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Workplace Health and Safety for Pregnant Employees

 

At The Legal Line, one of our main aims is to promote safety in the workplace, in order to protect the interests and wellbeing of employees. This information page is designed to give some basic guidance for expectant mothers on remaining safe at work whilst pregnant.

If you are unfortunate enough to suffer an injury at work whilst pregnant however, and feel that your employer is to blame, contact us on 0800 0328511 for cost free, sympathetic advice on making a personal injury claim. Alternatively, you can complete an online claim enquiry form and we will call you back.

Do you know the potential risks if you chose to continue working when pregnant?

Many women, and their employers, mistakenly assume that the risk assessments carried out for the whole workforce, will still be relevant if they become pregnant and continue to work.

The Law on Health & Safety for Expectant Mothers
Hazards for Expectant Mothers
Generic Risk Assessments
Conditions that can Affect an Expectant Mother
The Duty of Your Employer
Compensation
Useful Links

The Law on Health & Safety for Expectant Mothers

The law on health and safety at work is very clear regarding the duty by employers to protect expectant mothers and their babies. An employer has a duty of care to carry out a specific risk assessment for employees who are pregnant, have given birth within the last six months, or are breastfeeding. The law is not about bureaucracy, but about ensuring the health, safety and welfare of a large percentage of the workforce.

Ignorance amongst both employers and employees is widespread however. Many women may not wish to announce their condition until after the first trimester, and the law does not require them to do so. Many pregnant women are unaware of the need to notify their employer. However, the duty on the employer does not apply unless and until they have been advised in writing of your condition.

If you choose not to advise your employer until later into the pregnancy, you should be aware of your own working environment and make sure you reduce or remove any potential risks to yourself or the baby.

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Hazards for Expectant Mothers

Below are some of the aspects of our working life that need to be more carefully considered when you become pregnant. Because they form part of our normal routine, it might be easy to overlook their possible impact during pregnancy.

• Constant standing and sitting
• Incorrectly adjusted workstations
• Lifting or carrying heavy items
• Infections
• Stress
• Exposure to passive smoking
• Lone working
• Long working hours (including night shifts)
• The risk of assaults at work
• Working in confined spaces
• Travelling

Some women will also work in environments that have other, potentially more serious hazards, which need to be taken into account. These may include exposure to chemicals, or areas of radiation. Although these hazards may be perfectly well managed under normal conditions, some may become hazardous to the mother or baby and need to be removed.

A specific risk assessment will review every area of your working conditions and recommend the appropriate course of action to protect an expectant mother and the baby against illness or injury.

The Equal Opportunities Commission has conducted research, which suggests that only half of the approximate 440,000 women who continue to work during pregnancy each year have had a specific health and safety risk assessment. This figure is much higher in the retail sector.

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Generic Risk Assessments

Because they are not always notified until after the first 12 weeks, some employers have produced generic risk assessments, which aim to reduce the risk to all female employees of childbearing age. Whilst these will give some protection before you advise them that you are pregnant, specific risks to you cannot be evaluated until you confirm your condition to your employer in writing

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Conditions that can Affect an Expectant Mother

Some conditions that you might experience during pregnancy can be embarrassing but need to be dealt with sympathetically to reduce any stress which you may feel if or when they arise. Some aspects that are often overlooked, particularly in the later stages of the pregnancy, are the physical effects on you, the mother-to-be.

Tiredness - during the first trimester, it is normal to feel more tired than usual. It is important to take regular breaks and be able to rest when you need to. Many larger employers will provide an area for expectant mothers to use, but if this is not readily available, it may be advisable to let your employer know that you are pregnant so that he can carry out the risk assessment and make sure facilities are made available.

Tiredness can be a particular problem for women who work shift patterns or long hours as this may be compounded by irregular sleep patterns.

Morning sickness/ headaches - employers have a duty to provide suitable facilities where pregnant or breastfeeding workers can rest. If you are feeling faint or sick, you will not want to be in the toilet or coffee room but somewhere quiet and without being exposed to the smells of food or beverages.

Backache/varicose veins – many women will suffer with these conditions and these may be aggravated by standing or even sitting for prolonged periods. Good posture is important at this time and your workstation may need to be adjusted to take account of your changing physical condition.

