All Light, No Heat

Most salons do. However, state records show there's been 81 cases in the past six years when salons failed to get licenses or broke safety rules, such as policing the use of tanning beds by minors and properly sanitizing beds to prevent the spread of bacteria and viruses.

Some fix their problems. Others don't and just keep operating.

Records show 73 tanning salons with more than $225,000 in unpaid penalties and fees remain open without proof they've corrected their problems. Some violations date back years.

That irks Rick Waldenburg, owner of the Portland area's SunsUp Tanning Centers and a member of the state's advisory committee for tanning salons. "They can do all this scandalous stuff nobody even knows, and they're still open for business," Waldenburg says. "That's not right."

The agency, Radiation Protection Services, is part of the Oregon Health Authority. The 18-employee office regulates hospital X-ray machines, the storage of radioactive materials, and Oregon's 424 tanning salons.

The agency has proven powerless to close salons that don't follow the rules.

Oregon, meanwhile, has the highest rate of melanoma incidents—and death—among women in the nation, according to national cancer databases. Dr. Sancy Leachman, director of the melanoma research program at Oregon Health & Science University's Knight Cancer Institute, says an increase in melanoma cases correlates with young women's use of tanning salons.

"Do I think it's better if we can enforce [the rules]?" Leachman says. "You bet."

One chain, Tan Republic, has 64 franchises in Oregon and Washington. According to state records, 14 Tan Republic outlets have outstanding violations, such as failing to register tanning beds or employ trained staff.

Some violations stretch back to 2010. The franchises, which are individually owned, collectively owe Oregon $126,995 in fines and penalties, state records show.

In 2013, inspectors cited the Tan Republic on West Burnside Street for operating beds without an adequately trained operator present and failing to maintain records that showed employees had evaluated and kept records of clients' skin type—a crucial first step toward preventing excessive exposure to ultraviolet rays. The salon's unpaid fines and penalties have hit $2,900. The Oregon City Tan Republic—cited in 2014 for failing to ensure customers wore protective eyewear and for allowing minors to tan without an approved doctor's note—has unpaid penalties of $8,125.

Zack Flenniken is a guest relations manager for Lioness Holdings, which owns 25 Tan Republics, including the Burnside and Oregon City locations. He says the salons follow all state rules—including those on record-keeping and training—and fix problems identified by state officials.

Flenniken says penalties have piled up because the salons didn't know it was their responsibility to tell the state when they had made fixes.

"We try to be the best corporate citizens we can be," he says.

State regulators inspect salons every three years. Since 2007, the state has charged salons an annual registration fee of $100 for each of the 1,823 tanning beds in Oregon. The Oregon Health Authority wants to raise that fee to $150.

Steven Wagner, an OHA administrator, says the state tries to collect unpaid fines through the Oregon Department of Revenue. Wagner says the state lacks the power to close salons unless they pose an "imminent health risk" to the public. "When it's about the fact that they haven't paid, it is really difficult to go in that direction," he says.

In 2010, the state ordered the closure of tanning beds at one salon, Loving's Hair Gallery East & Tanning Works in Northeast Portland, after a customer received first- and second-degree burns when she fell asleep in a bed. Employees failed to wake the customer.

Wagner acknowledges some customers are unaware of the state's findings against salons. "There's some element of buyer beware," he says.

He says salons that have violations are supposed to post that information for customers.

But what are the chances a salon that's already ignoring the rules would follow that one?

“I have no data,” Wagner says. 

WWeek 2015