Moves to protect sunbed users

Aberdeenshire Council’s environmental health service is carrying out a programme of sunbed safety checks across the area.

Officers will be visiting the premises of businesses which own or hire out sunbeds to help protect users from over exposure to UV radiation.

The teams will be checking whether sunbeds comply with the relevant European standard and testing equipment to ensure it is operating within legal limits.

The aim is to encourage businesses to purchase and use 0.3 W/m2 compliant tubes, which reduce the risk of users overexposing themselves to UV radiation, leading to burning and a higher risk of developing skin cancer.

Experts say a tanning session using compliant tubes delivers the same tanning effects as the Mediterranean mid-day summer sun without the risk of burning, which non-compliant bulbs may present.

The checks will be carried out at tanning salons throughout Aberdeenshire over a period of three weeks between May 28 and June 15.

Anyone who has any queries about the initiative should contact the environmental health department by email at environmental@aberdeenshire.gov.uk

Concern about the effects of using sunbeds has been growing for a number of years following a series of academic studies, including work carried out by Dundee University.