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Posted By Diane Thomason
According to the HSE's web pages on H&S for new and expectant mothers:
"What facilities do employers have to provide?
The 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."
I'm aware of what the Workplace Regs say but am having trouble with interpretation. Would be grateful to hear your interpretation of "where necessary" in relation to "somewhere for the woman to lie down". Supposing she feels the need to lie down but there is nowhere available?
Similarly, what if "a private, healthy and safe environment" is not available for expressing breast milk? If a breastfeeding woman returns to work and wants to express breast milk, and there are no suitable facilities, what happens then? The HSE guidance explicitly states that toilets are not suitable for this purpose.
Will be interested to hear any of your experiences.
Many thanks
Diane
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Rank: Guest
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Posted By Eric Burt
Diane
I am currently revising our risk asssessments and guidance on this topic so your enquiry is quite timely.
In relation to "where necessary" I would interpret this as meaning that not all pregnant workers wish to rest whilst at work so it would only be necessary where the risk assessment shows it to be so. Obviously, there is a need for a regular review of the risk assessment as the pregnancy progresses.
Para 10 of the Guidance Note "New and Expectant Mothers at Work - A guide for employers" states that they must have somewhere to rest, and the Workplace Regs state that "where necessary" they should include somewhere to lie down. Therefore I would be inclined to provide a suitable area to rest on a chair, and if the employee stated that they wishes to lie down, I would have to consider sending them home if no such facility was available. I would count this in the same category as the suspension from work as a result of the risk assessment.
In relation to expressing milk, I would interpret this in the same way as before - if private suitable facilities were not available then there would be no alternative but to suspend her from work to protect the health of her baby. I know that this sounds quite drastic, and I would be surprised if employers were not able to do this, but reading the Guidance Booklet from HSE, this is my interpretation.
My wife gave birth 18 months ago and it really used to anger me at the number of shops that were quite happy to direct her to the toilet in order to breasfeed. Makes me wonder how many shop managers would be happy to have THEIR meal in the toilet.
Let me know if you need any more info. Do you want a copy of our risk assessments etc when I complete them?
Regards,
Eric
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