Improvement notices will relate to risks to health and safety and will not be issued for minor technical contraventions. They will only be issued when one or more of the following criteria apply:

• significant contraventions of legislation,
• lack of confidence in the business or person receiving the notice to respond to an informal approach,
• history of non-compliance with informal action,
• non-compliance could be potentially serious to health or safety.

Guidance is issued by the Health and Safety Commission on the use of improvement notices. The issuing of improvement notices will follow this advice. The guidance requires that:

• when an officer issues an instruction, the recipient has the right to request written confirmation;
• if an officer intends to issue an improvement notice, the recipient can request a written explanation of the deficiencies and an outline of the corrective action. The recipient has the right, for 14 days, to make representations to the relevant head of service regarding the content of the notice;
• when an improvement notice is issued, notification of a right to appeal to an Industrial Tribunal shall be given.