Safe use of pressure washers

If pressure washers are used incorrectly, then this could lead to accidents involving serious electric shock resulting in personal injuries or death.

Managing the risks

To help you to identify the hazards associated with using pressure washers and the appropriate ways of controlling them, use our example Risk Assessment - Safe Use of Pressure Washers. It covers the generic hazards associated with this type of activity and suggests control measures to reduce risks to an acceptable level. You should ensure that your document only addresses “significant” hazards, i.e. any that could, and more importantly are likely to, cause an accident or injury.

Make your instructions clear

Don’t include activities in your document that simply don’t need to be there. Work to the principle that if there is any chance of your staff being unaware of the safe way of doing something, then you will need to make it clear in your document. Finally, always ensure that any control measures you identify and follow are decided upon the principle of “so far as is reasonably practicable”.

Note. The list of potential hazards is not exhaustive. However, for your risk assessment to be considered suitable and sufficient in the eyes of the law it must accurately reflect the “significant” hazards found when using pressure washers.

Note. This risk assessment only deals with the generic risks associated with power washers. As such equipment differs in size, type and function you should ensure that relevant training is undertaken before the equipment is used. Any risks identified by the manufacturer in operating manuals etc. should also be taken into consideration.