Under section 22 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, it stops an activity the inspector believes carries a risk of serious personal injury.
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Prohibition notice explained: meaning, appeals and consequences.
A prohibition notice is an inspector telling you to stop an activity because it could seriously hurt someone. It comes from HSE or your local authority, and it's the heavy end of enforcement. This guide explains what it means in plain English, how it's different from an improvement notice, the strict 21-day appeal window, and what follows — the public register, insurance, prequalification — written for fabrication, welding and steelwork firms.
Short answer
A prohibition notice stops a named activity until the risk's been made safe enough to carry on. It's more serious than an improvement notice, and it needs a calm, competent response straight away — not a panic and not a fudge.
- Under section 22 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, it stops an activity the inspector believes carries a risk of serious personal injury.
- An improvement notice gives you time (at least 21 days) to put things right. A prohibition notice stops the work until it's safe to continue — that's the key difference.
- You can appeal to an employment tribunal within 21 days, but the notice isn't suspended while you wait — the activity stays stopped unless the tribunal says otherwise.
- Notices go on HSE's public register and can hit your insurance, tenders and prequalification, so a proper fix matters well beyond just getting going again.
General guidance, not legal advice. If you're actually served with a notice, work from the notice itself, current official sources and competent professional advice — not a web page.
Practical summary
What to take from this page
A prohibition notice stops a named activity until the risk's been made safe enough to carry on. It's more serious than an improvement notice, and it needs a calm, competent response straight away — not a panic and not a fudge.
General guidance, not legal advice. If you're actually served with a notice, work from the notice itself, current official sources and competent professional advice — not a web page. For official detail, use the source links later on this page.
An improvement notice gives you time (at least 21 days) to put things right. A prohibition notice stops the work until it's safe to continue — that's the key difference.
You can appeal to an employment tribunal within 21 days, but the notice isn't suspended while you wait — the activity stays stopped unless the tribunal says otherwise.
Notices go on HSE's public register and can hit your insurance, tenders and prequalification, so a proper fix matters well beyond just getting going again.
What it is
What a prohibition notice actually means
The wording sounds legalistic, but the meaning on the ground is simple: stop, because the risk is serious enough right now.
The legal basis
It comes from section 22 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. An inspector can serve one where, in their opinion, an activity involves — or is about to involve — a risk of serious personal injury.
What it does on the floor
HSE's own leaflet puts it plainly: an order to stop doing something until it's been made safe to continue. The activity doesn't carry on because the team's flat out or the programme's tight. It stops.
Immediate or from a set time
It can bite straight away or from a time stated on the notice. Either way the point is the same — stop the risky activity, not promise to improve it down the line.
Improvement versus prohibition
How it differs from an improvement notice
People run the two together, but they're not the same thing — and the difference is the whole point.
Improvement notice
Tells you what's wrong, what to change, and gives you at least 21 days to sort it. Work can usually carry on meanwhile. It's still formal enforcement — just not a stop order.
Prohibition notice
Used where the inspector sees a serious injury risk in the activity itself. The activity stops and stays stopped until it's been made safe enough to continue.
Why it matters to you
Operationally it changes everything. A saw, a site task, a lifting setup or a hot works arrangement may have to stop dead while you fix it, sort the supervision and show it's genuinely safe again.
Both have teeth
Ignoring either is serious. HSE is clear that not complying with a prohibition notice is a criminal offence.
What can trigger it
Steelwork situations that can lead to one
The trigger is always the serious injury risk in the actual circumstances — not the trade on the sign over the door.
Unsafe work at height or access
HSE uses unsafe roof work as its go-to example. In steelwork that same thinking lands on unsafe erection access, edge work or platform tasks where the inspector sees a live fall risk.
Dangerous moving parts
A saw, ironworker, press, grinder or roller exposing people to serious injury — a defeated guard, an exposed blade — can take you from a quiet word to formal enforcement quickly.
Unsafe lifting
A poor lift plan, damaged accessories, an unstable load, or obviously dodgy crane, hoist, gantry or fork-attachment use is exactly the kind of risk a prohibition notice is built for.
Hot works and severe immediate risk
Hot work on drums or tanks, fire risk that's not being managed, or welding in a high-risk enclosed space. Failed extraction draws scrutiny too — but whether it reaches prohibition level comes down to the immediate risk the inspector sees, then and there.
What happens next
What to do once you've been served
The first couple of hours matter. This is where a level-headed firm protects its people, keeps things clear, and doesn't make the hole deeper.
Pin down exactly what's stopped
Read the notice properly and make sure management knows precisely what activity, area, equipment or method it covers. Don't run on a half-heard version from the floor.
Stop it and secure it
Make the area safe, brief the supervisors, isolate kit where needed, and make sure nobody fires the activity back up out of habit.
Get the facts down while they're fresh
Keep the notice, photos, maintenance and training records, lift plans, RAMS, inspection notes and what the supervisors say, all together. You want a clear picture before you decide anything.
Fix it, don't dress it up
The way back is to genuinely remove or reduce the risk. Shifting the task to another bay, renaming it, or carrying on with a cosmetic tweak isn't a fix — and it won't end well.
Resuming work and appeals
What you can and can't do next
The aim is a proper return to safe work — not a quick workaround that puts you back where you started.
