N.J. Admin. Code § 8:27-11.3

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 23, December 2, 2024

Section 8:27-11.3 - Criteria for closure and permit or license suspension

(a) A health authority immediately may close an establishment and/or suspend an operator's license or permit to operate a body art or ear-piercing establishment if the health authority finds that such action is necessary to abate an actual or imminent threat to public health.

(b) Following is a non-exclusive list of examples of conditions that pose an actual or imminent threat to public health and warrant a health authority's immediate closure of an establishment:

1. Failure or lack of properly functioning equipment;

2. Failure of an operator to report malfunctioning or missing required equipment to the health authority pursuant to N.J.A.C. 8:27-5.4, except as provided at (c) below;

3. Unsanitary or unsafe conditions;

4. The health authority has reasonable cause to suspect that an operator, a practitioner, or an apprentice is, or may be, transmitting a communicable disease;

5. A practitioner demonstrates gross incompetence in performing body art or ear piercing;

6. An operator obtains, or attempts to obtain, a permit or license by means of fraud, misrepresentation, or concealment;

7. Subject to (b)7i below, an operator, a practitioner, or an apprentice is convicted in this State, or any other state, of a crime directly related to the practice of body art or ear piercing.

i. This provision applies only to a crime occurring subsequent to the health authority's issuance of a license or permit to operate, provided the operator fully disclosed to the health authority all prior crimes of the operator, practitioners, and/or apprentices of the establishment, the relevance of which, the health authority considered in determining the applicant's fitness to receive the requested license or permit to operate and/or the appropriateness of the operator allowing the convicted practitioner or apprentice to perform services at the establishment;

8. An operator engages in, or condones, and/or a practitioner or an apprentice engages in, illegal activity on the establishment premises;

9. An operator allows, or fails to prevent, the performance of, a genital piercing upon a person under 18 years of age at the establishment;

10. An operator allows, or fails to prevent, the performance of implants, branding, and/or cutting at a body art establishment; and/or

11. A person who does not meet the training, experiential, and credentialing requirements of this chapter performs body art procedures in a body art establishment.

(c) This subsection contains a non-exclusive list of examples of conditions and circumstances that pose an actual or imminent threat to public health and warrant at least a seven-day suspension of an operator's license or permit:

1. Failure to report to the health authority within 24 hours any infection or injury requiring a medical referral;

2. Performing a body art procedure on any person under the age of 18 years of age, without the presence, written consent, and proper

3. Failure to notify the health authority within 24 hours of positive biological indicator test result of the autoclave;

4. Using an ear-piercing instrument for any part of the body other than the ear lobes and trailing edge of the ear; or

5. An apprentice performs a body art procedure without direct supervision by the apprentice's supervising trainer or instructor.

(d) An operator's actual, or purported, lack of knowledge of a condition listed at (a) or (b) above shall not provide a basis of defense or objection to an action of a health authority to close, or suspend, the operating authority of an establishment.

(e) A local health authority shall submit a written report, using, or containing, at least the information listed in the form at N.J.A.C. 8:27 Appendix, of notifications it receives pursuant to (b)3 above to the Department in January of each year, and within the reporting periods and in accordance with the reporting procedures specified at N.J.A.C. 8:57, if a notification indicates a suspected or a confirmed case of a reportable communicable disease or a communicable disease outbreak.

N.J. Admin. Code § 8:27-11.3

Amended by 54 N.J.R. 1392(a), effective 7/18/2022