Nine Months : Health and safety at work

If you are pregnant, have recently given birth or are breastfeeding, your employer must make sure that the kind of work you do and your working conditions will not put your health or your baby's health at risk. To get the full benefit of this protection you must notify your employer in writing that you are pregnant or have recently given birth or are breastfeeding.

Your employer should carry out a risk assessment of your working conditions and if any working conditions are found to be a risk to your health or your baby your employer must remove or reduce that risk. If the risks remain they must temporarily alter your working conditions or hours of work to remove the risk. If this is not possible your employer must offer you a suitable alternative job. If they can't offer you a suitable alternative job, your employer should suspend you on full pay for as long as is necessary to avoid the risks.

Your employer must also ensure that while at work, you have facilities for resting and expressing your milk (if you want to). All the health and safety conditions apply even if you have given birth to a dead baby.

The following is a list of working conditions recognised by law as being harmful to you or your baby:

	mental and physical fatigue and other physical burdens
	handling of loads entailing risk of injury
	movements and postures
	shocks, vibration or movement
	travelling - both inside or outside the place of work
	noise
	high or low temperature extremes
	any form of radiation
	working in conditions of extreme air pressure like diving etc.
	biological and chemical agents
	mercury and mercury derivatives
	carbon monoxide
	lead and lead derivatives
	underground mining work