Risk Assessments for pregnant workers
Every employer is under a duty to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to health and safety to which its employees (whether pregnant or not) are exposed while at work and is required to record the findings of the assessment. The employer should not wait until an employee becomes pregnant before it carries out this assessment.
The EAT has handed down its decision in O'Neill v Buckinghamshire County Council which concerned a pregnant teacher alleging that the generally stressful nature of teaching involved a special risk that brought about a duty on her employer to conduct a risk assessment. Whilst the EAT rejected that argument, it did set out the preconditions that must be met before an employer falls under a duty to conduct a risk assessment for a pregnant worker;
- The employee notifies the employer in writing that she is pregnant;
- The work is of a kind which could involve a risk of harm or danger to the health and safety of the expectant mother or her baby;
- The risk arises from either processes, working conditions or physical, chemical or biological agents in the workplace.
There is no more general obligation to carry out a risk assessment for a pregnant worker than on a worker who is not pregnant.
In the case of Madarassy v Nomura [2007], the Court of Appeal considered that, if an obligation to carry out a risk assessment and a failure to carry out that risk assessment is established, then discrimination results. Employers should therefore be encouraged to carry out risk assessments as a matter of course.
12 February 2010 | Employment News January 2010
