Pregnancy risk assessment

[Sandybeaches56]

I work in a kitchen where I’m on my feet for 6 hours without a break. There is a lot of heavy lifting and chemical use too.
I put my pregnancy into writing and sent it to head office. I had a response which was to wait until I have a MATB1 form and they will contact me further. No mention of a risk assessment despite me asking when to expect one.
am I correct in believing they should automatically do one upon being told about a pregnancy? I’m having awful sickness and back pains with this pregnancy so I was hoping I would be ‘let off’ the heavy work and be offered breaks and somewhere to sit regularly. It doesn’t feel like that will happen. I work alongside my boss who hates me so she wouldn’t make allowances out of kindness.
Can anyone advise me please as I’m scared of continuing these jobs and something going wrong. Thanks

It’s your manager that works with you who should be doing the risk assessment!

She’s known about my pregnancy for 6 weeks and hasn’t done anything, that’s why I went to head office in hope they’d do something about it.

Then you need a read up on company policy and maternity law and go to them with what they should be doing. You need to advocate for yourself and your baby.

Thank you

H&S professional here. I’ve done or helped with a lot of these risk assessments. Yes they should have completed a risk assessment as soon as they knew you were pregnant. Have a look on the Health & Safety Executive website, there are some great resources there that you could show your employer (HSE are good at emphasising that these are employers’ legal duties - firmly but politely!)
https://www.hse.gov.uk/mothers/employer/common-risks.htm

I’m guessing you’re not in a trade union that could help you?

They really must not just keep making you do prolonged heavy lifting (though it can be possible to adapt the task). It’s one of the specific things we assess because it’s a known risk. If you were at my workplace I’d be telling your manager that very firmly. Managers are paid to manage, and it’s her job to allocate tasks according to the situation. If you can’t do as much lifting, she has to organise the team workloads accordingly.

If you’re already having back pain you are at high risk of injury. It’s you that’s at risk, not the baby!

Also it’s a legal requirement for you to have somewhere to rest.

DM me if you like.

Thank you so much, it helps to hear from a professional. My manager has agreed to do a risk assessment but when they get time to find the paperwork… I’d hope they would stop me doing any difficult jobs in the meantime, but they expect me to continue to struggle. I have felt picked on today and wish I could leave now as I know it’ll get worse.