls and ceilings, foot-spa cleaning |
| 817-090-0105 | Client health and safety | No neck strip or towel under a common cape; hair-goods rules; not washing before and after each client |
| 817-090-0110 | Safe working conditions | Indoor Clean Air Act; frayed wiring or overloaded circuits (emergency suspension possible); animals other than ADA service animals or aquarium fish; missing eye/mask protection where spatter is likely; restroom not reasonably accessible |
| 817-090-0115 | Chemical use and storage | Unsafe storage; mixing outside a dispensing area; mixing or using near ignition; open flame at the workstation during a chemical service |
Several first-offense amounts on the current (BOC 5-2019, effective January 1, 2020, with later minor corrections) text cluster at $300. That is not a universal first-offense number. Operating a facility that was never licensed or is expired is $750 for a first offense under 817-090-0025(1)(a). Performing a field of practice with no certificate or an expired certificate is $1,000 for a first offense under 817-090-0035(1)(a). Reuse of client-contact substances is $1,000 for a first offense under 817-090-0080(2). Altering or counterfeiting an authorization is $1,500 for a first offense under 817-090-0045(1). If you quote a dollar, quote the row it belongs to.
Chemical-use dollars — OAR 817-090-0115 as written
This chapter’s own schedule is the one you should be able to recite.
OAR 817-090-0115, Schedule of Penalties for Chemical Use and Storage Violations — presumptive 1st / 2nd / 3rd, except as ORS 676.992 provides, and 4th+ under 676.992:
| Violation | Cross-cite in the penalty rule | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Failing to store chemicals safely to avoid fire, explosion, and/or bodily harm | 817-060-0020(3) | $300 | $500 | $1,000 |
| Failing to mix chemicals in a dispensing area | 817-060-0030(1) | $300 | $500 | $1,000 |
| Mixing or using chemicals near an open flame or other potential ignition | 817-060-0030(1) | $300 | $500 | $1,000 |
| Open flame at the workstation during any phase of a chemical service | 817-060-0030 (penalty text still prints “(4)(d)”; current handling rule is (3)(d)) | $300 | $500 | $1,000 |
Related clocks the inspector will score on other schedules, not 0115: chemically soiled towels not immediately deposited in a closed fire-retardant container are 817-090-0070(3) at $300 / $500 / $1,000. Chemical waste not closed at the end of the service or not fire-retardant at close is 817-090-0075(1) at the same $300 / $500 / $1,000. Failing to dispense client-contact preparations properly is 817-090-0080(1) at $300 / $500 / $1,000; reuse of those preparations is $1,000 / $2,500 / $5,000 under 817-090-0080(2).
A first-offense chemical-storage miss is not a $5,000 event on the presumptive schedule. A fourth chemical-storage miss, or a miss the Office treats as a serious health threat under 676.992, can be. Do not invent a “typical HLO fine.” Use the printed rung or the $5,000 statutory ceiling.
Inspections — health, safety, infection control, licensing
ORS 690.225(1): in addition to any other duties prescribed by law, HLO shall provide for the inspection of facilities. ORS 690.225(2): inspections under this section determine whether the facilities comply with the Board of Cosmetology’s health, safety, infection control and licensing rules. Four words. Not “only if someone complained.” Not “only the barber chairs.” The facility — premises licensed under ORS 690.005 — is the unit. A mixed shop’s dispensary, hair-design chemicals, and formaldehyde-capable products are on that walk even when you only cut hair.
ORS 690.225(3) limits school inspections: HLO may not inspect a school unless the Higher Education Coordinating Commission requests assistance, and HLO may not impose disciplinary action on a school. That limit is about schools, not about your shop. Do not quote it as an exemption for a licensed facility.
OAR 817-090-0045(3): failing to post the most recent inspection certificate in public view within the facility is $200 / $500 / $1,000 for 1st / 2nd / 3rd. 817-090-0045(2) is the companion for failing to post a valid license, registration, certificate, permit, or authorization: $200 / $500 / $700. An inspection that finds a chemical-storage miss can therefore produce two paper problems: the storage penalty under 817-090-0115 and a posting penalty if last visit’s certificate is in a drawer.
ORS 676.612(2)(o) is the obstruction rule. Refusing entry, hiding the dispensary key, coaching staff to lie, or ignoring a request for SDS or product labels is failing to cooperate with an inspection or request for information. That is disciplinable in addition to whatever storage or mixing miss the inspector came to see. Emergency-suspension language already sits in several schedules when the miss is structural — facility specifications (817-090-0025(4)), water purity or liquid-waste disposal (817-090-0065(2)–(3)), Indoor Clean Air Act or frayed wiring (817-090-0110(1)–(2)). Chemical storage is not on that emergency-suspension list in 0115, but an uncontrolled reactive pile that is also a fire or wiring problem can still be walked under 0110.
A Pendleton walk-through
An HLO inspector arrives at a Pendleton facility during business hours. Dana, the barber who also holds the facility license, says “come back after lunch” and leaves the dispensary locked. Inside, from the last visit’s photos, two-gallon disinfectant sat against alcohol, mixing happened at the chairs, and the current inspection certificate is in Dana’s car. Three separate tracks. ORS 690.225 authorized the inspection for health, safety, infection control, and licensing. ORS 676.612(2)(o) made the lockout a prohibited failure to cooperate. OAR 817-090-0115(1)–(2) is the $300 first-offense rung for unsafe storage and for mixing outside a dispensing area — or ORS 676.992 if the Office treats the reactive pile as a serious threat. OAR 817-090-0045(3) is $200 for a first offense of not posting the latest inspection certificate in public view. “We’re a barber shop, we don’t do color” does not close the dispensary, cancel Division 90, or send the inspector away.
Under ORS 690.167 and ORS 676.992, which statement correctly describes HLO discipline and the civil-penalty ceiling for Oregon cosmetology?
What must a Health Licensing Office inspection of a licensed facility determine under ORS 690.225, and what happens if the authorization holder refuses to cooperate?
On the current OAR 817-090-0115 schedule, what is the presumptive first-offense civil penalty for failing to store chemicals safely to avoid fire, explosion, and/or bodily harm?
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