A personal service setting (PSS) is a premises in Ontario where personal services are provided to the public, including hairdressing, barbering, nail services, waxing, esthetics, tattooing, microblading, body piercing, and electrolysis. PSS operators are regulated under the Health Protection and Promotion Act and Ontario Regulation 136/18, and inspected by the local public health unit.
If you operate a tattoo studio, a hair or nail salon, an esthetics business, a piercing shop, or a microblading clinic in Ontario, you are working inside a layered compliance regime that most owners do not fully appreciate when they sign their first commercial lease. Provincial regulation sets the substantive infection-prevention floor, the local public health unit inspects and posts the results, and most municipalities (Toronto being the most heavily regulated) layer a separate business licence and zoning regime on top. Get any layer wrong, and the consequences range from a Conditional Pass posted at the front door, to a closure order, to fines of up to $5,000 a day for the operator personally and $25,000 a day for the corporation.
This guide walks through what falls inside the regulation, the 14-day notification, the infection prevention and control (IPAC) and record-keeping obligations, how the inspection regime works (with Toronto's BodySafe disclosure program as the leading example), the municipal licensing overlay, the consequences of non-compliance, and the corporate structuring decisions multi-location operators should be making early rather than late.
What Counts as a Personal Service Setting?
A "personal service" under Ontario Regulation 136/18 is a procedure that involves contact with the skin, hair, or mucous membranes for cosmetic or aesthetic purposes, as opposed to a regulated health service performed by a regulated health professional acting within their scope. A PSS is the premises where those services are provided.
The regulation captures a broad slice of the consumer-services economy:
- Hairdressing and barbering (cutting, shaving, styling, colouring)
- Aesthetics, including manicures and pedicures, waxing, facials, and eyelash extensions
- Tattooing, microblading, micropigmentation, and permanent makeup
- Ear and body piercing
- Electrolysis
- Newer service types confirmed by public health units, such as halo head spas and cold plunge facilities
Two categories sit outside the PSS regime. Services delivered by regulated health professionals (a dentist, physician, or registered massage therapist, for example) acting within scope are governed by the Regulated Health Professions Act and its profession-specific colleges, not by O. Reg. 136/18. A medical aesthetics clinic that combines RHPA-regulated procedures with cosmetic procedures often sits across both regimes and should be analysed with care. Holistic centres and body-rub parlours are licensed separately under the Toronto Municipal Code (Chapter 545) and similar by-laws elsewhere; they are not generic PSS for licensing purposes even where the underlying services overlap.
The Provincial Regulatory Framework
The Health Protection and Promotion Act, RSO 1990, c H.7, is the parent statute, and it is the source of the local public health unit's authority. Ontario Regulation 136/18 is made under the HPPA's regulation-making power and operates as a delegated rule. Boards of health and Medical Officers of Health draw their inspection, order, and enforcement powers from the HPPA itself, not from the regulation. Public health inspectors are the day-to-day enforcement officers, with entry, inspection, sample-taking, and ticketing powers.
Six obligations sit at the centre of O. Reg. 136/18.
1. The 14-day notice of intention to operate. Every person who intends to operate a PSS must give written notice to the Medical Officer of Health of the local public health unit at least 14 days before commencing operation. The notice must include the name and location of the PSS, contact information for the operator, and a list of the personal services that will be provided. Re-notification is required when the operator opens a new location, expands the services offered, changes ownership, relocates, or undertakes renovations beyond routine maintenance. The 14-day period is a minimum, not a target. A pre-opening visit is common for tattoo, piercing, and other invasive-service operators, so the notice should be built into the construction schedule, not the launch checklist.
2. Infection prevention and control. O. Reg. 136/18 incorporates Public Health Ontario's IPAC standards by operational reference. The current working compliance document is the PHO Guide to Infection Prevention and Control in Personal Service Settings (3rd edition). The standard scales with risk: equipment that contacts intact skin only must be cleaned and low-level disinfected, equipment that contacts non-intact skin or mucous membranes (most piercing and tattoo equipment, electrolysis probes) must be cleaned and either high-level disinfected or sterilized as appropriate, and single-use items (needles, razor blades, certain piercing components) must be discarded after one client. Hand hygiene, gloves, and barrier protection apply to invasive procedures. A separate handwashing sink is generally required, with a narrow exemption for premises providing only barbering and hairdressing if reusable equipment is reprocessed at the start and end of each business day rather than between clients.
3. Records and logs. Inspectors expect contemporaneous records, not after-the-fact reconstructions. Operators should maintain:
- A sterilization log capturing each cycle (date, load, biological or chemical indicator results); regular biological indicator testing is the industry standard.
