Nancy,

I work in a local nail salon where we get tremendous amounts of people coming in. What are the risks of infection here if say a client receives a cut from one of the instruments used and I don't realize it and unknowingly pass this on to the next customer because we do not cleanse our instruments between uses such as nail clippers, cuticle cutters, etc. What about risks from using the same nail polish on all customers? Thanks so much!

Your answer is in your question. Sterilize the instruments between customers. You are at very low risk of tranmitting HIV, but hepatitis B can thrive in dried blood on an instrument for days. You are also at risk for passing along hepatitis C. Which is cheaper: a second set of tools to use while one is in the sterilization bath, or a lawsuit and the heartbreak of having facilitated a hepatitis infection?

As to the nail polish, the chemicals in nail polish probably would make either infection give up the ghost, but to be safe, don't re-use polish used to polish nails on a bleeding/recently cut client, okay? Once again, which is cheaper?

I think you see the logic here. Your profit margin may be razor-thin, but why put all of it at risk with less than sanitary practices?