Evacuation Diagrams for Tattoo Studios and Beauty Salons

Tattoo studios, beauty salons, nail bars, and cosmetic treatment clinics are among the most common small service businesses in Australia. They are found on every suburban high street, in shopping centres, and in converted residential premises. Despite their prevalence, many of these businesses operate without compliant evacuation diagrams or a documented emergency plan.

Under AS 3745:2010, Planning for Emergencies in Facilities, every workplace that has occupants, staff, or visitors must have an Emergency Management Plan and evacuation diagrams. This includes tattoo studios, hair salons, beauty therapy clinics, nail bars, laser clinics, and day spas. The obligation sits with the PCBU (person conducting a business or undertaking), which is typically the salon owner or operator.

Common Hazards in Tattoo Studios and Beauty Salons

These businesses may appear low-risk, but they contain several hazards that are relevant to fire safety and emergency planning. Tattoo studios use electrical equipment (tattoo machines, power supplies, sterilisers) and store inks and cleaning solutions including isopropyl alcohol, which is flammable. Beauty salons store and use flammable products including hairspray, nail polish, acetone, and alcohol-based sanitisers.

Nail bars present a particularly elevated chemical hazard. Acrylic monomer liquid (methyl methacrylate or ethyl methacrylate), acetone, and UV/LED curing lamps are used continuously during service. Acrylic monomer is flammable, and its vapours can accumulate in poorly ventilated spaces. The combination of flammable vapours and electrical equipment in a small, enclosed space creates a fire risk that is often underestimated.

Laser and IPL (intense pulsed light) clinics use Class 3B and Class 4 lasers for hair removal, tattoo removal, and skin treatments. These devices pose fire, electrical, and radiation hazards. A fire in a room containing laser equipment requires specific response procedures, and the evacuation diagram should identify the location of laser treatment rooms.

• Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) used for skin preparation is flammable
• Hairspray and aerosol products are flammable and pressurised
• Acetone (nail polish remover) is highly flammable with a low flash point
• Acrylic monomer liquid used in nail services is flammable
• Autoclaves and sterilisers operate under high temperature and pressure
• Electrical equipment (dryers, straighteners, UV lamps) can overheat and cause fire

Evacuating Clients Mid-Procedure

One of the most practical challenges in these businesses is evacuating a client who is mid-procedure. A client receiving a tattoo has an open wound and may be lying on a treatment table in a position that makes rapid movement difficult. A client with hair dye applied is messy but can move. A client mid-way through a cosmetic injection cannot simply stop and leave; the practitioner needs a moment to safely withdraw.

The Emergency Management Plan should address these scenarios with clear, practical procedures. For tattoo studios: stop the machine, wipe the area, cover the wound with a clean dressing if time permits, and assist the client to the exit. For nail bars: if UV lamps are in use, turn them off, and assist clients whose hands are in curing positions to move. For laser clinics: deactivate the laser, assist the client off the treatment bed, and ensure protective eyewear is removed so the client can see the exit route.

These procedures take additional time compared to evacuating an office worker from a desk. The evacuation plan must account for this. Staff should be trained to prioritise life safety over procedure completion. A half-finished tattoo can be completed later; a burn from a fire cannot be undone.

Layout and Egress in Small Tenancies

Most tattoo studios and beauty salons occupy small retail tenancies, typically 30 to 100 square metres. The layout usually consists of a reception area, a corridor, and a series of small treatment rooms or workstations. This layout creates natural bottlenecks, particularly in the corridor, and many of these tenancies have only a single exit through the shopfront.

The evacuation diagram must show all available exits. If there is only one exit (common in strip retail and shopping centre tenancies), this must be clearly indicated on the diagram. The Emergency Management Plan should address the risk of the single exit being blocked and include procedures for that scenario.

Treatment rooms in tattoo studios are often enclosed (for client privacy and infection control), which means a client in a rear treatment room may not hear an alarm clearly. The Emergency Management Plan should address how alarm notification reaches all occupied rooms. This might be through a connected alarm system, staff communication protocol, or physical checks of all rooms when an alarm sounds.

Infection Control and Emergency Response

Tattoo studios and beauty clinics that perform skin penetration procedures (tattooing, body piercing, cosmetic injections, microneedling) are required to comply with state and territory public health regulations on infection control. During an evacuation, infection control considerations take a secondary role to life safety, but the Emergency Management Plan should address how contaminated instruments and biological waste will be secured after the emergency.

Sharps containers should be wall-mounted and secured so they cannot fall and spill during a rapid evacuation. Autoclaves that may be running a sterilisation cycle should have automatic shutdown features in the event of a power failure. These are practical considerations that support both day-to-day infection control and emergency preparedness.

For businesses in shared buildings (shopping centres, medical centres), the infection control and chemical storage practices of the beauty or tattoo business may be relevant to the building-wide Emergency Management Plan. The building manager should be informed of any hazardous materials stored on the premises.

Ventilation as a Fire Safety Factor

Adequate ventilation is critical in businesses that use flammable chemicals. Nail bars, in particular, require mechanical ventilation to prevent vapour accumulation. Poor ventilation not only creates a health risk for staff and clients (chronic exposure to monomer and acetone vapours) but also increases the fire risk by allowing flammable vapours to reach concentrations where ignition is possible.

The evacuation diagram does not need to show the ventilation system in detail, but the Emergency Management Plan should address ventilation as part of the fire risk assessment. If the ventilation system fails, the risk of vapour accumulation increases, and the business may need to stop operations until ventilation is restored. This operational decision intersects with emergency planning.

For businesses in shopping centres, the tenancy ventilation may be part of the centre's mechanical system. Any maintenance or outage affecting the centre's HVAC system could impact the tenancy's ventilation. The tenant should be aware of this dependency and have a procedure for responding to ventilation failures.

Get Evacuation Diagrams for Your Tattoo Studio or Beauty Salon

EvacPath creates AS 3745-compliant evacuation diagrams for tattoo studios, beauty salons, nail bars, laser clinics, and day spas across Australia. We understand the small tenancy layouts and specific hazards of the personal services industry.

Send us your floor plan and we will deliver print-ready PDFs in 3 to 5 business days. No site visit required. Pricing starts at A$70 per diagram. Basic Package A$280 for up to 4 diagrams, Standard Package A$420 for up to 8 diagrams.