Working in a factory while pregnant

[Livia323]

Hi, I am 28 years old, 11 weeks pregnant,plus size, this is my first baby,was a total surprise. I work a in cold environment with a lot of noise, I do inpak and quality control and I just found out from.my colleges that it isn t good for the baby to work there because the heavy work and the noise. I work with day contract so they could kick me out anytime. I want to ask u if u worked preganant in a factory and if u had any problems with it?

I think it’s best to speak to a doctor rather then taking medical advice from your colleagues who work in a factory.

The noise won’t hurt your baby, the physical work may get harder as your pregnancy progresses. Take it easy and ask work for a risk assessment.

Your organisation needs to do a risk assessment and review it regularly as you get bigger. You won't be the first pregnant worker they've had I'm sure, so talk to your manager.

unless your colleagues are doctors, nurses or medically trained it's best to ask your gp or midwife.

Work should be doing a risk assessment for you ASAP.

I told my employer I was pregnant at 15 weeks. They moved my job about so i didnt have to lift heavy boxes. I wasnt risk assessed till 30 weeks though when I was actually caught carrying boxes down the stairs.
You say day contract? Do you mean agency? Where I work now pregnant agency staff still get risk assessments from HR. See your line supervisor or health and safety rep. Maybe even a first aider? They'll point you in the right direction.
I had no problems till about 28 weeks when I climbed into some machinery to fix it and realised I was too fat to get out again. My colleagues were pretty good and covered my back a lot with jobs. We do the same with pregnant ladies on our line. Dont expect them to lift things, they can go off for extra toilet breaks and we swap jobs regularly. We do that off our own back though, were not told to.

The college who told me that she had 3 baby's while working, the doctor told me he could write me to stay home or to find another job but I will not be paid because I don t have enough days worked so I need to work. My employer just found out that I am pregnant and now I am waiting to see if they will still give me work.

Thank u for the adviceses, I will ask about a risk assessment if they will still want me to work.

They can't deny you work but unless you are doing heavy lifting you should be fine for now. Unless you are unwell there is no need for the doctor to sign you off.

I stood 2 weeks home when I was 7 weeks because after I did pallets at work( with boxes even do they aren t more the 6 kilos each) I started to bleed and the doctor said to take a break. Now I don t bleed any more and the last days at work I talked with my colleagues to don t do pallets and I was fine .

I started a new job in a factory at 23yrs old on the Monday and I found out I was 5 weeks pregnant on the Friday. I told my boss the following Monday and that day they switched me to a different role to cut out the very heavy lifting. There were a couple of areas I wasn't allowed into because of the fumes. They were very good about it.