The dangers of sunbed misuse

[superbiatch]

I actually use sunbeds for therapeutic reasons although I've not been on them since before xmas. I have psoriasis and for some reason they really clear it up - at the moment i have it on my face, patches on the tops of my arms and my legs.

The ones i use have quite responsible owners, they don't allow anyone under 16 to use them and question you profusely about skin type, length spent on them and also go over the dangers which i think they are legally obliged to display.

The girl has been stupid to think anyone would believe she thought they were 100% safe, but the owners also have a responsibility to ensure kids aren't using them and people are using them carefully

[Kymmy]

Originally Posted by ANTOINE

I once misused a sun bed as a sandwich toaster. Took me ages to get the cheese off it.

As long as you don;t use the sandwich toaster as a sunbed...I can just imagine the griddle marks

[piggy]

Originally Posted by rogermevans

another reason to ban these places

should be 18 + and manned

shes 14 she cant legally enter a contract so i hope they throw the book at them maybe the insurers will stop them then

so responsible adults have to suffer for stupid teenagers ? the buisness has done nothing wrong the girl is a fool!

---------- Post added at 18:19 ---------- Previous post was at 18:18 ----------

Originally Posted by Kymmy

She's just been on the radio stating that it's the salons fault...sounds like a trailer park money grabber who's looking for a bit of compensation...

If she ignored the signs (and there would ahve been signs as to no-one under 16 without supervision) then it's her own stupid fault.. From hearing her though I bet she won't learn her lesson...

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by lauzjp

even if there were staff in there, are they really going to stop someone who's been in longer than x minutes?

Probably not, but the company (and the local council if they are anything like mine) can test to see if they are by the use of "phantom customers" (people paid to go in and test the staff).

Even if the staff didn't enforce it, the fact they are there may help protect the company in the event of legal action, as long as the company can demonstrate that they have procedures for enforcing this requirement.

---------- Post added at 18:24 ---------- Previous post was at 18:20 ----------

Originally Posted by piggy

so responsible adults have to suffer for stupid teenagers ? the buisness has done nothing wrong the girl is a fool!

How is ensuring that these salons are staffed causing responsible adults to suffer?

The business has done nothing wrong (legally anyway) but if they are sucessfully sued for this and claim it from their liability insurance, then responsible adults will suffer as the owners of other similar business will have to pay increased premiums..

[punky]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Precisely! So unmanned sunbeds are a no no for precisely this reason..children aren't always as clued up as you would think..After all how many of us were interested in boring things like watching the news or reading newspapers when we were 14?

At 14 I read warning notices though. If I headache I looked at the packet and if it said 1 tablet, I took 1 tablet. Not 1 tablet for 5 mins and then decide I have a really bad headache and have 3 more, and then complain someone should have stopped me when I was ill.

If this man was negligent and there were no signs up, then fair enough, string him up by his toes. I'm in favour of putting superfluous warning notices on everything to protect the truly dense people in this world (like the woman who sued Mickey Ds because they didn't warn her that her coffee was hot). However, if there are warning notices up and people ignore them, what can you do? If it was manned what's to stop her maxing out the limit at that salon and moving to another one straight after? Who is to blame then?

I wish the parent/daughter would come out warning people of the dangers of suntanning, rather than trying to ruin this owner's livelyhood because her daughter wilfull neglected to heed health warnings.

[piggy]

Originally Posted by Stuart C

Probably not, but the company (and the local council if they are anything like mine) can test to see if they are by the use of "phantom customers" (people paid to go in and test the staff).

Even if the staff didn't enforce it, the fact they are there may help protect the company in the event of legal action, as long as the company can demonstrate that they have procedures for enforcing this requirement.

---------- Post added at 18:24 ---------- Previous post was at 18:20 ----------



How is ensuring that these salons are staffed causing responsible adults to suffer?

