1. PREFACE The spreading of HIV, the prevention of infection with the Hepatitis viruses and the increased number of therapy-resistant tuberculoses are at the cause of the extremely increased care for prevention of infection-transmission with medical procedures at hospitals. There are, however, to this day, no binding guidelines to be guarded in a Piercing / Tattoo practice. Since there is a lack of supervision from the outside, every piercer/tattooist has to take responsibility himself. There's a lot of literature available concerning hygiene and the prevention of infection-transmission in the practice. And a lot of the suggested procedures are very difficult or impossible to use in your regular everyday piercing/tattoo situation. The methods complicate the efficient hygienic procedures. We're thinking about the contact between artist and client during the care. A large amount of clientele is treated in the same room and this happens one customer after the other. A large quantity of instruments and surfaces in the room are hard to clean or sterilise. Although one is reaching a consensus concerning the necessity of hygienic treatment, there is no unity on the way to achieve this goal. In this safety-manual we shall try to indicate the most important and most necessary safety measures that we believe are necessary to create a safe and responsible working environment for the artist, the associate and the customer. We shall also point out the reasons for such measures. It is however impossible to have a perfect solution for every situation and every practice. That is why we consider these measures as recommendations that should be followed as well as possible. We emphasise that the efficiency of an infection-intervention-protocol is determined by its weakest link. That is why there must be a full-scale system for every single practice, adjusted to the specific circumstances in which one is working and which stands up to the most strict demands of practice-hygiene. Never the less, every enhancement to the situation, however humble, shall contribute to a decreasing risk of infection-transfer. This safety-manual is constructed following the guidelines of: The Ministry of Public Health and Living Environment: Hygiene in the practice Following experts have contributed to the formulation of the recommendations concerning hygiene in the practice: Miss Mister DECLERCK, D BOUTE, P ROMPEN E. JANNES, H BURTONBOY, G VAN GANSBEKE, B LAUWERS, S GOUBAU, P WAUTERS, G SCHELSTRAETE, N HUYSMANS, J VERSCHRAEGEN, G MAJERUS, P ZUMOFEN, M REYBROUCK, G PROFESSOR DOCTOR G. REYBROUCK assured the presidency. The Ministry of Public Health and Living Environment: Recommendations concerning sterilisation-techniques Following experts have co-operated in the formulation of the recommendations of the High Council of Health: Miss Mister DONY, J ACCOE, W DE KEERSMAECKER, L FABER, Ch BONNET, F DEVLEESCHOUWER, M JACQUEMIN, G BOUGELET, Fr REYBROUCK, G VERSCHRAEGEN, G BRUYNEEL, P ROLAND, M ZUMOFEN, M BURTONBOY, G The presidency was assured by Professor Doctor G. REYBROUCK