Solarium standards
What they mean for customers
The solarium industry in Victoria has been regulated since 2008, with permanent legislation consistent with the revised Australian Standard for Solaria since February 2009. Any person or business that possesses, sells or maintains a tanning unit in Victoria needs to hold a management licence.
In late 2009, the Victorian Department of Health funded Cancer Council Victoria to conduct a ‘mystery shopper' study to monitor compliance with key conditions of the management licences. In response to the research findings the management licence conditions were strengthened in late 2010.
Current regulation requires that operators must:
- Ban people under 18 years of age from using their solarium
- Sight evidence of age documents for all clients
- Ban people with very fair skin (skin type I) from using their solarium
- Display mandatory health warnings
- Provide a consent form outlining the risks of solarium use for customers to read and sign
- Complete a skin assessment of all clients
- Ensure all staff have completed training in carrying out skin assessments and determining exposure times
- Ensure clients wear protective eyewear.
Since the introduction of solarium legislation and more informed consumers, the number of solarium sites across Victoria has dropped by 65%. Now there are approximately 145 businesses licensed in Victoria to possess a total of 475 tanning units. These businesses are physically located at 153 sites across Victoria.
While current research suggests Australians are less likely to use a solarium, a worrying number of people mistakenly think regulations have made solariums safer.
The bottom line is that solariums are never safe, whatever your age.
Cancer Council Victoria is calling on the Victorian government to follow the lead of NSW and ban solariums outright by 2014. The phased approach proposed by NSW is most practical and if adopted in Victoria, would see an outright ban of solariums in 2014 allowing solarium operators time to retrain staff and ensure that existing solarium machines are disposed of appropriately.
Also refer to:
- Department of Health for more about Victorian solarium regulations
- ARPANSA for information about regulations in other states
- Standards Australia for information about the Australian Standard for the solarium industry AS/NZS 2635
