A bright future: how insurance protects tanning salons

With summer coming up, you can probably imagine lots of people booking overseas holidays, perhaps in the hope of catching a few sunrays that will leave them with a coveted tan. However, they don’t strictly need to book a single flight to get a bronzed look.

They could simply stay on British shores and attend a local tanning salon. If you run a tanning salon that regularly attracts many people through its doors, your revenues could look buoyant – but whether your long-term financial future will be rosy can remain its own question.

Unfortunately, the tanning business is fraught with risks that can leave salon patrons out of luck and salon owners out of pocket. Surprise expenses can hit you from many different angles – but, with apt insurance, your future can look as bright as the sunshine that your regulars ironically won’t need.

What do you want to offer in your tanning salon?

There’s certainly more than one route to getting the sun-kissed look, and your clients might seek to ask you questions about the options available – assuming that they aren’t aware already. Hence, it would be convenient to ready an enticing palette of tanning options under your salon’s roof.

An increased number of people have grown to deem tanning dangerous, as BusinessesForSale.com points out. Hence, many people might have opted to turn their backs on sunbeds, with the UV rays produced by which potentially sparking particularly strong worries.

Whilst there are concerns however, sunbeds can still have benefits worth publicising, like spurring vitamin D production and reducing acne and psoriasis symptoms.

Furthermore, keep in mind that your salon can offer a spray tan service, which could help to put especially health-conscious tanners at ease. The Washington Post has drawn attention to the safety of self-tanning products, as well as the quality of the fake glow which they can produce.

“People of all skin tones can definitely get a reasonably real-looking tan if they use the right product,” spray tanning specialist Anna Stankiewicz, of New York City’s Louise O’Connor Salon, told the news site. The days of streaky, cheese-puff-hued self-tans are thankfully in the past.

What equipment do you need for your tanning salon?

Through carefully considering what services you would like your salon to offer, you can also take account of what equipment and supplies you would need to source to make those services a reality. The items you do fetch would have implications for the insurance you would be advised to source.

Startups.co.uk cites various pieces of equipment that you would need for key services at a tanning salon. For example, you ought to invest in a spray tan machine, a tanning cubicle with protective floor covering, an extractor, and gloves to be worn by your staff as they handle tanning liquid.

Already decided to include spray tanning in your list of services? Investing in the essential equipment could mean the overall bill edging towards daunting heights; the average cost of just one new tanning booth is about £2,000.

Fortunately, though, contents cover and stock cover are both inclusions of our tanning salon insurance. Hence, with these covers, you can rein in adverse financial effects of losing either that equipment or beauty products, like self-tanning products, that you had stocked to sell to regulars.

Be careful not to underestimate health risks

We will trust that you are diligent in your delivery of tanning services – perhaps to the extent where you think the safety risks are relatively scarce. However, we would warn you against complacency on this front, as even just one slip-up could trigger surprisingly bad repercussions.

For instance, a client could take issue with your treatment of their skin, insisting that you have damaged it through negligence. Even if you actually haven’t, a compensation claim could still result and land you with legal fees. Treatment liability cover could financially rescue you here.

You can get that with a Salon Gold tanning salon insurance policy, while employer’s liability cover would also be available. This particular cover is actually legally required if you employ staff, which is likely if you have a particularly large and hectic salon that consistently attracts a lot of custom.

Employer’s liability cover can prove a formidable financial weapon against compensation claims from employees who declare you ultimately responsible, through your company’s practices, for an illness or injury inflicted upon them in the workplace.

You shouldn’t underestimate the risks that your salon could pose to your staff’s wellbeing. If you neglect to provide the right products for disinfecting the salon’s tools and equipment, for example, it’s little wonder that an employee could soon pick up an illness.

Meanwhile, if you fail to ensure that such items as towels and protective gowns for customers’ use are not cleaned regularly in a washing machine and tumble dryer, your clients’ health could be at risk. This further helps to explain why you should hold tightly onto treatment liability cover.

Public liability cover – another feature of our tanning salon insurance – is similar to employer’s liability, except that it would cover bodily injury that you or your staff accidentally spring on a client or member of the public. Such injury could be caused by a floor left wet, for example.

Our tanning insurance for salons also includes personal accident cover for hands. This cover would be particularly convenient if you often rely on your hands to administer spray tanning, but phone us on 020 8655 0444 if you are unsure about the exact limits of this cover or, indeed, the other covers.