Warning over unsafe sunbeds in Warrington

MORE than one in three salon sunbeds in Warrington could be unsafe – that’s the warning from the borough council.
Regulation and protection officers have found 36 per cent of sunbeds they tested were not safe to use.
Tanning sunbeds use ultraviolet lamps to provide a cosmetic tan and safe limits stipulated in the British Standard are equivalent to the UV radiation emitted by the midday Mediterranean sun.
Officers visited 39 premises and tested 139 sunbeds for their wattage and Ultraviolet irradiance levels.
Fifty one of the beds were found to be exposing customers to a high level of carcinogenic risk. All of them have since been retested and either now comply or have been taken out of use.
Cllr Judith Guthrie, the council’s lead member for environment and public protection, said: “Our public health project is helping to regulate sunbed salons and ensure that what they offer is safe. Salon owners are made aware that of the potential risks to public health and that they must make sure that emissions from sunbeds are within recommended limits.
“We carry out checks like these on a regular basis and any facilities deemed as unsafe are advised accordingly and then revisited to ensure they comply.”
Under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 (the British Standard) if the irradiance from a sunbed exceeds 0.3 W/m2,(watts per square metre), it could be deemed as dangerous.
Council officers discovered a range non-compliances issues in Warrington. The highest recorded wattage reading taken as part of the audit was 1.2 W/m2, equivalent to nearly four times the irradiance of the Mediterranean midday sun.
Cllr Maureen McLaughlin, lead member for public health and wellbeing said: “Nearly two thirds of sunbeds beds tested complied with the regulations, but that just isn’t good enough. There is evidence to show that using sunbeds can cause skin cancer, in particular the most serious form – malignant melanoma.
“Sunbeds give out harmful UV rays which damage skin. The UV rays from sunbeds can also damage the DNA in skin cells and, over time, this damage can build up to cause skin cancer.
“It’s imperative that we take steps to check regularly and make sure that outlets offering sunbed treatment are operating within the acceptable safety levels, in order to protect our residents. As part of our programme, we are also warning residents of the risks to their health from excessive use of sunbeds.”
Officers did find that all the salons visited were sufficiently supervised, All except one had a token system in place – a way of controlling sunbed usage – rather than customers using £1 coins and being able to use sunbeds for longer than advisable spells.