Does vocational institute’s ban on body piercing jewellery violate students’ fundamental rights?

Parliamentary Ombudsman says that the prohibition is too general in character

Jannika Koski

Krista Kaponen

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By Anna-Riitta Sippola and Marjukka Liiten
     
      Does a school's ban on the use of body piercing jewellery by the students constitute a violation of their fundamental rights?
      In the view of Deputy Parliamentary Ombudsman Jussi Pajuoja, yes, it does.
      Pajuoja has criticised the Turku Vocational Institute's ban on the wearing of the jewellery during working hours.
      In his view, the prohibition is overly broad and infringes on the students' basic rights.
     
Students at the Turku Vocational Institute's technology faculty have been forbidden to wear lip, eyebrow, and other facial piercings as well as earrings. The ban applies to the Institute's workspaces, working environment, and on-the-job training places.
      Piercing jewellery must be removed during working hours; otherwise students are not allowed to attend lessons.
      However, piercing jewellery underneath clothes and tongue piercings need not be removed. The ban applies to physical education lessons as well. Occupational safety is the reason stated for the ban.
     
Deputy Ombudsman Pajuoja has been contemplating whether and to what degree an institute can be allowed to intervene in students’ appearance - in this case piercings - and whether or not these instructions can be used to prevent students from attending lessons.
      Many institutes restrict the display of body piercing jewellery for the sake of occupational safety and hygiene.
      The Deputy Ombudsman points out that a ban on body piercing jewellery can be justified on the grounds of occupational safety and a safe learning environment.
      The question that he raises, however, is whether a prohibition with the same content is inevitable in the entire technology sector.
      Is the occupational safety of, for example, a truck driver, a bricklayer, or a process operator endangered if he or she has a piece of piercing jewellery in his or her face, Pajuoja asks.
     
In the Deputy Ombudsman's view, the Turku Vocational Institute’s prohibition is too vague and sweeping in character.
      He argues that the necessity and extent of a ban must be assessed on the basis of the special features of each type of training. An assessment of this kind had not been made in Turku, Pajuoja notes.
      Deputy Ombudsman Pajuoja emphasises that an educational institution must, in addition to safety, also take into consideration the students' other fundamental rights.
      The prohibition in this case involves an intervention in the outward appearance of students who wear piercing jewellery, and thereby in their equality with students who do not choose to wear this kind of jewellery.
      In addition, it restricts their right of self-determination and their privacy, he adds.
     
For example, the Helsinki City College of Technology (HELTECH) has not discussed the issue of body piercing jewellery at all, let alone imposed a ban on them.
      The fact is that such pieces of jewellery have not been forbidden, and nor have any related problems reached Principal Antti Virtanen’s ears.
      ”Large rings could pose an occupational safety risk, and then one just has to see to it that any given student does not get into a dangerous situation”, Virtanen notes.
      When investigating the practice followed by the Turku Vocational Institute, Deputy Ombudsman Pajuoja also asked the Ministry of Education and Culture and the National Board of Education to study the use of such piercing bans in the Jyväskylä, Kouvola, Oulu, and Omnia vocational institutes and the Vocational College of Vammala.
     
The regulations of Omnia, the Joint Authority of Education in the Espoo Region, do not mention the use of piercing jewellery at all.
      Instead, for hygienic reasons all body piercing jewellery is deemed off-limits in cooking lessons where students are making food.
      ”Here we follow legislation applying to the hotel and catering sector as well as to the food processing industry”, says head of education Kari Mäenpää from Omnia’s Lakelankatu unit in Espoo.
      Jannika Koski and Krista Kaponen are studying in their second year at Omnia on how to become a waitress.
      They are both 17 and understand the restrictions on piercing jewellery during practical training, but they would not easily give up their jewellery in regular classes and theory lessons.
      ”I would rather not attend lessons at all”, Koski asserts.
     
Some restaurants and other workplaces with on-the-job training allow body piercing jewellery even in the kitchen.
      ”Some customers used to say straight out that they did not like piercings at all”, Koski says, recalling her on-the-job training experiences.
      ”I have no idea why I find them so fascinating”, says Koski, thinking about her liking for body piercings.
      ”If I take off my lip jewellery, I am no longer myself. Besides, whom could they harm?” asks Kaponen, raising her eyebrows.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 2.9.2010


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Employers take lenient approach towards piercings and tattoos (8.11.2005)

Links:
  Parliamentary Ombudsman, 2.9.2010: Turku Vocational Institute bans use of body piercing jewellery
  Body Piercing (Wikipedia)

ANNA-RIITTA SIPPOLA AND MARJUKKA LIITEN / Helsingin Sanomat
anna-riitta.sippola@hs.fi, marjukka.liiten@hs.fi