What Happens When You Receive a Prohibition Notice in Victoria
A prohibition notice is more serious than an improvement notice. It stops work. It doesn't suggest. It doesn't recommend. It prohibits. If you've just received one, the next decisions you make will shape whether the matter ends quietly or escalates further.
I worked as an inspector with WorkSafe Victoria, and have since helped clients navigate the response to prohibition notices issued at their workplaces. The pattern that distinguishes a clean outcome from a damaging one isn't usually the underlying hazard. It's how the business responds in the period immediately after the notice is issued.
This piece walks through what a prohibition notice actually does, what you must stop, what you can usually keep doing, the path to having it lifted, and the mistakes that quietly turn a manageable situation into a much bigger one.
What a prohibition notice actually is
A prohibition notice is issued under section 112 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic). The legal trigger is specific: an inspector must reasonably believe that an activity involves, or will involve, an immediate risk to the health or safety of any person.
"Immediate" is the operative word. It distinguishes a prohibition notice from an improvement notice. An improvement notice deals with a contravention or likely contravention that needs to be remedied within a set period. A prohibition notice deals with a risk that the inspector reasonably believes cannot wait, because someone could be hurt before any improvement period would expire.
The notice itself is a written direction. It must specify the activity in question, the matters that give rise to the risk, the legal basis for the inspector's belief if a contravention is alleged, the penalty for contravening the notice, and how the recipient may seek review of the decision. The notice may also include directions on what measures are needed to remedy the risk.
A prohibition notice doesn't go away on a deadline. It stays in force until an inspector certifies in writing that the matters giving rise to the risk have been remedied. That changes how you should respond.
What you must stop, and what you can usually keep doing
This is the area most often misunderstood. A prohibition notice does not necessarily shut down your entire workplace. The Act allows the notice to prohibit either the carrying on of the activity altogether, or the carrying on of the activity in a specified way.
In practice this means a prohibition notice can specify any combination of the following: a workplace or part of a workplace where the activity is not to be carried out, any thing that is not to be used in connection with the activity, or any procedure that is not to be followed.
The wording on your notice tells you the scope. Read it carefully. There is a real difference between "all loading dock operations are to cease" and "all loading dock operations using mobile plant X are to cease until the matters giving rise to the risk are remedied". The first stops a function. The second stops a method.
Reading the notice precisely
The activity prohibited is what's named on the notice. Activities not named are not prohibited by the notice itself, although they may still attract scrutiny if related. If your notice cites a specific item of plant, a specific procedure, or a specific area, that is the boundary of what must stop.
Where uncertainty exists, the safer position is the narrower interpretation. If the notice could reasonably be read as prohibiting an activity, treat it as prohibited until you have clarified the scope with WorkSafe or competent advice. Operating in a grey zone after a prohibition notice is one of the fastest ways to escalate the matter.
Stop what the notice says. Don't expand the prohibition unnecessarily, but don't narrow it on assumption either. If the wording is ambiguous, get advice before resuming any related activity.
Why the notice was issued
Inspectors don't issue prohibition notices casually. The decision typically follows a site walk where the inspector has identified a hazard with the potential for serious harm and has formed the view that the existing controls are not adequate to prevent it.
Common triggers I've seen include: missing or bypassed machine guards on plant in use, unsafe working at height with no fall prevention or arrest, traffic management failures with active forklift and pedestrian conflict, electrical work outside competent person controls, confined space entry without adequate atmosphere monitoring or rescue arrangements, and structural concerns with racking or scaffolding.
The list isn't closed. What unites these is that the inspector has assessed the activity as creating risk that is real, present, and serious enough that allowing the work to continue would be unreasonable. Understanding this framing matters because the path to lifting the notice runs through addressing what the inspector saw, not what you wish they had seen.
The path to having a prohibition notice lifted
A prohibition notice is lifted when an inspector certifies in writing that the matters giving rise to the risk have been remedied. The certification is not automatic. It follows a remediation process and a verification visit.
The remediation has to address the actual risk identified, not a related or adjacent issue. If the inspector's belief was that machine guarding was inadequate, fixing the lighting in that area will not unlock the certification. The remedy must connect directly to the risk cited.
This is where many businesses get tripped up. The instinct is to do everything that might be relevant. The discipline is to do exactly what was identified, demonstrably, before requesting verification.
What a credible remediation looks like
It has three components. First, an evidenced fix to the specific issue cited (engineering control, isolation, replacement, or redesigned procedure as appropriate). Second, a documented review of related risks that may share the same root cause. Third, a clear demonstration that the system is now capable of preventing recurrence, not just the immediate hazard.
The verification visit is where this is tested. The inspector will want to see the fix in place, working, and supported by evidence that workers understand and can execute the new arrangement. A fix that exists on paper but not on the floor will not result in certification.
Certification follows demonstrable remediation of the specific risk, supported by a credible system around it. Anything less and the verification visit becomes a second issuance opportunity rather than a closure.
