diff --git a/notifier/query.rb b/notifier/query.rb
index c9126a52040ea995ab9a259ab16c586a6f7f1731..c9f1bd98ff63d860951e8588745f28c9432cb68c 100644
--- a/notifier/query.rb
+++ b/notifier/query.rb
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ class Query
       .gsub('/*', '/*')
       .gsub('*/', '*/')
       .gsub("\n", '<br />')
+      .gsub('|', '&#124;')
   rescue StandardError => e
     warn "Query formatting error:\n#{e}\nFor query: #{query}"
     query
diff --git a/notifier/spec/query_spec.rb b/notifier/spec/query_spec.rb
index abf38c48d7b3537b9243fda4a2156762b05857d3..cc583db572756285a24e7eeacaf70f96468d96a1 100644
--- a/notifier/spec/query_spec.rb
+++ b/notifier/spec/query_spec.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 require 'spec_helper'
 
 RSpec.describe Query do
-  let(:pg_pass) do
+  let(:pgss) do
     {
       "query" => "select pg_database_size(current_database()) /*application:test*/",
       "calls" => 1,
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ RSpec.describe Query do
     }
   end
 
-  subject(:query) { described_class.new(pg_pass) }
+  subject(:query) { described_class.new(pgss) }
 
   it 'inits from a pgpass row' do
     expect { subject }.not_to raise_error
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ RSpec.describe Query do
     end
 
     it 'returns false if concurrent operations are below 5 minutes' do
-      pg_pass['query'] = 'CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY index_ci_runners_on_token_lower '\
+      pgss['query'] = 'CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY index_ci_runners_on_token_lower '\
                          'ON ci_runners (LOWER(token)) /*application:test*/'
 
       expect(subject.exceeds_time_guidance?).to be false
@@ -71,4 +71,24 @@ RSpec.describe Query do
       expect(subject.exceeds_time_guidance?).to be false
     end
   end
+
+  context 'when query has special characters' do
+    let(:pgss) do
+      {
+        "query" => "CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY \"tmp_index_merge_requests_draft_and_status\""\
+                   " ON \"merge_requests\" (\"id\") WHERE draft = false AND state_id = 1 AND "\
+                   "((title)::text ~* '^\\[draft\\]|\\(draft\\)|draft:|draft|\\[WIP\\]|WIP:|WIP'::text) "\
+                   "/*application:test*/",
+        "calls" => 1,
+        "total_time" => 1824825.496259,
+        "max_time" => 1824825.496259,
+        "mean_time" => 1824825.496259,
+        "rows" => 0
+      }
+    end
+
+    it 'replaces the pipe character with &#124;' do
+      expect(subject.formatted_query).not_to include('|')
+    end
+  end
 end