Caution! Risk Assessments For Pregnant Employees

To comply with Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (the Regulations), employers are now under an obligation to make suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of their employees. This should incorporate an assessment of particular risks to new or expectant mothers when workers include women of childbearing age.

In addition employers have risk avoidance obligations which require them to consider, in relation to an employee who has given notice of pregnancy, whether the risks identified in the assessment might be avoided.

Case law – Stevenson v JM Skinner Co

This recent Employment Appeal Tribunal ("EAT") decision serves as a useful reminder to employers of their obligations. Mrs. Stevenson informed her employer that she was pregnant. Her job involved lifting boxes and the employer's premises occupied several floors, which meant that she would have to go up and down stairs. An employment tribunal found that the