This story began with an assignment from my editor who asked me to look at the electronic data on inspections conducted at nail salons. We requested inspection data collected by the Florida Business and Professional Regulation for the years 2003-06. As I began the analysis it became clear that this story was about the lack of health safety at nail salons, where unsafe conditions were clearly a danger to consumers.
We found that consumers have suffered infections, allergic reactions, loss of nails and even, in rare cases, hepatitis after receiving manicures and pedicures from nail salons that don’t maintain health and safety standards. Inspectors cited dozens of nail salons for ignoring sanitation rules, failing to use disinfectant to sterilize tools, storing dirty instruments with clean ones and, in some cases, allowing unlicensed employees to work for months. The analysis found citations were issued to small one-stop operations as well as salons run by well-known franchises.