Employers have a legal duty to protect pregnant employees. However, some don’t realise what actually needs to be done. An extra cushion or comfort break isn’t enough. You need to carry out individual risk assessments for your pregnant workers and make reasonable adjustments to guarantee their safety.
This guide lists nine common workplace hazards for pregnant workers that must be controlled. It will help you ensure compliance with health and safety law and keep new and expectant mums safe at work.
Key Takeaways
- Employers must conduct individual risk assessments for workers who are pregnant, breastfeeding or have given birth in the last six months.
- Any identified risks must be managed via reasonable adjustments to work conditions or hours.
- If workplace risks can’t be managed, employers should offer alternative roles or, if necessary, suspend the employee on full pay.
- Common workplace hazards for pregnant workers include long hours, stress, exposure to harmful substances and physical risks such as manual handling.
Legal Duties to Protect Pregnant Workers
A pregnant woman’s right to workplace safety started as an EU directive, which was incorporated into UK law via the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
Under these regulations, employers must carry out individual risk assessments for:
- Pregnant workers
- Workers who have recently given birth (within six months)
- Workers who are breastfeeding
The regulations continue, making it necessary for employers to manage identified risks through reasonable adjustments to work conditions or hours.
“Reasonable” in this context means affordable and practical. You’re not expected to make sweeping changes to your operations or workplace to accommodate pregnant workers, but you obviously can’t expect them to work under conditions that are unsafe for them or their unborn children. In these situations, you have to provide alternative work or suspend your employee on full pay (more on this later).
But these are contingencies. Work can often be made safe for new and expectant mums with some simple changes to duties, hours or the work environment. The first step is identifying your workplace hazards for pregnant workers.
Risk Assessments Explained
A risk assessment is a careful examination of workplace hazards (anything that can cause harm) and an evaluation of their risk level (how likely they are to cause harm and how severe it will be).
Based on this assessment, you plan how you can make it extremely unlikely that a hazard will hurt anyone or limit the severity of harm. There are five steps to this process:
- Identify hazards
- Decide who might be harmed and how (the risk)
- Plan control measures to reduce risks
- Record the findings and implement controls
- Review the assessment and update as necessary
Individual risk assessments follow these same five steps applied to one worker.
9 Common Workplace Hazards for Pregnant Workers
Pregnant workers face unique reproductive health hazards that require targeted risk assessments to ensure their safety. The following nine workplace hazards for pregnant workers should appear on virtually every individual risk assessment.
1. Manual Handling
The first hazard is an obvious one (it’s often the default example in official guidance), but it’s still worth mentioning.
Manual handling is the second biggest cause of non-fatal injuries at work among all employees. It would be utterly irresponsible to ask a pregnant woman to continue lifting heavy objects if it was previously part of her role.
2. Working at Height
Working at height is another significant risk, with falls from height being the fourth leading cause of non-fatal injuries among employees. It’s mostly construction workers who get hurt this way, since they find themselves at much greater heights much more often than the general working population.
But there’s no “safe” height for work. Falling from the bottom rung of a stepladder is dangerous. Pregnant woman must keep their feet firmly on the floor.
3. Sitting for Extended Periods
A lot of pregnant workers will keep their feet planted under their desks, often for hours on end in an attempt to get ahead before going on maternity leave. However, prolonged sitting is a hazard for pregnant women.
Long periods of physical inactivity increase the risk of gestational diabetes. It’s also been linked to smaller placentas, which can affect the growth of the unborn child.
4. Poorly Designed Workstations
Even if time sitting is broken up, pregnant workers will most likely be largely deskbound in the weeks before maternity. It’s your duty to ensure those desk spaces are safe.
A poorly designed workstation is a hazard for anyone. Adopting awkward positions can lead to musculoskeletal disorders, repetitive strains and shoulder, neck and back pain. The solution is to adjust your pregnant worker’s desk set-up with ergonomics in mind.
Ergonomics is fundamentally adjusting work to suit the worker, which is typically the exact opposite approach too many of us take when arranging our desks. But with simple adjustments – like adjustable chairs, lumbar support and properly placed monitors – you can significantly improve a pregnant worker’s comfort and health.
5. Extreme Temperatures
Working in temperatures above 35°C is potentially harmful to everyone, but more so for pregnant women.
Recent research has shown that working for three or more consecutive days in high heat increases the risk of pregnancy complications by up to 27%.
6. Harmful Substances
Harmful substances are a risk for everyone, but they’re especially hazardous for pregnant women or new mothers.
Women who are exposed to harmful substances while pregnant or breastfeeding may pass on toxic particles to their children. Common substances to look out for include:
- Lead
- Mercury
- Pesticides
- Cytotoxic drugs
If harmful substances are present in your workplace, there should already be safeguards in place. Review your COSHH assessment and be sure controls are sufficient for any new and expectant mums.
7. Work-Related Stress
Work-related stress is yet another universal hazard that’s potentially more harmful to pregnant women. New and expectant mothers already have a lot on their minds and will likely be experiencing sleepless nights and exhaustion, making it harder to handle work-related stress.
As a universal hazard, work-related stress should already be covered in your risk assessments, but it’s essential to incorporate it into individual assessments, too.
8. Long Hours
Working long hours has been linked to a number of pregnancy complications.
Women typically experience fatigue during pregnancy, particularly in the first and third trimesters. Working long hours can exhaust the energy they do have and make recovery harder.
9. Ineffective PPE
A woman’s body obviously changes during pregnancy, which can make existing safety measures ineffective.
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is a good example; it’s rarely designed for pregnant women. If your pregnant employees need PPE to do their job, be sure it’s still suitable and comfortable. Assign alternative duties if you can’t source PPE that still fits.
What to Do if Work Can’t Be Made Safe
You have two options if it’s not reasonable to make work safe for new and expectant mums.
The first option is to offer a more suitable (i.e. safer) alternative role.
If no alternative role is available, the employee should be suspended on full pay until all identified risks have been managed or the employee starts their maternity leave.
New and Expectant Mothers at Work Training
Protecting the health and safety of new and expectant mothers in the workplace is both a legal duty and a moral duty.
Our online New and Expectant Mothers at Work Training course equips you with essential knowledge to assess and manage workplace risks specific to pregnant employees, ensuring compliance and safety.
Through this course, you’ll gain a clear understanding of your legal responsibilities, learn how to conduct effective risk assessments and find practical ways to manage workplace hazards for pregnant workers.
About the author(s)
Jonathan Goby
