My apartment complex has a sauna in the clubhouse, and there’s a sign on the sauna door saying that federal regulations require anyone in the sauna to sit on a towel. (No mention of the specific paragraph of USC or the agency that came up with this rule.)
I can see why they’d want a towel protecting their sauna benches from sweaty, germy tenant butts, and I certainly support them in that. But the regulation sounds like one of those urban legends companies trot out to justify their own policies, like “The FDA says we can’t let you in the store without a shirt.”
Are there actually regulations about sauna hygiene that would apply to the tenants here, or are they making it up to justify their own (perfectly sensible) policy?
A search of the United States code for the sord “sauna” turns up nothing.
A Google search for “federal sauna regulations” turns up nothing indicating any such regulation.
An attempt to search the HHS website for the word “sauna” failed because of some freaky server malfunction (APACHE bridge failure?).
Were I a betting man, I would wager that the idea that the federal government mandates the wearing of towels in the sauna is a lie perpetrated by the management.
If you don’t mind, would you ask the desk person next time you’re there what federal authority the club is relying on? Someone there should be able to tell you…