Prescribed infection control procedures as applied to Queensland tattoo operators: a review

Many diseases have been associated with tattooing. The risk of disease transfer is increased if inappropriate infection control measures are followed. This paper is a review of current literature and legislation covering tattooing in Queensland. Reference is made to an earlier study in which many issues were identified for tattoo operators and their practices, including a poor understanding of specific infection control measures, poor personal hygiene, insufficient training in infection control procedures, and inadequate sterilisation of equipment. Although the legislation was also identified as having poor applicability to the tattooing industry as a whole, it has since changed and now requires tattoo operators to undertake training in infection control. However, concerns are raised in this review about the appropriateness of training provided to tattoo operators (including the guidance on sterilising equipment), and the reluctance of tattoo operators to provide information about their tattooing procedures to local authorities — as both of these issues make it difficult to improve the implementation of infection control measures in this industry.