The Bartholomew County Health Department has been working to draft an ordinance that would allow county health officials to license and routinely inspect local tattoo and body piercing shops for the first time.
The ordinance, which cleared the Bartholomew County Board of Health on Thursday, would allow the county health department to set up a system to issue permits to local tattoo and body piercing shops and licenses to tattoo artists, officials said. It also would allow health officials to inspect licensed facilities on a regular basis, similar to routine restaurant inspections.
The proposed ordinance is now expected to head to the Bartholomew County commissioners for consideration. It is currently unclear exactly when the commissioners will take up the matter, though county health officials said a formal reading could come as early as next month.
If the ordinance is ultimately adopted, county health officials said they hope to develop the system next year.
The new effort would be funded, at least in part, by Health First Indiana, a statewide initiative aiming to “transform public health” in Indiana, which lags behind much of the country in public health outcomes, officials said.
The Bartholomew County Health Department received $928,011 through the initiative in 2024, according to the Indiana Department of Health. Next year, county health officials are expecting to receive about $1.78 million in additional funding through the initiative.
“The Environmental Health Division (of the Bartholomew County Health Department) has expressed interest to the Board of Health in developing a tattoo and body piercing ordinance for Bartholomew County for a number of years,” said Link Fulp, the department’s director of the environmental health. “With the introduction of the Health First Indiana funding program we are able to work towards this aspect of public health.”
Currently, tattoo and body piercing shops are not licensed by the Bartholomew County Health Department and are only inspected by local health officials when they receive a complaint, which Fulp characterized as a “rare occasion.”
Under state law, tattoo artists are not required to receive formal training on tattooing or register with the Indiana Department of Health. State health officials also are not required to perform routine inspections of tattoo parlors.
However, state law does require tattoo artists to receive yearly training on how diseases are spread by contact with blood. Tattoo artists also are required to wear gloves or other appropriate personal protection while performing tattooing procedures and needles and reusable equipment must be sterilized before being used.
Fulp said the local ordinance would use the same training requirements and would contain a listing of possible fines if an owner or business remains in violation of a health or safety code after “a number of attempts” to bring them into compliance.
Getting tattoos and piercings can carry certain health risks, especially if studios or shops do not follow proper safety steps, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Some potential risks are skin infections and blood-borne illnesses, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, among others. Health officials recommend getting a hepatitis B vaccine before getting a tattoo.
Local health officials said they do not know how many tattoo and body piercing shops in Bartholomew County but “will start contacting local facilities and determining just how many are out there” should ordinance ultimately be adoptied.
“Facilities and artists have expressed support in the past for a local licensing system to enhance credibility and sanitary awareness with the public,” Fulp said.
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