Spray Gun & Equipment Cleaning SWMS
Cleaning of spray guns, cups, filters and associated equipment using solvent in an enclosed gun-washing unit, including gun strip-down maintenance and solvent waste recovery.
SWMS variants reference your state’s WHS legislation. Instant download after payment.
Gun cleaning is performed several times a day, involves direct hand contact with solvent and uncured paint residue, and is very often done in an open tray — which is why it produces some of the highest dermal and inhalation exposures in a panel shop despite taking only minutes at a time. This Safe Work Method Statement covers routine gun washing, strip-down maintenance of guns and filters, and solvent waste recovery and disposal. It is built on a simple engineering position: an enclosed gun-washing unit with extraction, with open-tray hand cleaning prohibited outright.
Hazards identified
9 hazards covered, sorted by priority.
Dermatitis; CNS effects; sensitisation
Fire, burns
Water contamination
Dermatitis; absorption through skin
Eye injury; inhalation of aerosolised solvent
Waste contamination
Inhalation exposure
Fire, explosion
Water and land contamination; regulatory breach
Control measures
Hierarchy-of-controls order: elimination → substitution → isolation → engineering → administrative → PPE.
- 1Enclosed gun-washer with LEV operating
- 2nitrile gloves and respirator
- 3open-tray hand cleaning with solvent is prohibited
- 4Earth the gun-washer
- 5keep the solvent reservoir closed
- 6eliminate ignition sources
- 7extinguisher available
- 8Recover waste solvent to a sealed dangerous-goods drum for licensed disposal
- 9Nitrile gloves throughout
- 10carry out strip-down within the extracted enclosure
- 11respirator worn while cleaning components
- 12Do not use compressed air to blow solvent from passages in open air — use the washer's flush cycle
- 13eye protection if air is used at low pressure inside the enclosure
- 14Collect residue and worn components to dangerous-goods waste
- 15Transfer waste in the extracted area with gloves and respirator
- 16keep drums closed except during transfer
- 17Bond and earth during transfer
- 18store drums bunded in the dangerous-goods area away from ignition sources
- 19Sealed and labelled dangerous-goods drums
- 20licensed EPA waste contractor with disposal records retained
- 21recycle recovered thinners where practicable
Applicable Codes of Practice
Primary approved code for this work — booth and mixing-room design, ventilation, RPE selection, isocyanate handling and health-monitoring triggers.
Hazardous chemicals register, SDS, labelling, storage segregation and the risk-management process for paints, hardeners and solvents.
Definitive national guidance on isocyanate sensitisation, air-supplied RPE, exposure standards and respiratory health surveillance.
Applies to compressor, spray gun, air-tool and panel-work noise where the 85 dB(A) LAeq,8h exposure standard may be exceeded.
Ventilation, lighting, eyewash and emergency shower provision, and amenities for workers handling hazardous chemicals.
The hierarchy of control this SWMS is structured around — elimination and substitution before engineering, administration and PPE.
Design, airflow, classification and maintenance requirements for the booth and mixing room this SWMS relies on as its primary engineering control.
Fit-testing, facial-seal and maintenance requirements — the basis for the air-supplied respirator program.
Performance standard the air-fed hood and A2P2 respirators must be certified to.
Dangerous-goods store design, quantities, bunding and separation for paints, thinners and solvents.
Who this is for
- →Spray painters and paint-shop apprentices
- →Panel and paint workshops
- →Workshop owners specifying a gun-wash unit
- →WHS and environmental managers
What you receive
- ✓Fully editable Microsoft Word (DOCX) SWMS — populate company, ABN, site and worker fields directly
- ✓Task-by-task risk assessment across occupational health, safety and environment, with severity × likelihood scoring before and after controls
- ✓Controls written to the hierarchy of control — elimination and substitution first, PPE last
- ✓High risk construction work classification with the specific s. 291 category and why it is triggered
- ✓Isocyanate health-monitoring and air-monitoring requirements stated as legal duties, not optional extras
- ✓PPE schedule referencing AS/NZS 1715 and 1716, including air-supplied respirator requirements
- ✓Training and competency register covering fit-testing, SDS interpretation and isocyanate awareness
- ✓Emergency procedures for chemical splash, inhalation, sensitisation episode, solvent fire and spill
- ✓Worker sign-on register and review/sign-off block ready for immediate site use
Worked example
An apprentice cleaned guns in an open tray of thinners with bare hands several times daily and developed persistent contact dermatitis. Replacing the tray with an enclosed extracted gun-washer, providing nitrile gloves and recovering waste solvent to a sealed dangerous-goods drum resolved both the skin exposure and an unnoticed waste-disposal breach.
Related legislation
- Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) — primary duty of care, s.19
- Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) — Chapter 3 Risk Management
- Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) — Part 7.1 Hazardous Chemicals (register, SDS, labelling, storage)
- Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) — Part 7.1 health monitoring provisions; Schedule 14 lists isocyanates
- Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) — s. 291 High Risk Construction Work and the SWMS duty
- Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (NSW) — air emission and waste disposal duties
Frequently asked questions
Is an enclosed gun washer really necessary for a small shop?
It is the control that removes the exposure rather than managing it. Open-tray cleaning puts hands directly in solvent and releases vapour into the breathing zone many times a day. An enclosed extracted unit costs far less than a dermatitis claim or an EPA notice for solvent reaching the drain.
Is this SWMS specific to NSW?
Yes. It cites the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW), the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) and SafeWork NSW guidance. The same document is available for every other state and territory — the legislative references are swapped for that jurisdiction.
Do I legally need a SWMS for spray painting in a workshop?
A SWMS is legally mandatory under s. 291 only for high risk construction work. Fixed-workshop spraying is generally not construction work — but you still have a duty under the WHS Regulation to document how you control a hazardous-chemical risk of this severity, and the Spray Painting and Powder Coating Code of Practice is the benchmark you will be measured against. The moment you spray on a construction site, or in a contaminated or flammable atmosphere, the SWMS becomes mandatory.
Is isocyanate health monitoring really compulsory?
Yes, where there is ongoing use of isocyanates and a significant risk of exposure. Isocyanates are listed in Schedule 14 of the WHS Regulation, which triggers the health-monitoring duty — baseline and periodic respiratory function testing and medical assessment by a registered medical practitioner. It is one of the most commonly missed obligations in Australian panel shops.
Will a cartridge respirator do instead of an air-fed hood?
Not for continuous two-pack spraying. Negative-pressure cartridge respirators are not accepted as adequate protection against isocyanate spray mist — the accepted control is an air-supplied (air-fed) respirator. Air monitoring is how you demonstrate that the RPE you have selected is actually adequate for your process.
How do I know if my booth ventilation is good enough?
Airflow should be verified against the booth specification before each shift, the LEV inspected and tested on a documented schedule under AS/NZS 4114, and the whole control set validated with personal air monitoring. A booth that passed its annual service can still fall below specification as filters load between changes.
Can I edit the document?
Yes — it is a fully editable DOCX written as a site-specific template. You complete the company, ABN, site, plant and worker sign-on fields, and adjust the tasks to match your actual process before use.
Who wrote it?
It is authored by an occupational hygiene team led by a Certified Occupational Hygienist (CIH), which is why the exposure, ventilation and monitoring content goes considerably further than a generic template.