- An equipment maintenance log for autoclaves and ultrasonic cleaners, including cleaning, calibration, and servicing.
- Client records, including contact information, for any PSS providing services beyond hairdressing and barbering. Hairdressing-and-barbering-only operations have a narrow exemption from routine collection but must still record contact information whenever an injury occurs.
- An incident report for every accidental exposure, capturing the date and time, the service involved, the body part exposed, the operator and provider involved, the response taken, and the contact information of the exposed person.
Operators should default to a multi-year retention period and confirm specifics with the local public health unit.
4. Inspection result posting. Operators must post the results of public health inspections as directed by the inspector. In practice, that means a colour-coded notice at or near the entrance: green for Pass, yellow for Conditional Pass, red for Closed.
5. Prohibited services. Two categories are prohibited outright: ear candling, and services involving aquatic species (fish pedicures and similar). Operators should treat the prohibited list as a hard floor; even a one-off "novelty" event using a banned procedure can trigger an order to comply and a charge under the HPPA.
6. Setting requirements. The regulation sets minimum standards for lighting, ventilation, hot and cold running water, cleanable surfaces, and separation of clean and dirty workflows. The build-out implications matter: the standards drive plumbing, electrical, and ventilation requirements that are often more demanding than a generic retail tenant build-out, and they should be raised at the offer-to-lease stage, not after construction has started.
How Inspection and Disclosure Actually Work
Ontario's public health units run risk-based inspection programs, and Toronto Public Health's BodySafe program is the leading example. Most large public health units mirror its structure, even where the program is branded differently.
Inspection frequency tracks procedure risk. Critical services, the invasive ones (tattooing, body piercing, microblading), are inspected at least once per year, with additional complaint-driven inspections layered on. Semi-critical services (haircuts, manicures, waxing, eyelash extensions) are inspected once per year, plus complaints. Non-critical services (no direct skin contact, certain non-invasive facial treatments) are inspected on a complaint-driven basis only.
Three infraction categories drive the disclosure outcome. Crucial infractions present an immediate health hazard (no working handwashing sink, improper sharps disposal, sterilization failure); if they cannot be corrected during the inspection, they trigger a service or premises closure. Significant infractions present a potential health hazard (unsanitary work surfaces, reuse of single-use items); they trigger a Conditional Pass and a re-inspection within 48 business hours. Minor infractions are documentation or administrative gaps; they accumulate against the operator over time without by themselves triggering a Conditional Pass.
Public disclosure is the bite. The colour-coded notice goes at or near the entrance, and Toronto also publishes results online in the BodySafe inspection database. The disclosure regime is intentionally consumer-facing: a yellow notice on the door is a marketing problem and a financial problem at the same time. Repeated non-compliance also blocks renewal of the municipal business licence in Toronto, and most other Ontario municipalities apply the same logic.
The Municipal Licensing Overlay
Public health regulation is only the first half of the compliance picture. Most municipalities require a separate business licence to operate a PSS, with its own application process, fees, and zoning approval. Toronto sits at the most demanding end of that spectrum.
Under Chapter 545 of the Toronto Municipal Code, the City of Toronto requires a Personal Services Settings business licence for businesses providing hairstyling, manicures and pedicures, tattooing, microblading, micropigmentation, body piercing, electrolysis, and similar services. The licence is separate from the BodySafe inspection regime but interlinked: BodySafe non-compliance can block licence renewal. A 14-day BodySafe notice (bodysafe@toronto.ca) is required before opening, moving, adding new services, or renovating, in addition to the public health unit's notice under O. Reg. 136/18. Most applications require zoning approval, which means the zoning check belongs at site selection, not after the lease is signed. A unit zoned for "personal service" generally works; a unit zoned solely for general retail or restaurant use may not, and rezoning is slow.
Toronto licenses holistic centres and body-rub parlours under the same chapter as separate categories, with stricter zoning, hours of operation, and conduct rules. A massage-style or wellness service that is neither a regulated health profession nor a body-rub parlour can fall into the holistic centre category. Operators considering wellness or alternative-therapy services should obtain a clear classification before signing the lease, because classification determines the licence type, the zoning, and the operating restrictions.
Mississauga, Ottawa, Hamilton, and most large Ontario municipalities require some combination of business licence, zoning approval, and public health notice. Specific licence categories and fees vary materially. For multi-location operators, the variance is meaningful and should be priced into the location-by-location decision rather than assumed away.
