Guide
HSE enforcement: improvement notices, prohibition notices and prosecution
What happens when HSE finds health and safety breaches. Covers inspector powers, improvement notices, prohibition notices, appeals, penalties and Fee for Intervention.
How health and safety law is enforced
Health and safety law is enforced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and local authorities. Which one enforces depends on your business type:
- HSE enforces: Construction, manufacturing, factories, farms, chemical plants, railways, offshore installations
- Local authorities enforce: Shops, offices, retail, pubs, clubs, hotels, care homes, leisure facilities, warehouses
Inspectors can visit your workplace without notice. They have extensive legal powers under Section 20 of HASAWA.
Inspector powers
HSE inspectors have broad powers to investigate and enforce health and safety law:
- Enter premises at any reasonable time (or any time if there is danger)
- Make examinations and investigations
- Take measurements, photographs and recordings
- Take samples of articles and substances
- Dismantle or test equipment or articles that appear dangerous
- Take possession of articles for examination or evidence
- Require documents to be produced for inspection
- Question any person and require them to sign a declaration of truth
Answers given to inspectors cannot be used as evidence against the person who gave them, but obstructing an inspector is a criminal offence.
Improvement notices
An inspector may serve an improvement notice if they believe you are contravening health and safety law, or have done so in circumstances likely to continue or repeat.
What an improvement notice contains:
- The inspector's opinion about the contravention
- The specific legal provisions being breached
- The reasons for the opinion
- A deadline for remedying the contravention (minimum 21 days to allow for appeal)
What you must do:
Remedy the contravention by the deadline specified. Failure to comply is a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.
Prohibition notices
A prohibition notice is more serious. An inspector may serve one if they believe an activity involves, or will involve, a risk of serious personal injury.
Key features:
- Can take effect immediately if the notice declares this
- Stops the specified activity until the risk is remedied
- May be served even if no law is currently being broken, if the inspector believes there is imminent danger
Critical difference from improvement notices:
A prohibition notice can stop your work straightaway. There is no waiting period. If you continue the prohibited activity, you commit a criminal offence.
Appealing against notices
You can appeal to an employment tribunal against either type of notice.
Time limit: You must lodge your appeal within 21 days of the notice being served.
Effect of appeal:
- Improvement notice: Lodging an appeal suspends the notice until the appeal is decided or withdrawn
- Prohibition notice: The notice is NOT automatically suspended. You must apply to the tribunal for a direction suspending it, and the tribunal will decide whether to grant this
The tribunal can cancel the notice, affirm it in its original form, or affirm it with modifications.
Criminal offences and penalties
Breaching health and safety law is a criminal offence. Under Section 33 of HASAWA, it is an offence to:
- Fail to discharge duties under sections 2-7 of the Act
- Contravene health and safety regulations
- Fail to comply with an improvement or prohibition notice
- Obstruct an inspector
- Make false statements or forge documents
Penalties
In the Crown Court:
- Up to 2 years imprisonment
- Unlimited fine
In the Magistrates' Court:
- Up to 12 months imprisonment
- Fine up to statutory maximum (currently £20,000 for some offences)
Since 12 March 2015, courts can impose unlimited fines for most health and safety offences. Fines are calibrated to the size and turnover of the organisation.
Personal liability of directors and managers
Section 37 of HASAWA provides for personal prosecution of directors and managers.
Where an offence is committed by a company and is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to neglect by, a director, manager, secretary or similar officer, that individual can be:
- Prosecuted personally
- Fined personally
- Imprisoned (up to 2 years for serious offences)
- Disqualified from acting as a company director
This applies even if the company itself is also prosecuted. Directors cannot hide behind the corporate structure.
Fee for Intervention (FFI)
When HSE finds a material breach of health and safety law, they can charge you for the time they spend investigating and putting matters right.
- Current FFI rate (from April 2025)
- £183 per hour
- When FFI applies
- When HSE issues a Notification of Contravention (NoC) in writing for a material breach
- What is charged
- All time HSE spends identifying the breach, investigating, helping you put it right, and taking enforcement action
- When FFI does not apply
- If you are compliant, or there is only a minor issue resolved with verbal advice
What counts as a material breach: Any breach that HSE considers serious enough to put in writing. This includes issues that could lead to improvement notices, prohibition notices, or prosecution.
Challenging FFI: You can dispute whether a material breach occurred or the amount charged. HSE has an internal review process, and you can ultimately challenge in court.
Sentencing guidelines
Since February 2016, courts have applied sentencing guidelines that link fines to the turnover of the organisation and the culpability of the breach.
Organisation size categories:
- Micro organisation
- Turnover up to £2 million
- Small organisation
- Turnover £2 million to £10 million
- Medium organisation
- Turnover £10 million to £50 million
- Large organisation
- Turnover above £50 million
Example starting points (very high culpability breach):
- Micro organisation: starting point £250,000
- Large organisation: starting point £4,000,000
For very large organisations (turnover above £50 million), fines can be 3-4 times the large organisation starting point. Multi-million pound fines are now common for serious breaches.
What to do if HSE visits
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Cooperate fully with the inspector
Obstructing an inspector is a criminal offence. Answer questions honestly, but you have the right to seek legal advice before answering questions under caution.
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Take notes during the visit
Record what the inspector looked at, what they said, and any concerns raised. This will help you respond and provides a record if needed later.
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If a notice is served, read it carefully
Understand exactly what is required and by when. If anything is unclear, ask the inspector to explain.
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Seek advice promptly if you disagree
You have only 21 days to appeal. Get legal or professional advice quickly if you believe the notice is wrong.
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For prohibition notices, stop the activity immediately
Do not continue while you consider an appeal. The notice is not suspended by appealing unless the tribunal grants a direction.
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Document your remedial actions
Keep records showing what you did to address the breach and when. This demonstrates compliance and may be relevant if FFI is charged.