Garden Safety, Limitations and When to Stop
Last updated: July 2026
A lot of what this site covers is genuinely dangerous. Pressure washers can inject water through skin. Generators produce enough carbon monoxide to kill a household. Snow blower impellers amputate fingers. Drain chemicals burn. Roofs and ladders account for more serious injuries than any tool we write about. We would rather say this plainly on its own page than bury it.
The short version
Our guides are research summaries, not instructions from a qualified tradesperson, and they are not a substitute for the manual that came with your equipment or for professional advice. Where a job involves gas, mains electricity, structural work, working at height, or anything you are not confident about, stop and hire a licensed professional. That advice costs us affiliate revenue and we give it anyway.
What our safety notes are
Where a page covers a real hazard, we carry a safety note drawn from published guidance — the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, OSHA, the CDC, the EPA, manufacturer associations and university extension services among them. We cite the source so you can read the original rather than take our word for it, and we verify those links resolve.
What they are not
- Not exhaustive. A note covers the hazards most likely to hurt someone doing that specific job. It is not a complete risk assessment of your situation, your property or your equipment.
- Not a substitute for the manual. Your machine's documentation is specific to your model and overrides anything general we write.
- Not professional, legal or medical advice. We are not electricians, plumbers, gas fitters, roofers, arborists or clinicians.
- Not a compliance check. Building codes, permit requirements, burn bans, backflow-prevention rules and recording-consent laws vary by state and municipality. We flag where something is commonly regulated; you still need to check locally.
We do not test anything
Consistent with how we rank and our affiliate disclosure: we do not buy, operate or physically handle the products we cover. Nothing on this site should be read as a claim that we personally verified a machine is safe. Our rankings come from aggregated owner reviews, published specifications and public research.
If something goes wrong
Two situations are worth naming because both are routinely underestimated:
- High-pressure injection injuries. A pressure-washer stream can break skin and force water, grit and bacteria deep into tissue through a puncture that looks trivial. It is a surgical emergency and outcomes worsen quickly with delay. Seek emergency care immediately and say the words "high-pressure injection injury".
- Carbon monoxide. CO is colorless and odorless, so there is no warning. If a CO alarm sounds, or if people or pets in the building have headache, dizziness, nausea or confusion, get everyone into fresh air and call emergency services. Do not go back inside to investigate.
In any emergency in the United States, call 911. For a suspected poisoning, Poison Control is 1-800-222-1222.
Product recalls
Recalls happen after we publish. Before using a tool — particularly a used or long-stored one — it is worth checking the current recall list at CPSC.gov/Recalls. We update pages when we become aware of a recall affecting something we recommend, but we cannot promise to catch every one.
Telling us about a problem
If you think something on this site is wrong, unsafe or out of date, we want to know and we will fix it. Contact us with the page and the specific issue.
See also: how we rank · affiliate disclosure · terms of use