Beauty salons in a fix over windows

Damamm: The owners of women’s beauty salons are on the horns of a dilemma. The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, or Haia, has expressly prohibited salons from having windows, while municipalities consider the lack of windows a safety violation.

While the Haia has instructed salon owners to ensure there are no windows, the municipality refuses to issue permits to salons that do not have windows, which would provide safe exit in an emergency.

Participants at a lecture on "professional awareness for employees in the beauty salon business", organized by the committee for female salons at the Asharqia Chamber, emphasized the need to adopt medical evaluation forms and increase first aid materials in the kit approved by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs. 

Tarek Al-Hamdan, head of a medical center, revealed during his session at the lecture that the level of safety at women’s salons is “less than desired and hoped for,” calling for the need to develop new methods to prevent and deal with accidents.

“Every employee is supposed to be qualified and equipped with preventative measures, while medical forms should be filled out for customers containing information about their health conditions,” he said. “Employees suffering from shortness of breath will need to take additional precautions, such as bringing their medications with them, while fire extinguishers should be placed at all exits and certain types of furniture should be used to limit the spread of fire.

“Additionally, employees should learn first aid care for customers through comprehensive training,” he said.

The number of systemic violations and concerns is few, with no more than 10 cases per year ranging from allergies, wounds or infections, he revealed, noting that increasing cases are arising from the use of hair straightening materials, which contain increased levels of formalin. As for cases of injury among employees at salons, he said such cases were rare.

Regarding concerns about the use of makeup products for women that may cause cancer, he said: “There are no concerns unless the patient takes medication that reduces her immunity.” However, he stressed the importance of ensuring employees know how to deal with different types of patients.