The mistakes that escalate a prohibition notice
From the inspector's side of the table, the responses that turn a prohibition notice into a worse outcome are usually one of the following.
Continuing the prohibited activity
This is the fastest way to escalate. Section 112(5) of the Act requires the person to whom a prohibition notice is issued to comply with the notice. Failing to comply is an indictable offence. The penalty exposure for non-compliance is significant for individuals and substantially higher for body corporates, and the matter is heard in court rather than resolved administratively.
Some businesses continue the activity in good faith because they believe the notice is wrong, or because production pressures override the wording. Both are forms of non-compliance. If you believe the notice is wrong, the remedy is review, not continuation.
Treating the notice as a paperwork exercise
Producing policies, procedures, or risk assessments without making operational changes does not satisfy a prohibition notice. The inspector cited a real-world risk. The remediation has to exist in the real world. This sounds obvious in the abstract but is one of the most common reasons certification is delayed at the verification stage.
Resuming work before certification
The notice remains in force until an inspector certifies the matters have been remedied. Internal sign-off, sign-off from a consultant, or sign-off from anyone other than a WorkSafe inspector does not lift the notice. Resuming the activity before certification is non-compliance, even if the underlying remediation has been completed.
Missing the review window
If you believe the notice was incorrectly issued, the OHS Act provides a review pathway. Internal review by WorkSafe is the first step under section 128 of the Act. Applications for internal review have a statutory time limit, generally fourteen days from when the decision came to your notice, although WorkSafe may allow a longer period in some circumstances. Further review options exist beyond internal review and are best discussed with someone qualified in that pathway.
Reviews are heard on their merits. They require evidence and a defensible argument. Acting promptly to preserve the review option is important even if you ultimately decide to comply rather than challenge.
When to challenge versus when to comply
Most prohibition notices are properly issued. The inspector saw something they were entitled to see and formed a view they were entitled to form. In those cases, the right response is to remediate, demonstrate the fix, and seek certification.
A minority of notices are challengeable. The basis for challenge is usually one of the following: the cited activity does not in fact involve the immediate risk identified, the controls already in place adequately address the risk, the prohibition is broader than the risk warrants, or the matters specified are factually incorrect.
Challenging a prohibition notice is not a soft option. It requires evidence, a defensible position, and acceptance that the activity remains prohibited during the review. It is appropriate when the notice would otherwise create a precedent or compliance record that doesn't reflect what actually happened. It is not appropriate as a delay tactic.
Comply first, then evaluate review. Stopping the prohibited activity is the legally required position regardless of whether you intend to challenge. The review pathway operates in parallel to compliance, not instead of it.
What this looks like in practice
A clean response to a prohibition notice generally has the following features. The activity stops, scoped to what the notice actually prohibits. The notice is read carefully and the boundaries of the prohibition are confirmed in writing if necessary. A remediation plan is developed that addresses the specific risk cited, supported by a review of related risks that share the same root cause. The remediation is implemented operationally, not just documented. Workers affected are briefed on the new arrangement before the verification request. The verification request to WorkSafe is supported by evidence the inspector can see and test on the day.
The review window is preserved either by lodging an internal review application or by deciding consciously not to. The decision to challenge or comply is made on the merits, not under pressure of the moment.
A response that runs along these lines tends to result in certification at the first verification visit and no further regulatory action. A response that doesn't tends to compound.
Have a prohibition notice in front of you?
Talk to a former WorkSafe inspector before you respond. Fifteen minutes. No charge. We'll work through the wording of the notice, the scope of what's prohibited, and the right next step for your situation.
Book a 15-min CallThe honest summary
Prohibition notices feel catastrophic in the moment because they stop work. They are almost always recoverable if the response is structured. The activity stops, the specific risk is addressed, the verification visit produces a certification, and the operation resumes.
What turns them into something worse is responses that treat the notice as either an inconvenience to work around or as a pure legal problem to delegate. Neither matches what the notice actually requires. It requires a real-world fix to a real-world risk, demonstrably done, supported by a system that can be relied on going forward.
If you've received a prohibition notice and you're working out the next move, that's the conversation we have. Practical, focused on what the inspector actually wants to see, and shaped by knowing how the verification visit is going to go before you walk into it.
If your situation is an improvement notice rather than a prohibition notice, we've written separately on how to respond to a WorkSafe Improvement Notice in Victoria. The approach overlaps but the timing and stakes are different.
Notice in hand. Don't go this alone.
The decisions you make in the period after a prohibition notice are issued are the ones that shape the outcome. Get a former inspector's view before you commit to a response.
Talk to a Former InspectorDisclaimer: This article reflects RAS-OHS guidance based on professional experience as a former WorkSafe Victoria inspector. It is general information only, is not official WorkSafe Victoria material, and should not be treated as legal advice. Statutory references to the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) are accurate as at the date of publication but legislation can change. For specific obligations or advice on your circumstances, refer to worksafe.vic.gov.au, the current text of the Act, or seek formal legal advice.
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