[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Health of the Town of Ashland 5-29-1984; amended in
its entirety 8-24-2000. Amendments noted where applicable.]
Under the authority of Section 31 of Chapter 111 of the General
Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Board of Health of
the Town of Ashland, has adopted the following as an addition to the
regulations of said Board: RULES AND REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE PRACTICE
OF MASSAGE, VAPORS, POOL, SHOWERS OR OTHER BATHS.
MASSAGE — The manipulation or conditioning of
part or parts of the body by manual, mechanical or other means as
a beauty treatment, for purported health or medical treatment, or
for the purpose of invigoration.
- ESTABLISHMENT FOR GIVING MASSAGE, OR VAPORS, POOL, SHOWER OR OTHER BATHS
- The office, place of business, or premises where massage is practiced or where therapeutic or conditioning baths of water, vapor, or other substance are given.
- APPROVED
- Approved by the Board of Health of Town of Ashland.
- APPROVED COURSE OF MASSAGE
- A course on the art and science of massage, which includes both theory and practice and is approved by the Board of Health of the Town of Ashland.
- PERSON
- Corporation, company, association, society, firm, partnership, and joint stock company, as well as an individual, male or female, as the case may be.
A.
License. No person shall practice massage or conduct for the giving
of massage, vapors, pool, shower or other baths for hire or reward,
or advertise or hold himself or herself out as being engaged in the
business of massage or the giving of said baths in the Town of Ashland,
without being licensed therefor from the Board of Health.
B.
Requirements. No person shall be licensed to practice massage or
conduct an establishment for giving massage, vapors, pool, shower
or other baths unless he or she meets the following requirements:
(1)
Be twenty-one (21) years of age or older.
(2)
A satisfactory criminal record.
(3)
Submit to the Board of Health a completed application containing
all the information requested by said form.
(4)
Have completed an approved course of massage.
(5)
No license to practice massage shall be granted for the exclusive
purpose of practicing massage in the home of patrons.
D.
License expiration. Licenses automatically expire on December 31st
of each year.
A.
License. Every establishment for giving massage or vapors, pool,
shower, or other baths shall meet the following standards:
(1)
It shall be well lighted and well ventilated.
(2)
No room used by the licensee in the conduct of his/her business shall
be used as a bedroom.
(3)
There shall be an adequate supply of hot and cold running water at
all times.
(4)
There shall be approved toilet and washing facilities within the
premises, readily available to the persons and affording sufficient
privacy. Each shower shall have a foot tub with a 0.3 to 0.6 percent
solution of available chlorine or its equal as a disinfectant. Each
establishment shall be equipped with the following minimum facilities:
one women's facilities toilet and lavatory and one men's
toilet, urinal and lavatory for each 40 patrons or fraction thereof.
(5)
Where patrons of both sexes are accommodated at the same time, adequate
arrangements shall be made for separation of rooms and facilities
used by each sex.
(6)
All rooms of the establishment and furniture and equipment therein
shall be kept clean at all times.
(7)
All rooms used for reception and treatment of patrons shall be arranged
so as to afford adequate fire protection and shall have satisfactory
means of egress in case of fire, as approved by the Building Inspector.
(8)
All robes, sheets, blankets, pillowcases, wearing apparel, or other
materials, which may come in direct contact with the body, shall be
adequately cleaned and washed after each use according to latest modern
methods.
(9)
All equipment, instruments and devices which may come in contact
with the body shall be subjected to an approved bactericidal treatment
after each use by (a) immersion for at least two (2) minutes in a
lukewarm chlorine bath containing at least 50 p.p.m. of available
chlorine or its equal or (b) immersion in hot water of over a temperature
of 170° Fahrenheit for at least two (2) minutes. If the equipment,
instruments and devices, which may come in contact with the body,
cannot be subjected to treatment as found in items (a) and (b) of
this subsection, an impervious sheeting shall be supplied by the owner
and put on the surface of contact and shall be discarded after each
use.
(10)
Every individual employed by an establishment for the giving of massage, vapors, pool, shower or other baths shall be licensed under § 297-3 thereof.
(11)
Operating hours shall be between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 10:00
p.m. All patrons are to be out at 10:00 p.m.; all personnel out at
11:00 p.m. Cleaning and sanitation requirements are to be performed
during operating hours.
B.
(Reserved)
D.
License expiration. Licenses shall automatically expire on December
31st of each year.
A.
Persons excepted. Physicians, physical therapists or chiropodists
(podiatrists) registered in the commonwealth are excluded. A person
registered as a barber or an apprentice under the provisions of Section
87 or Section 87 I of Chapter 112 of the General Laws or as a hairdresser,
operator, or a student under the provisions of Sections 87 I to 87
JJ, inclusive, of said Chapter 112 of the General Laws, may practice
facial and scalp massage without being licensed under the chapter.
B.
Exceptions in cases of persons licensed by other communities. A person
licensed to practice massage or conduct an establishment for giving
massage in any other town in the commonwealth may, at the request
of a physician, attend patients, specified by the physician, in Ashland.
He shall, if requested, submit to the Board of Health office a copy
of his license from another community and written confirmation of
the physician's request.
C.
Establishment exceptions. Hospitals, nursing and convalescent homes,
and other similar licensed institutions, where massage and baths may
be given, are excluded from the definition of an establishment.
D.
Penalties. Whoever violates any provision of these rules and regulations
shall be punished by a fine of not more than $100, or imprisonment
for not more than six (6) months or both, in accordance with Section
53, Chapter 140 of the General Laws.
E.
Invalidation. If any clause, section, paragraph, sentence,
or phrase of these rules and regulations shall be decided invalid
for any reason whatsoever, such decision shall not affect the remaining
portions of these regulations, which shall remain in full force and
effect, and to this end the provisions of these regulations are hereby
declared severable.
