What the rule covers
One subsection, (3)(g) “Pedicure Equipment Disinfection”, of the Board’s Salon Requirements rule, last amended effective November 9, 2017. It opens with its scope: “The following cleaning and disinfection procedures must be used for any pedicure equipment that holds water, including sinks, bowls, basins, pipe-less spas, and whirlpool spas”. Then four numbered parts: 1, after each client; 2, at the end of each day of use; 3, once each week; 4, the record. There is no separate, shorter procedure for a bowl without pipes, and liners are not mentioned. All four parts end in the same place: a record of the date and time of each procedure, kept in the pedicure area.
Where the rule says must, and where it says should
The rule mixes “must”, “shall” and “should”, and the difference is in the text, not in this guide. Must or shall: the equipment “must be cleaned” with soap and “disinfected” for at least ten minutes after each client; the end-of-day procedures “shall be used”; the filter screens “must be disinfected”; the end-of-day solution “must be circulated through foot spa system for 10 minutes”; the basin “must be drained and flushed” before the next use; every sentence of the weekly (“must be filled”, “must be circulated”, “must sit in the basin for at least 6 hours”, “must be drained and flushed”); and the record “must be documented and kept”. Should: a pipe-free spa’s foot plate “should be removed” and the area beneath it cleaned, rinsed and wiped dry; the end-of-day basin “should be filled with clean water and the correct amount of EPA registered disinfectant”; and that solution “should remain in the basin for at least 6 to 10 hours”. The guide quotes the verb each time and does not turn a “should” into a “must”. Do every step regardless; the distinction matters when you are reading a citation, not when you are cleaning a chair.
The disinfectant the rule names, and the bleach
For the after-client clean and the end-of-day soak the rule names a product by its label: “an EPA registered hospital grade bactericidal, fungicidal, virucidal, and pseudomonacidal disinfectant used according to manufacturers’ instructions”. Four label claims, and Florida’s list is one longer than Texas’s (which names bactericidal, fungicidal and virucidal). “Hospital grade” and the four claims are what is printed on the label, not a brand; the EPA registration number is on the label too. Used per the manufacturer’s instructions means mixed at the label’s strength and left for the label’s contact time, which the rule then floors at ten minutes after each client.
The weekly is different. The rule names “a solution of water containing one teaspoon of 5.25% bleach for each gallon of water”, circulated and left to sit. That is the one place the rule names bleach, and it names it by strength and measure, so you need the basin’s capacity in gallons and a measuring spoon.
After each client
Every unit, after every client, in the order of (3)(g)1:
- Clean the unit with a low-foaming soap or detergent and water, removing all visible debris (“must”).
- Disinfect it with the EPA registered hospital grade bactericidal, fungicidal, virucidal and pseudomonacidal disinfectant, used according to the manufacturer’s instructions, for at least ten minutes (“must”).
- On a pipe-free foot spa with a foot plate: remove the plate, and clean, rinse and wipe dry the area beneath it (“should”).
- Record it: date, time, After Each Client, and who did it.
The rule lists no rinse or drain step after the disinfectant here; “used according to manufacturers’ instructions” means the label decides what happens when the ten minutes are up. Start the ten minutes when the disinfectant is in the unit at label strength, not when you start scrubbing.
At the end of each day of use
On every unit used that day, “the following procedures shall be used”, in the order of (3)(g)2:
- Disinfect all filter screens, in whirlpool pedicure spas or basins, for all types of foot spas (“must”).
- Remove all visible debris from the screen and the inlet and clean them with a low-foaming soap or detergent and water (“must”).
- On a pipe-free system, remove the jet components or foot plate, clean them and remove any debris (“must”).
- Completely immerse the screen, jet or foot plate in the EPA registered, hospital grade bactericidal, fungicidal, virucidal and pseudomonacidal disinfectant, used according to the manufacturer’s instructions (“must”).
- Replace the screen, jet or foot plate once disinfection is completed, and flush the system with warm water and low-foaming soap for 5 minutes, then rinse and drain (“must”).
- After those steps, fill the basin with clean water and the correct amount of EPA registered disinfectant (“should”).
- Circulate the solution through the foot spa system for 10 minutes, then turn the unit off (“must”).
- Leave the solution in the basin for at least 6 to 10 hours (“should”).
- Before using the equipment again, drain the basin system and flush it with clean water (“must”).
- Record it: date, time, End of Day, and who did it.
