Online Courses

Welcome to the Association of Professional Piercers online education center.

Some things to note before purchasing, calling, or emailing us:

The Association of Professional Piercers provides health and safety information wherever it's needed. However, we do not train piercers. Our online courses are intended for people already working in the piercing industry and will not teach you how to pierce.

Our online courses are currently hosted by a learning platform called Litmos and students will be directed away from safepiercing.org.  The website to relog in to your account is safepiercing.litmos.com. If you have taken any of our classes before, you will NOT get an invitation email from the system - instead you will need to log into your account and locate the new class there.

When signing up for a course you will create a Litmos account. The name on the account will be the name on the certificate issued. Do not choose a nickname for your certificate.

If you’re trying to sign up multiple people for your studio you need to create individual accounts for each person. If someone in your studio completes a course but wants to change the name on the certificate we will contact your health department and let them know the first certificate with the previous name is not valid.

Please remember the username, email address, and password you use to register with Litmos. Your email address will be your default username unless you change it. If you forget your login information please use the recovery function.

Please be aware that many health agencies contact us for verification of BBP certificates through our program.

You may log in and out of your course at your leisure and continue where you left off when ready.

Our certificates indicate that you have completed an online course of a particular subject. They in no way license you as a piercer or make you a Member of the Association of Professional Piercers.

Certificates are downloaded from the “Achievements” tab on the Litmos dashboard. These certificates are only available after the course is 100% complete. If you’re not able to see your certificate in the “Achievements” tab you may not have completely finished the course.

Not all functions may be available on phones. We suggest using a computer to take our online courses. If you don’t see the “Achievements” tab or your certificate on your phone, please use a computer.

There are videos in these presentations and the quality of your internet connection may affect video performance. You may need to logout and back in if a video doesn’t display properly or is interrupted, especially on a phone.

The BBP course is broken down into modules. These modules are grouped together by topic and have quizzes at the end. Please read the questions thoroughly, some have multiple answers.

Our courses are available to anyone who wishes to take them. However, they’re based on OSHA standards in the United States and may not be valid in your area if you’re outside the United States.

If you’re in the United States there are different versions of our BBP course. There are titles and descriptions that indicate what region each course is known to be valid in. Please read these titles and descriptions to see which is best for you. Currently, our BBP course is not valid in Virginia, Florida, Alabama, and some California counties.

If you’re outside the United States and wish to take our Bloodborne Pathogens course the “General U.S.” title is the best choice. Courses are in English. If you’re taking our course to meet a requirement of your local health agency please contact them to see if it’s accepted. We do not have any information on other countries and their health agencies that do or do not accept the APP as Bloodborne Pathogens training providers.

You may contact John Johnson with any questions related to our online courses - JohnJ@safepiercing.org.

Click here for our online training program

We've created a thorough and unique program that meets the requirements of 29CFR1910.1030 in a manner that will be understood and appreciated by professional piercers of all skill levels. The collective experience of its designers brings insight that makes it the best option for required industry specific training.

The Association of Professional Piercers offers a clear advantage over other training providers:

• Our program was created for piercers by piercers currently working in the industry. Every member of the Bloodborne Pathogen training staff is currently employed as a piercer in a modern studio environment.
• Our program is industry specific. Most training programs for body art focus mostly on tattooing and offer very little to body piercers.
• The body piercing industry is dynamic with new products and technologies being introduced regularly.
• The APP leads the industry and is more than qualified to provide piercers with the training they need to work safely for the benefit of both the public and themselves.
• Chapter by chapter our presentation is derived from the actual Bloodborne Pathogen standard itself. Other similar training programs for the body art industry don't stay on topic and often don't even reference the standard at all.
  Within the body piercing industry there is a lot of confusion about the roles of OSHA and the Health Department.
  Once a piercer has completed this course, their vocabulary will be greatly expanded and the purpose of OSHA and the Bloodborne Pathogen Standard will be made clear.
• A piercer with a Bloodborne Pathogen Standard certificate from the Association of Professional Piercers will be able to recognize workplace hazards, apply the guidelines of the Bloodborne Pathogen Standard, and develop routines and protocol to eliminate or minimize risks in the piercing environment.
• Our program complies with section 1910.1030(g)(2)(vii) which requires an explanation of the epidemiology and symptoms of bloodborne disease and explanation of the modes of transmission of bloodborne pathogens.
• Students using our online version will have access to one of our trainers who can answer questions as required by 1910.1030(g)(2)(vii)(N).
• The standard has been divided into sections with quizzes and reviews to test the students retention and comprehension of the information. There are minimum scores required for a certificate to be rewarded.

We hope you'll find our Bloodborne Pathogen training program for body piercers to be suitable for your needs. Our staff of experts has developed a program unlike any other and we're confident its the best training of its type.

Click here for our online program