Consequences of Non-Compliance
Public-health-side consequences begin with an order to comply, which the operator must remediate within a defined period. Where the inspector identifies an immediate health hazard, the premises (or a service line within the premises) can be closed on the spot under the Medical Officer of Health's HPPA powers. Where the operator fails to comply with an order or breaches the regulation, charges can be laid under the HPPA. Maximum fines under the HPPA can reach $5,000 a day for an individual and $25,000 a day for a corporation. Where a corporation is convicted, directors and officers who directed, authorised, or acquiesced in the offence can be personally liable, which makes the corporate structure and director-appointment decisions a real risk allocation question rather than paperwork.
Municipal consequences follow: suspension or non-renewal of the business licence, public disclosure of the inspection result (a sustained reputational hit for a consumer-facing business), and re-inspection and administrative fees.
A third consequence is sometimes overlooked. A documented IPAC failure that contributes to a client's blood-borne infection or scarring is a near-certain plaintiff's case. Insurance is essential, and the IPAC and inspection records become disclosure documents in the litigation that follows.
Corporate Structuring for PSS Operators
Operators who run more than one location, are franchising or being franchised, or are layering chair-rental arrangements on top of an employee base, all face structuring decisions that should be made early.
One corporation, multiple locations. The simplest model: one Ontario corporation operates two or more locations. The downside is concentration risk. A regulatory failure at one location, a client injury at another, or a defaulted lease at a third all expose the same balance sheet, and directors and officers face exposure across the entire portfolio.
Separate corporation per location. A separate Ontario corporation is incorporated for each location. Each operating company (Opco) signs its own lease, holds its own employees, files its own public health notice, and holds its own municipal licence. A regulatory or civil failure at one Opco does not automatically reach the others, and selling or closing a location is cleaner. Lenders, landlords, and franchisors often prefer this structure. The trade-off is administrative: incorporation, accounting, and corporate maintenance multiply, and the protection holds only if each Opco is genuinely run as a separate business. Commingling assets, payroll, or contracts can pierce the corporate veil and reverse the protection.
Holding company on top. A holding corporation owns the shares of each Opco. Profits move up to the Holdco by inter-corporate dividend, and the Holdco can hold the brand IP, training materials, real estate, and excess cash. The structure is a tax planning tool as much as a liability ring-fence. Section 85 rollovers and other reorganisations are sometimes used at incorporation to crystallise capital gains exemptions or to set up an estate freeze.
Franchise versus licence. Many growing PSS brands either franchise to other operators or operate under a licence with a brand owner. Ontario's Arthur Wishart Act, 2000 (Franchise Disclosure) is engaged whenever the arrangement crosses the franchise threshold, which a fee plus a marketing system plus a continuing operational relationship will typically do. Mis-classifying a franchise as a "licence" exposes the brand owner to disclosure liability and rescission rights, and it is a common and expensive mistake.
Where PSS Compliance Touches Other Files
PSS compliance does not live alone on the legal file.
Commercial leasing. The PSS build-out drives the leasehold improvements clause: plumbing for sinks, ventilation for chemical exposure, drainage, electrical capacity for autoclaves, layout of clean and dirty zones. The use clause must permit the specific personal services to be provided. A use clause that says "general retail" is not enough, and a use clause that says "hair salon" may not cover tattooing if the operator later expands. Most landlords will require evidence of public health and municipal licensing as a condition of possession, so the regulatory timeline must be built into the lease and the construction schedule.
Employment classification. Salons frequently operate on a chair-rental model where the stylist rents space and operates as an independent contractor. The Employment Standards Act applies a substance-over-form test, which means the label in the agreement does not control. If the operator sets hours, controls the client list, supplies the tools, and takes a percentage of the till, the relationship is an employee relationship for ESA purposes regardless of what the contract says (Ministry of Labour, Employee Status). Ontario also recognises a third category, the dependent contractor, which can attract reasonable-notice obligations on termination. Misclassification has retroactive cost: unpaid vacation pay, public holiday pay, ESA termination and severance, and CPP and EI source deductions. The CRA and the Ministry of Labour both audit this industry.
Insurance. Operators should carry commercial general liability with adequate cosmetic-services and professional-liability extensions, premises insurance, and (for tattoo and piercing operators) blood-borne pathogen coverage where available. The lease will typically require the landlord to be named additional insured.
Practical Compliance Checklist
The shortest version of the framework, in the order it tends to come up.
Before signing the lease
- Confirm zoning permits the specific personal services to be provided.
- Confirm the leasehold improvements clause permits the build-out, including plumbing, ventilation, drainage, and electrical for autoclaves.
- Negotiate a fixturing period long enough to complete the build-out and the public health pre-opening visit before rent commencement.
- Confirm the use clause covers all current and likely-future services.
Before opening
- File the 14-day notice with the local Medical Officer of Health (and BodySafe in Toronto).
