Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, a prohibition notice is tied to an inspector's view that there is a risk of serious personal injury from an activity.
Fabora resources
HSE prohibition notice explained for fabrication and welding businesses.
A prohibition notice is one of the clearest signs that an inspector thinks a work activity creates a serious personal injury risk. For steelwork businesses, the practical issue is not just the wording of the notice. It is the disruption that follows, the cost of getting the activity safe again, and the need to respond properly without guessing or looking for shortcuts.
Short answer
In plain English, a prohibition notice is an order to stop a named activity until the risk has been made safe enough for work to continue. It is more urgent than an improvement notice and needs calm, competent action straight away.
- Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, a prohibition notice is tied to an inspector's view that there is a risk of serious personal injury from an activity.
- HSE's own guidance says an improvement notice gives time to put things right, while a prohibition notice stops the activity until it has been made safe to continue.
- If your business is served one, the immediate task is to understand exactly what activity is prohibited, secure the area, and fix the risk properly rather than trying to work around the notice.
General guidance only, not legal advice. If your business is served with a formal notice, use the notice itself, current official sources, and competent professional advice for the actual response.
Practical summary
What to take from this page
In plain English, a prohibition notice is an order to stop a named activity until the risk has been made safe enough for work to continue. It is more urgent than an improvement notice and needs calm, competent action straight away.
General guidance only, not legal advice. If your business is served with a formal notice, use the notice itself, current official sources, and competent professional advice for the actual response. For official detail, use the source links later on this page.
HSE's own guidance says an improvement notice gives time to put things right, while a prohibition notice stops the activity until it has been made safe to continue.
If your business is served one, the immediate task is to understand exactly what activity is prohibited, secure the area, and fix the risk properly rather than trying to work around the notice.
What it is
What a prohibition notice actually means
The wording sounds legal, but the practical meaning is straightforward: stop the activity because the risk is serious enough now.
The legal basis
Under section 22 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, an inspector can serve a prohibition notice where, in their opinion, an activity involves or will involve a risk of serious personal injury.
What it does on the ground
HSE's own leaflet explains it as an order to stop doing something until it has been made safe to continue. In practical terms, the named activity cannot just carry on because the team is busy or the programme is tight.
Immediate or timed effect
A prohibition notice can take effect immediately or from a time stated in the notice. Either way, it is focused on stopping the risky activity rather than simply asking for improvement later.
Improvement versus prohibition
How a prohibition notice differs from an improvement notice
Businesses sometimes blur the two together. They are not the same thing.
Improvement notice
An improvement notice tells the duty holder what is wrong, what needs changing, and gives at least 21 days to put it right. It is still formal enforcement, but it is not the same as being told to stop an activity immediately.
Prohibition notice
A prohibition notice is used where the inspector sees a serious personal injury risk in the activity. The emphasis is on stopping the work until the risk is made safe enough to continue.
Why the difference matters
For fabrication and welding businesses, this changes everything operationally. A workshop machine, site task, lifting setup, or hot works arrangement may have to stop while the business fixes the issue, reviews supervision, and proves the activity is now safe.
Both are still legal notices
Failing to comply with either type of notice is serious. HSE's current guidance states that not complying with a prohibition notice is a criminal offence.
What can trigger it
Practical steelwork situations that can lead to a prohibition notice
The precise trigger is always the serious personal injury risk in the real circumstances, not the industry label alone.
Unsafe work at height or unstable access
HSE uses unsafe roof work in its own leaflet as a simple example. In steelwork settings, that same principle can apply to unsafe access for erection, edge work, or platform tasks where the inspector sees a live serious fall risk.
Machinery guarding and dangerous moving parts
If a saw, ironworker, press, grinder, roller, or similar machine exposes people to serious injury from dangerous parts, the business can move quickly from advice into formal enforcement territory.
Unsafe lifting or load control
Poor lifting plans, damaged accessories, unstable loads, or obviously unsafe crane, hoist, gantry, or fork-attachment use can create the kind of serious injury risk that attracts a prohibition response.
Hot works and severe immediate risk
Hot work on drums or tanks, badly managed fire risk, or welding in high-risk enclosed conditions can be part of the picture. Failed extraction or ventilation controls may also draw strong scrutiny, but whether they reach prohibition-notice level depends on the actual immediate risk the inspector sees in those circumstances.
What happens next
What businesses should do after one is served
The first few hours matter. This is where sensible businesses protect people, preserve clarity, and avoid making the position worse.
Identify the exact prohibited activity
Read the notice carefully and make sure the management team understands exactly what activity, area, equipment, or method has been stopped. Do not rely on corridor summaries.
Stop and secure the work properly
Make the area safe, brief supervisors, isolate equipment where needed, and stop anyone restarting the prohibited activity by mistake or out of habit.
Gather the facts while they are fresh
Keep the notice, photos, relevant maintenance or training records, lift plans, RAMS, inspection notes, and supervisor accounts together. You need a clear factual picture before deciding the response.
Fix the risk rather than disguise it
The lawful route back is to remove or reduce the serious risk properly. Moving the task elsewhere, renaming it, or carrying on with a cosmetic tweak is not a sensible response.
Resuming work and appeals
What businesses can and cannot do next
The goal is a proper return to safe work, not a rushed workaround.
Resume only after the risk is genuinely made safe
A prohibition notice is specifically tied to stopping the activity until it is safe enough to continue. The business should be able to show what changed in the equipment, method, supervision, or controls before restarting.
Talk to the inspector or manager early if something is unclear
HSE's own leaflet says to contact the inspector or their manager before starting a formal dispute. That can help clear up scope, evidence, and what the notice is actually aimed at.
Treat appeals as a formal legal route
HSE's current complaints and regulatory pages make clear that formal notices have a specified legal challenge process and strict time limits. If the business is considering that route, get proper advice quickly rather than improvising.
Do not treat the notice as optional
The safe commercial response is to treat the notice seriously, get competent input, and document the remedial action clearly. Trying to bypass enforcement usually increases both legal and operational risk.
Common mistakes
Common mistakes after a prohibition notice
The risk after service is often management behavior, not just the original defect.
Reading the notice too loosely
If the team does not understand exactly what activity is prohibited, someone may restart it in a slightly altered form and make the position worse.
Trying to solve it with paperwork only
A rewritten RAMS pack does not by itself fix a serious machinery, lifting, access, or hot-works defect if the physical and supervisory controls are still weak.
No clear owner for remedial action
One manager should coordinate the corrective work, evidence, communication, and restart decision. Leaving it to several people informally creates drift and mixed messages.
Delaying competent advice
Where the issue is legally or technically serious, getting proper machinery, lifting, health and safety, or legal input early is usually far cheaper than guessing.
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.
Is a prohibition notice the same as an improvement notice?
No. HSE's current leaflet explains that an improvement notice gives time to put things right, while a prohibition notice stops the activity until it has been made safe to continue.
Can a fabrication business keep working around the notice in another area?
Not safely as an assumption. The business needs to understand the exact prohibited activity and why the serious risk exists. Simply moving the work or relabelling it is not a sensible substitute for removing the risk properly.
What should management do first after service?
Read the notice carefully, stop and secure the activity, brief the right people, gather the relevant facts and records, and start competent remedial action. If scope is unclear, contact the inspector or their manager promptly.
Does this page replace legal advice if we have been served with a notice?
No. This page is general guidance only. If your business has been served with a prohibition notice, use the notice itself and competent professional advice for the actual response and any appeal decision.
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.