Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Expectant mothers
Whilst there are no legal requirements on employees to inform their employers that they are pregnant or a new mother they should bear in mind that their employer is not required to take any specific action until written notification has been provided. It is therefore important for the employee and her child's health and safety that employers should advise their employees to provide written notification as early as possible. Employers can also ask for a certificate from their employee's GP or midwife stating that she is pregnant.
Employers should take action to ensure that their workers, who are
or in the future could be a new or expectant mother, are not
exposed to any significant risk. To get a better picture of how
this should be done, see HSE's flowchart [80kb]
which provides an outline of the procedure.
There are two stages to the action employers must take.
Employers should:
Employers should conduct a specific risk assessment on receipt of written notification from an employee that she is pregnant, has given birth in the last six months or is breastfeeding. This must take into account any advice provided by the woman's health professional.
If any risks are identified then employers must take action to remove, reduce or control the risk. If the risk cannot be removed employers must:
The following checklist is a useful tool to help identify risks that could be harmful to the health and safety of new and expectant mothers and their children.
It is for the mother to decide how long she wishes to breastfeed and returning to work does not mean that she has to stop. On returning to work she should provide her employer with written notification that she is breastfeeding. Ideally she should do this before returning to work. Her employer must then conduct a specific risk assessment (see employers action).
Yes. Unless there is a specific work risk and her GP/Midwife has provided a medical certificate stating that she must not work nights. If this is the case then her employer must offer her suitable alternative day work on the same terms and conditions and if that is not possible, then suspend her from work on paid leave for as long as necessary to protect her health and safety and/or that of her child.
Back to topMore information can be found in the Department for Business, Enterprise and Reform (BERR) guidance 'Maternity Rights - a guide for employers and employees', or on the employment section of the Directgov website.
Back to topThe Workplace Regulations and Approved Code of Practice require employers to provide suitable facilities for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers to rest. Where necessary these should include somewhere for the woman to lie down.
HSE recommends that it is good practice, for employers, to
provide a private, healthy and safe environment for nursing mothers
to express and store milk (but this is not a legal requirement). It
is not suitable to use toilets for this
purpose.
Health professionals play a vital role during a woman's pregnancy and following the birth of her child. In most cases primary care remains the only viable option for advice on work-related ill health. This means that if a new or expectant mother is experiencing health problems their first point of contact is her GP or Midwife.
It is important therefore that health professionals are aware of
employers' responsibilities for managing work-related ill
health and exposure to workplace risks. New and Expectant Mothers at Work - A guide for
health professionals INDG373HP [328KB], provides this information.
Where health problems are being experienced, the health professional should consider, in discussion with the patient, what effect her working environment and conditions may have played. If any health problems are identified then health professionals can provide written advice, using a Med 3 statement, on the mother's health, which she can then give to her employer. Her employer is then obliged to take the advice into account when conducting a specific risk assessment. The Department for Work and Pensions' website provides more information on the uses of the Med 3 certificate www.dwp.gov.uk.
Health professionals also help by directing new and expectant
mothers to HSE's free leaflet A guide for new and expectant mothers at
work INDG373 [643KB]. To help with this, the following pdf file contains a
poster [120KB]
that can be printed and then placed on notice boards within their
surgeries.
Should an expectant worker become ill and be unable to work , this period is treated as sick leave and she would receive Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) from her employer if entitled. If she is not entitled to SSP she may be able to get Incapacity Benefit (Employment and Support Allowance from 27 October 2008) from Jobcentreplus.
However if she is sick at anytime in the period beginning with the 4th week before the week her baby is due and the illness is related to her pregnancy, her Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance must start on the day after she was first absent from work for this reason in this 4 week period.