Posted By Crim
If an employee, presumaby female, declares she is pregnant this will be confirmed in writing by the GP. You need this confirmation as part of the risk assessment.

If in any doubt, believe her until such confirmation has been obtained.

Posted By Lilian McCartney
I'm with that. I usually start as soon as they, or someone else has mentioned they may be pregnant. HR can argue over when t he cert comes in.

In some cases I've also put in some measures where an employees has had previous miscarriages and the first few weeks are vital to avoid this again.

Most of the work I'm involved in doesn't need too much anyway.

Lilian

Posted By AF
I am totally shocked at the advice specified by steve...........!

Any half decent employer worth his salt would have a general risk assessment in place, which would cover females of child bearing age. Only once a female employee confirms her pregnancy (in writing) should a specific assessment be conducted relating to that employee (as employees can suffer from differing conditions, ie pre-enclampsia, high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, etc)

However the following is some extracts from the HSE related guidance

www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg373hp.pdf

Duties on employers under the Management
of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999

The law requires every employer to assess workplace risks for all their employees, and take practical action to control those risks. In addition, employers must take particular account of risks to new and expectant mothers.

The definition of a new or expectant mother is someone who is pregnant,has given birth within the previous six months, or is breastfeeding.

Employers must identify hazards in their workplace that could pose a health or safety risk to new and expectant mothers and take appropriate action to remove or reduce the risk. They must also make this information known to all their female employees of childbearing age, not just those who have informed them they are pregnant. This is
particularly important for expectant mothers, as it is possible for the first 4-6 weeks of pregnancy to go undetected.

The expectant mother MUST inform her employer in writing that she is pregnant. Her employer CAN ask for written medical evidence to confirm this and the employee HAS to provide it. The reason for this is so that employers can carry out a specific risk assessment for
the woman concerned

When the pregnant woman wishes to claim Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) or Maternity Allowance (MA) she should provide her employer with certificate MAT B1, which is issued around the twentieth week of pregnancy. A doctor or a registered midwife can complete
the MAT B1.

Employers MUST ask the woman to help with the risk assessment. This is particularly to take account of any medical advice she has received.

Conducted too many pregnancy related risk assessments this year, 2 administrators with my own employer, and 8 employees within my wifes department (a different employer). This also included an assessment on my wife (gave birth to our 2nd Son in August).

Alex

Posted By Robert S Woods
DWP advice to doctors and midwives:

It is particularly important that certificates are issued only when you are satisfied that your patient is in fact pregnant. Certificates must not be issued more than 20 weeks before the expected week of confinement.

This could mean that the employee would be 4 1/2 months pregnant before an employer was legally obliged to carry out a risk assessment.

I realise that most employers would take the word of the employee that they were pregnant and make arrangements. As mentioned in a previous reply it is particularly important with regard to employees with a history of miscarriages.

Having said this I would imagine that a GP would take into account the type of work carried out by the woman in respect to their care plan.

Posted By AF
Steve

Your interpretation of the letter of the law........!

"Going by the letter of the law, Regulation 18 of the MHSWR states that the employer is not obliged to do anything until written conformation by a medical practitioner or GP is forthcoming"

You are basically telling me that the employer needs to do nothing at all until he has been informed of the pregnancy.......!

Think you would require a bit of common sense here.

There have been instances where employees hand in their written letter of confirmation and/or their MAT B1 letter at a late stage ie, 25 - 28 weeks.

I would think the pregnancy would be noticed well before that - would you wait until confirmation......... I wouldnt!

Posted By Ghaam
Steve

Ignore it some folk only read and interpret what they want out of posts on here.

Scanning every post to pick up on any inaccuracy and attempt to make a fool of or discredit others seems to be a common trend and past time for some people.

Use the search tool you'll see what I mean

It can't even be excused a debate, in most cases it is complete manipulation to make one look better in order to provide some sort of self gratification


G

Ironically there is some irony in my own post

Posted By AF
Steve

Firstly, If I have misinterpreted your posting, then I can only apologise.

However I would be very careful about making statements

"Perhaps you only read the first paragraph and flew into a spitting rage, with the resultant phlegm on your monitor obscuring the view of the full post".

And that goes for you too BTW

"Ignore it some folk only read and interpret what they want out of posts on here.

Scanning every post to pick up on any inaccuracy and attempt to make a fool of or discredit others seems to be a common trend and past time for some people"

Its a good job I am thick skinned and dont take it to heart such comments, after 20 odd years in H&S.

Posted By MAK
Sorry but I would like to add absolutely nothing to the original query.

I would like to share something about my personal views on exclamation marks. It can lead to the reader thinking there is a certain vehemence in the tone, a bit like WRITING IN CAPS OKAY?!!!

Robert I hope you did get a suitable, workable answer from those knowledgeable people who responded?


Steve loved your posts. A teeny bit of humour goes a long way in my opinion, especially for those who work in H&S. The comments lighten the tone of this thread, without being offensive. (my personal opinion)

People who post here are often non-H&S practitioners or those of us who freely admit to not knowing everything. So if we can try re-reading what your about to post, or waiting 10 minutes before you hit "post" when we realise we may be a bit 'passionate' at that time, perhaps we can appear, to any readers, that we may have different perceptions but essentially give the right advice.

From one who has on occasion ranted... and ergo misinterpreted someones post...I hereby wind my neck in.

AF, just to explain one wee bit of something you referred to .. some of us do not wish to "hide" as it were, I decided to withold my email address as I found it was attracting unwanted email. Once in a lifetime offers such the option to buy shares in gold mines, or wonderful opportunities to launder money, you know the kind of thing.

Best Regards all.

Posted By MAK
Good! :)