Once each week
Every unit, after that night’s end-of-day procedure, in the order of (3)(g)3:
- Complete the end-of-day procedure above first (“subsequent to completing the required end-of-day cleaning procedures”).
- Fill the basin with a solution of water containing one teaspoon of 5.25% bleach for each gallon of water (“must”).
- Circulate the solution through the spa system for five to ten minutes (“must”).
- Let the solution sit in the basin for at least six hours (“must”).
- Before use, drain and flush the system (“must”).
- Record it: date, time, Weekly, and who did it. The End of Day row for that night is already written; this is a second row, not a replacement.
One night, two soaks
The rule orders the two procedures and gives each a soak: the end-of-day disinfectant “should remain in the basin for at least 6 to 10 hours”, and the weekly bleach “must sit in the basin for at least 6 hours”, after the end of day is complete. It does not say how a salon fits both into one night, and the sources this guide rests on found no DBPR guidance on it. What the guide can say is what the text says: the end of day first, the weekly after it, no soak cut short, and each row written at the time its procedure was done. Pick the night with the most hours between the last client and the first one the next day. Our guide to how often to clean a pedicure foot spa in Florida covers how the weekly interval is counted and why the record should show it at regular intervals.
Bowls and basins with no pump
The rule names sinks, bowls and basins in the same sentence as whirlpool spas and gives all of them one procedure. Some of its steps name a part a bowl does not have: filter screens, a foot plate, a “foot spa system” for the solution to circulate through. Skip the part, not the procedure: clean and disinfect after each client, fill and soak at the end of the day, fill with the bleach solution once a week, drain and flush before use, and record each one. ReadyPedi asks for all three procedures on every Florida unit, basins included, because the rule makes no exception.
Writing it down
Each procedure above ends in the same sentence of the rule:
A record or log book containing the dates and times of all pedicure cleaning and disinfection procedures must be documented and kept in the pedicure area by the salon and made available for review upon request by a consumer or a Department inspector.
The date and the time are the fields the rule names. Name the procedure and the person as well, or the record cannot show which of the three was done. One sheet per unit; one row per procedure; on the weekly night, an End of Day row and then a Weekly row. There is no not-used row and no out-of-service notation in Florida’s rule. Our guide to the printable Florida pedicure cleaning log covers the record column by column and offers a blank, and the Florida page has the rule next to the app.
What to keep at the chair
A low-foaming soap or detergent and a brush for the scrub. The hospital-grade disinfectant mixed at label strength, with its label (the four claims and the EPA registration number) where an inspector can read it. A timer for the ten minutes. For the weekly: a bottle of 5.25% bleach (the rule’s teaspoon-per-gallon measure is written for that strength, so read the bottle), a measuring spoon, and the basin’s capacity in gallons written somewhere you will find it. The unit’s record or the tablet that holds it. The Consumer Protection Notice posted at the footbath, which 61G5-20.004(3) requires and which tells the client a log is kept. ReadyPedi’s three taps at the chair log each procedure with the time it was finished and the tech’s name, and print the record for any unit and month. A shop can start a free trial today.
Frequently asked questions
How long does the disinfectant have to work?
At least ten minutes after each client. At the end of the day, the solution is circulated for ten minutes and then left in the basin for at least six to ten hours. The weekly bleach solution is circulated five to ten minutes and sits at least six hours.
Can I use bleach for the after-client clean in Florida?
The rule’s after-client and end-of-day steps name an EPA registered hospital grade disinfectant by four label claims (bactericidal, fungicidal, virucidal, pseudomonacidal), used per its label. The bleach solution, one teaspoon of 5.25% per gallon, is what the rule names for the weekly soak. Read the product’s label against the four claims; the label, not the chemistry, is what the inspector reads.
Do I have to take the foot plate off after every client?
The rule says a pipe-free foot spa’s foot plate “should be removed and the area beneath it cleaned, rinsed, and wiped dry” after each client. That is the rule’s “should”, not its “must”; do it anyway.
Does the end-of-day cleaning count as the last client’s after-client cleaning?
No. The last client’s after-client clean is done and recorded first; the end-of-day procedure is a separate breakdown of the unit with its own soak and its own row.
What if a step was missed?
The record is a record of what was done, not of what should have been. If a procedure was missed, do it now and write the real time. A record that says every soak started at 9:00 pm every night in the same handwriting is the thing that fails an inspection.
This guide explains Florida’s pedicure equipment cleaning procedure in plain language and is not legal advice. The Florida Board of Cosmetology’s rules are the authority on Florida pedicure equipment cleaning and recordkeeping requirements.