Restart only when it's genuinely safe
The notice is tied to stopping the activity until it's safe to continue. Before you restart, you should be able to point to what actually changed — the equipment, the method, the supervision, the controls.
Ring the inspector if anything's unclear
HSE's leaflet says to contact the inspector or their manager before kicking off a formal dispute. A phone call often sorts out scope and evidence faster than anything else.
Know the 21-day appeal window
You can appeal to an employment tribunal within 21 days of the date it's served. But here's the catch: unlike an improvement notice, a prohibition notice isn't suspended while the appeal runs — the activity stays stopped unless the tribunal directs otherwise. If you're appealing, get competent legal advice quickly rather than winging it.
Don't treat it as optional
Take it seriously, get competent input, and document the remedial work clearly. Trying to dodge enforcement only stacks up more legal and operational risk.
Consequences
What it costs beyond stopping the job
The stop order is only half of it. The knock-on effects usually outlast the fix itself.
It's on a public register
HSE publishes enforcement notices on a database anyone can search by company name. Clients, main contractors and competitors can all find it, and they typically stay searchable for years.
Insurance and prequalification
Insurers and schemes like SSIP, CHAS and client PQQs often ask straight out whether you've had an enforcement notice. A prohibition notice can move your premiums, your cover, and whether you get through prequalification at all.
Breaching it is a criminal offence
Not complying is a criminal offence — prosecution, an unlimited fine and, in serious cases, prison, on top of the safety problem you started with.
Reputation and programme
Stopped work, a notice clients can see, and a soured relationship can cost far more than the remedial work. A clean, well-documented fix protects the safety side and the commercial side at once.
Common mistakes
Where firms go wrong after a notice
After service, the bigger risk is often how management handles it, not just the original defect.
Reading it too loosely
If the team isn't crystal clear on what's prohibited, someone restarts a slightly tweaked version of it and makes things worse.
Trying to fix it on paper
A rewritten RAMS pack doesn't fix a serious machinery, lifting, access or hot-works defect on its own — not while the physical guarding and the supervision are still weak.
Nobody actually owns it
One manager should run the corrective work, the evidence, the comms and the restart call. Spread it informally across a few people and you get drift and mixed messages.
Sitting on the advice
When it's legally or technically serious, getting proper machinery, lifting, H&S or legal input early is almost always cheaper than guessing and getting it wrong.
Official guidance
Relevant official sources
These links point to the underlying official material. This page is a practical summary, not a replacement for those sources, competent review, or legal advice.
HSE: When a health and safety inspector calls
Current HSE leaflet covering inspector visits, improvement notices, prohibition notices, and what to do if you disagree with a decision.
Legislation.gov.uk: Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
Primary legislation for improvement notices, prohibition notices, and related appeal provisions.
HSE: How HSE regulates risks to health and safety from work activities
Current HSE overview of how it uses advice, notices, and prosecution within regulation and enforcement.
HSE: Complaints about regulatory activity
Current HSE page making clear that formal enforcement notices have a specified legal challenge route and strict time limits.
FAQ
Common questions
Short answers on practical use, review expectations, and where this guidance stops.
Important note
Final review, suitability, and approval still remain with the customer's business and the people responsible for the job.
What is a prohibition notice?
A formal order, served by an HSE or local authority inspector under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, to stop a work activity the inspector believes involves a risk of serious personal injury. It can't continue until the risk has been made safe.
What is the difference between an improvement notice and a prohibition notice?
An improvement notice says what's wrong and gives you time — at least 21 days — to put it right, and work can usually carry on meanwhile. A prohibition notice stops the activity straight away because the risk is serious, and it can't restart until it's been made safe.
How long do you have to appeal a prohibition notice?
21 days from the date it's served, to an employment tribunal. The notice isn't suspended while the appeal is heard, so the activity stays stopped unless the tribunal directs otherwise — which is the opposite of an improvement notice, which is suspended on appeal.
What happens if you ignore or breach a prohibition notice?
It's a criminal offence. That can mean prosecution, an unlimited fine and, in serious cases, imprisonment — and the underlying safety risk is still there on top.
Does a prohibition notice go on a public register?
Yes. HSE publishes enforcement notices on a public database searchable by company name, so clients, insurers and prequalification schemes can find it. They typically stay visible for several years.
Who can issue one, and does this page replace legal advice?
An inspector from HSE or the relevant local authority can issue one, based on their opinion that the activity involves, or will involve, a risk of serious personal injury. And no — this page is general guidance only. If you've been served with a notice, work from the notice itself and competent professional advice for your actual response and any appeal.
Related reading
Continue from here
These links keep the topic moving, either into related guidance or into the Fabora RAMS product pages.
PUWER checks and workshop machinery controls for steel fabrication businesses
Useful if the enforcement issue relates to workshop machinery, guarding, isolation, or poor equipment control.
LOLER and lifting operations for steelwork businesses
Useful if the notice risk is tied to cranes, slings, hoists, gantries, or unsafe lifting arrangements.
Welding fume control and LEV for fabrication workshops
Useful if the issue sits around workshop extraction, welding fume controls, and practical supervision.
Contact Fabora
If you want to explain your workflow or what your team needs to tighten in future RAMS and workshop control documents, start here.