Insurance claims following beauty salon treatments are on the increase, according to a leading beauty industry insurance broker. Fiona Gartlandreports.
Brian Mullins Insurance Brokers, which represents the majority of salons in the country, has said that claims are increasing partly because of more complex technologies and a tendency for clients to sue, as well as an increase in the number of salons and in the number of people visiting them.
The most common claims follow treatments such as eyelash tinting, which can cause excessive redness, swelling or other damage; lip and facial waxing, also causing excessive redness or scarring; and intense pulse light (IPL) laser treatment, which can seriously damage the skin.
According to owner Brian Mullins, last July attracted an unusually high number of claims after waxing treatments.
The claims were put down to the warm weather and a consequent increase in the temperature of clients' skin when attending the salon.
Over 80 per cent of claims are settled by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board and in the Small Claims Court, with settlements of €1,000-€5,000. However laser treatments that go wrong often attract higher settlements of €8,000-€10,000.
Mullins Insurance Brokers also paid out €50,000 for three claims in November, one involving sunbed treatment and two involving laser treatments.
"There is a greater tendency to make claims now than there was in the past," Mr Mullins said.
"We've had places with 20 years' experience and no claims then getting claims in side by side. What up to now was seen as part and parcel of the procedure and part of getting it done, now seems to be something to sue for."
The company dealt with 50 claims in its first year of operation and the figure is expected to rise considerably for 2006.
Mr Mullins said practitioners needed further training, and insurance should be made compulsory in the industry.
"In the UK, insurance is compulsory, but there is no compulsory insurance in beauty industry here and a client will not know it when she walks in to a salon," he said.
He also criticised the introduction of new technologies in salons after only basic training from equipment manufacturers.
Audrey Manning, president of the Irish Beauty Professional Association, said they had been asking the Government to introduce legislation to provide for regulation of the industry.
"I would view the introduction of legislation as urgent," she said.