The short answer
| Schedule | When | The rule’s wording | What it involves | On SOS Form 28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| After each client | Between every client, on every unit | (4)(a): “all pedicure units must be cleaned ... then disinfected for at least fifteen (15) minutes” | Clean with a chelating soap or detergent and water, then disinfect for at least fifteen minutes with a disinfectant whose label says it is EPA-registered as a disinfectant; a foot plate should be removed and the area beneath it cleaned | After Each Client |
| End of each day | Closing, on any unit used that day | (4)(b): “At the end of each day of use, the following procedures shall be used” | Filter screens sanitized, debris cleared from the screen and inlet, the jet components or foot plate removed and cleaned, disinfectant circulated through the system for 10 minutes, then drained, flushed with hot clean water for 10 minutes, wiped dry | End of Day |
| Once a week | After that night’s end-of-day steps | (4)(c): “Once each week, additional procedures should be performed.” Every verb in the paragraph is “should” | A teaspoon of 5.25% EPA-registered bleach per gallon of water, circulated 5 to 10 minutes, then drained and flushed per the manufacturer | End of Week |
Each is its own row on the Board’s SOS Form 28, with its own column under Disinfection Performed.
After each client
The one that happens all day, on every unit: the rule covers “all pedicure equipment that holds water including sinks, bowls, basins, pipe-less, and whirlpool spas”, so a plain bowl with no jets is on the same schedule as a whirlpool chair. After the client leaves, the unit “must be cleaned with a chelating soap or detergent with water to remove all visible debris, then disinfected for at least fifteen (15) minutes with a disinfectant that indicates on its label that it has been registered with the EPA as a disinfectant”. If the unit has a foot plate, it “should be removed and the area beneath it cleaned, rinsed, and wiped dry”. Fifteen minutes is the current rule’s contact time; the older chapter still printed on the state’s rules site said ten, and a shop still running on ten minutes is running on a rule from 2014. Every after-client cleaning is logged, with After Each Client checked. The steps in the rule’s order are in our guide to how to clean a pedicure foot spa in Georgia.
End of each day of use
At closing, every unit that had a client that day gets the deeper clean. The rule’s words are “At the end of each day of use, the following procedures shall be used”: the filter screens are sanitized, visible debris is removed from the screen and the inlet and cleaned with a chelating soap, the jet components or foot plate are removed and cleaned, the basin is filled with clean water and disinfectant and the solution is “circulated through foot spa system for 10 minutes and the unit then turned off”, then the unit is drained, flushed with hot clean water for ten minutes and wiped dry. It is in addition to the day’s after-client cleanings, not instead of the last one, and it is its own row with End of Day checked. “Each day of use” is the limit: a unit that saw no clients has no end-of-day row.
Once a week: the rule says “should”
This is the paragraph owners ask about, so here is exactly how it reads. Paragraph (4)(c) opens “Once each week, additional procedures should be performed. After completing the required cleaning procedures for the end of the day, the basin should be filled ...” and keeps that verb to the end. The procedure is a bleach run: “one teaspoon of 5.25% of EPA registered bleach for each gallon of water”, circulated through the system for five to ten minutes, then drained and flushed the way the manufacturer says.
Two things are true at once. The rule does not require the weekly run: “should”, in a section that says “shall” for the end-of-day steps and “must” for the log, is a recommendation, and the Board chose the word. And the Board’s own log form has an End of Week column, which is the Board telling you it expects to see the run on the sheet. Our suggestion is to do it, on a fixed night each week, and log it, for three reasons. The form has the column. An inspector looking at a month of sheets with an empty End of Week column will ask about it, and “the rule says should” is a conversation you would rather not be having at the chair. And the run itself is five to ten minutes of pump time on a night the unit is already drained and flushed. What this guide will not tell you is that Georgia requires it, because it does not.
On the night you run it, the weekly comes “after completing the required cleaning procedures for the end of the day”, and the form says one check per row, so that night has two rows: End of Day, then End of Week. ReadyPedi treats the weekly the way the rule does: it shows as a reminder, the Overview’s verdict leaves it out, and an End of Week row does not close the day, so the app still expects that night’s End of Day. The one thing it refuses is an End of Week riding on another row: “An End of Week cleaning is its own entry in Georgia.”
Which units: everything that holds water
Sinks, bowls, basins, pipe-less spas and whirlpool spas, in the rule’s own list. Georgia does not give a plain basin a shorter schedule the way California does: the rule draws no line between the kinds, and the end-of-day sentence applies to each day of use on any of them. The rule says nothing about disposable liners, so a Georgia shop is not asked to describe one, and a lined basin is logged as a basin. ReadyPedi’s units editor offers the three kinds the rule names, Whirlpool, Pipe-less and Basin, and every kind takes all three rows.
Days a unit is not used
The after-client and end-of-day schedules both turn on use: no client, no after-client cleaning; no use that day, no end-of-day procedure. The rule asks for no notation on such a day and the form has no box for one, so the unit’s sheet has no row for that date. That is different from Texas, where a Not Used box is on the form, and from California, where the form’s instructions ask for “no services performed” on a quiet day. In Georgia a blank date is the record.
If you ran a shop in Texas or Florida
Texas asks for an end-of-day cleaning and a bi-weekly deep disinfection, and its form has a Not Used box; Georgia asks for the end-of-day cleaning, recommends a weekly bleach run, and has no not-used box. Florida’s log sentence is almost word for word Georgia’s (dates and times, kept in the pedicure area, shown to a consumer or an inspector), but Florida writes its weekly bleach run as “must” and Georgia writes it as “should”. If you came from Florida, keep doing the weekly run; the difference is in what happens if you miss one, not in what good practice looks like.
Where it is logged
All three go on the Board’s SOS Form 28, one page per unit, one row per cleaning, one check per row, with the technician’s name and initials on each. Our guide to the Georgia pedicure log (SOS Form 28) walks the form column by column. ReadyPedi logs each cleaning at the chair in three taps, stamps the date, time, name and initials, and prints SOS Form 28 for any unit and date range. The rule next to the app is on the Georgia page.
Frequently asked questions
Is the weekly cleaning required in Georgia?
The rule says “should”: once each week, after the end-of-day steps, a bleach run through the system. It is the one step in the section written as a recommendation. The form has an End of Week column, and a shop that does it logs it there. We suggest doing it; we do not say the rule requires it.
Does the end-of-day cleaning replace the last client’s after-client cleaning?
No. The last client’s cleaning is done and logged first; the end-of-day procedure is a separate, longer one and its own row.
Do I have to do the end-of-day clean on a plain bowl with no jets?
The rule’s list of equipment is “sinks, bowls, basins, pipe-less, and whirlpool spas”, and its end-of-day sentence applies to each day of use. It does not give bowls a shorter schedule. ReadyPedi offers all three rows on every kind of unit.
What if a chair had no clients today?
No cleaning is owed and nothing is written. The rule has no notation for an unused day and the form has no box for one.
Is a pipe-less foot spa on the same schedule as a whirlpool?
Yes. The rule lists “pipe-less, and whirlpool spas” together, and the after-client paragraph adds that a foot plate should be removed and the area beneath it cleaned.
This guide explains Georgia’s pedicure equipment cleaning schedules in plain language and is not legal advice. The Georgia State Board of Cosmetology and Barbers’ rules are the authority on Georgia pedicure equipment cleaning and recordkeeping requirements.