Haemorrhoids – working in an overly hot environment can aggravate or heighten discomfort from this condition.

Pressure on the Bladder – many women suffer from the need to pay frequent visits to the toilet and this can become extremely stressful if you have difficulty leaving your area of work, or there is a lack of accessible rest facilities.

Balance – as the baby develops and your stomach expands, the change to your centre of gravity can cause your balance to be affected. This could be a particular hazard if you need to cross slippery, wet surfaces, or navigate staircases.

Uniforms – if your work involves wearing uniforms or protective clothing, your employer will need to provide suitable replacements, or change your activities to ones that do not require you to wear them.

General mobility – as your due date comes closer, dexterity, agility and co-ordination may be affected. This may make it more difficult to navigate some emergency exits, or in the event of a fire, the staircases. Your employer should ensure that in the event of emergencies, an appropriate escape route is available, or relocate your working area to a more accessible place.

Business Travel – many women need to travel either daily in the course of their work, or for specific events. This may call into question a number of possible hazards including lone working. At any given time, an employer may not be aware of the location of his employees, or even how they are travelling to their destinations.

Provision of bags on rollers or wheels will reduce manual handling issues but procedures to ensure the safety of the expectant woman should form part of the risk assessment.

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The Duty of Your Employer

Remember, only once your employer has been advised, do they have a duty of care to carry out the risk assessment and take steps to make your work environment safe. All aspects of your working environment and the possible effects of the pregnancy mentioned above need to be taken into account when carrying out the specific risk assessment. The 1999 amendments to the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations require employers to take steps to remove, reduce or control risks where individual risk assessments reveal them. If this is not possible, your employer should adjust your working conditions temporarily or provide you with suitable alternative work. If this also is not possible, they should suspend you on full pay.

Obviously, changes that an employer needs to implement will be dictated by the nature of the workplace, the tasks involved and the individual woman. However, some of the simple changes that an employer should consider might include:

• Rearranging working hours
• Providing greater flexibility for rest breaks
• Providing suitable rest facilities
• Re-allocating tasks which involve lifting or carrying to other employees
• Reviewing travel arrangements and requirements

Clearly, it is also important that the risk assessment be revisited at several stages during the pregnancy. Some organisations review again at the start of the second and third trimester, and again just before and after the return to work, to ensure the workplace continues to be a safe environment.

Finally, it is important to discuss your work environment with your doctor. Whilst the great majority of women will experience little or no difficulty working through their pregnancy, your doctor may feel that for particular reasons related to your health or pregnancy, some circumstances of your work need to be changed, or reduced. If this is the case, you should discuss these with your employer to see what other changes can be implemented.

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Compensation

If you have suffered a personal injury and are investigating the possibility of making a claim, you may wish to know a little more about how and why awards of damages are made.

There are two elements to a compensation award. The first, called general damages, is for the pain and suffering you may have gone through and any loss of amenity (perhaps an inability to wash your car, look after your garden, walk the dog). The award for loss of amenity can be for a short period after an accident or for ever if that is what the medical evidence supports.

Whereas the first element of compensation cannot make you better and can only really apologise, the second element of a compensation award, for your losses and expenses, is known as special damages and aims to put you back in a position financially as if the accident had never occurred. It is important to keep receipts for any expenditure you have related to the accident so that these can be reclaimed.

In serious cases, where a person may no longer be able to continue their employment, this can be taken into account. Costs for care, equipment, transport and housing modifications can also be factored into the calculations. If the person is still able to work but not in the same role as before, particularly if they held a public service role such as a doctor or police officer, an extra amount may be awarded for loss of ‘congenial employment’. A court can also make a financial award to recognise that an injured worker's prospects on the open labour market may be limited.

If a person is fatally injured, a dependent relative such as a widow and children may be able to claim a statutory sum for their bereavement and funeral expenses, but also sums for the loss of income and contribution to the household in the form of future losses.

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Useful Links

More information can be found on the Health and Safety at Work website on www.hse.gov.uk/mothers, and a series of fact sheets can be found on the Work and Health Information Gateway site at www.whig.org.uk/topics/pregnancy-and-work.

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