The business has done nothing wrong (legally anyway) but if they are sucessfully sued for this and claim it from their liability insurance, then responsible adults will suffer as the owners of other similar business will have to pay increased premiums..

staff cost money so that cost would be reflected in increased costs so the adult pays more because of stupid teenagers, as for being sued if the buisness is legal and the signs are present what case is there? if that were the case cant the alcohol suppliers be sued for the underage drunken behaviour, as i stated earlier if the feral teenager wants to do something/anything then they will.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by piggy

staff cost money so that cost would be reflected in increased costs so the adult pays more because of stupid teenagers, as for being sued if the buisness is legal and the signs are present what case is there?

That is assuming that the signs were clearly displayed when she went in, and not just after. If the prosecution were able to prove they were not clearly displayed, then the signs would offer no protection regardless of whether they were there or not.

if that were the case cant the alcohol suppliers be sued for the underage drunken behaviour, as i stated earlier if the feral teenager wants to do something/anything then they will.

Because Alchohol is only sold in manned outlets, so the rules about underage drinking can be enforced, and if they are not, action can be taken.

If they started selling alchol in Vending machines then that might be a good comparison.

Originally Posted by ANTOINE

I once misused a sun bed as a sandwich toaster. Took me ages to get the cheese off it.

Must remember that excuse..........

[Julian]

Originally Posted by punky

snippety

I wish the parent/daughter would come out warning people of the dangers of suntanning, rather than trying to ruin this owner's livelyhood because her daughter wilfull neglected to heed health warnings.

That is so true.

The "mother" should accept responsibility for her daughters actions. The daughter is still a child fgs.

But no, as ever with the blame culture we have, it's easier to blame anybody else than admit zero parenting skills.

One word for her, PRAT. She said, "when she came off she didn't think she was tanned enough", you can't tell the difference until a few days later. I used sunbeds once a week for 10 minutes, it clears my skin up and gives me a healthy glow, there's nothing wrong with them if they are used right. She's after some compensation which she's not going to get because she shouldn't have been in threre in the first place.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Julian

But no, as ever with the blame culture we have, it's easier to blame anybody else than admit zero parenting skills.

While they should *both* be aware of the potential problems of even controlled use of sunbeds, and the daughter should have been aware that she shouldn't go over the limit (even without seeing signs and never having been on a sunbed, I knew that you shouldn't go over the limit), and the daughter should have been aware that it takes a while to tan, it's a little strong to say that the mother is a bad parent or has zero parenting skills. As far as we know, the mother made ONE mistake. She may not have even done that. She may have been unaware that her daughter was using sunbeds.

Assuming you have kids, have you ever told them how to use Sunbeds correctly? If you haven't, does that make you a bad parent? It's not something I can recall my mum telling me, and she certainly wasn't a bad parent.

I still don't like the idea of unmanned salons though, and find it staggering that we have a government that is happy to allow people to expose themselves to fairly high levels of radiation using devices that have been known to cause cancer in unsupervised environments, but is happy to ban things that are a lot safer.

---------- Post added at 10:17 ---------- Previous post was at 10:15 ----------

Originally Posted by Nidge

One word for her, PRAT. She said, "when she came off she didn't think she was tanned enough", you can't tell the difference until a few days later. I used sunbeds once a week for 10 minutes, it clears my skin up and gives me a healthy glow, there's nothing wrong with them if they are used right. She's after some compensation which she's not going to get because she shouldn't have been in threre in the first place.

She may get it if the health and safety executive find that there were no clearly visible signs in the shop stating that before she used a sunbed. You can bet your bottom dollar there are signs there now.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Nidge

One word for her, PRAT. She said, "when she came off she didn't think she was tanned enough", you can't tell the difference until a few days later.

With respect though she IS only a kid. There are some pretty smart 14 year olds out there but evidently some are around who aren't playing with a full deck.

[piggy]

Originally Posted by Russ B

With respect though she IS only a kid. There are some pretty smart 14 year olds out there but evidently some are around who aren't playing with a full deck.

there are also some adults around here who aren't playing with a full deck

[Russ]

Well that's their own look-out. But a 14 year old can't be expected to carry much of the blame in this.

[lauzjp]

a 15 year old can get the pill and have a baby, but a 14 year old can't have the brain capacity to know when to stop using a sun bed?