- Apply for the municipal business licence and clear zoning approval.
- Stand up the IPAC system: sterilization equipment, biological indicator testing, sterilization and equipment-maintenance logs, sharps disposal, and single-use inventory.
- Train all staff on IPAC, hand hygiene, sharps handling, and incident reporting.
- Confirm insurance is in force and the landlord is named as required by the lease.
- Decide the corporate structure: one Opco, separate Opcos per location, or Opco-Holdco. Document inter-corporate arrangements (management fees, IP licences) in writing.
- Classify each worker as employee, dependent contractor, or independent contractor on a substance-of-relationship basis, not a label basis. Paper the relationships accordingly.
Ongoing
- Maintain sterilization, equipment, and incident logs.
- Maintain client contact records for all services beyond hairdressing-and-barbering only.
- Post inspection results as required.
- File a fresh 14-day notice on any material change: new services, new location, change of ownership, renovations beyond routine maintenance.
- Renew the municipal business licence on schedule. Resolve any inspection non-compliance before renewal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a licence to open a hair salon in Ontario?
Most Ontario municipalities, including Toronto, require a business licence to operate a hair salon. In Toronto, the licence is the Personal Services Settings licence under Chapter 545 of the Toronto Municipal Code, and it is separate from the public health regulation. Operators must also file the 14-day notice with the local public health unit before opening.
What is O. Reg. 136/18 and who does it apply to?
Ontario Regulation 136/18 (Personal Service Settings) is the regulation under the Health Protection and Promotion Act that governs every Ontario premises offering hairdressing, barbering, esthetics, tattooing, microblading, body piercing, electrolysis, and related personal services to the public. It sets the notification, IPAC, record-keeping, and posting obligations enforced by the local public health unit.
How much notice do I need to give before opening a tattoo studio in Ontario?
A minimum of 14 days' written notice to the Medical Officer of Health of the local public health unit. The notice must identify the operator, the location, and the services to be provided. Tattoo studios are a high-risk category, and most public health units conduct a pre-opening inspection before clients can be served, so the practical lead time is usually longer than 14 days.
What does the BodySafe yellow sign mean in Toronto?
A yellow Conditional Pass means a Toronto Public Health inspector identified one or more significant infractions, which present a potential health hazard. The premises can continue to operate, but a re-inspection is required within 48 business hours, and the notice remains visible to clients until the deficiencies are cleared.
Are fish pedicures legal in Ontario?
No. Ontario Regulation 136/18 prohibits services involving aquatic species at personal service settings. Ear candling is prohibited on the same basis. Operators offering either service can be ordered to comply and prosecuted under the Health Protection and Promotion Act.
Can I run multiple salon locations under one corporation?
Yes, but it concentrates risk. A regulatory or civil failure at one location can reach the assets of every other location operated by the same corporation. Many multi-location operators use a separate operating corporation for each location, often with a holding corporation on top, to ring-fence liability and to make sales and closures cleaner. The right structure depends on the operator's risk profile, tax position, and growth plan.
Is a chair renter at my salon an employee under the ESA?
It depends on the substance of the relationship, not the label in the agreement. The Employment Standards Act applies a multi-factor test: who controls the hours, the client list, the tools, and the pricing; who takes the financial risk; and how independent the worker truly is. Many self-described "independent contractors" in the salon industry are employees on the ESA test. Ontario also recognises a third category, the dependent contractor, which can attract reasonable-notice obligations on termination.
What happens if my salon fails a public health inspection?
The outcome depends on the severity of the infractions. Crucial infractions that cannot be corrected during the inspection trigger an immediate closure of the service or premises. Significant infractions trigger a Conditional Pass with a 48-hour re-inspection window. Repeated non-compliance can lead to charges under the Health Protection and Promotion Act, fines of up to $5,000 a day for the operator and $25,000 a day for the corporation, and refusal to renew the municipal business licence.
Contact Hadri Law
Personal service setting compliance is layered, the consequences of getting it wrong reach the operator personally, and the structuring decisions a multi-location operator makes at the start are difficult to undo later. Whether you are about to sign your first commercial lease for a tattoo studio, building out a multi-location salon group, considering a franchise structure, or working through a Conditional Pass from your local public health unit, getting commercial and corporate counsel involved early is the right move.
Hadri Law's commercial and corporate team advises Ontario PSS operators on lease negotiation, corporate structuring, employment classification, franchising, and regulatory compliance.
Call (437) 974-2374 for a free consultation. We serve clients in English, French, Spanish, and Catalan.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Every situation is different. Contact a lawyer to discuss your specific circumstances.
