Maternity risk assessment

[Faithless12]

Does anyone know what I can do if my employer refuses to do a risk assessment. As they have done so far and how long is a reasonable amLunt of time that it should take, I should wait for them to do it.

You can call ACAS and see what they suggest.

What type of work do you do? Personally if I was an office worker and sat at a desk I'd probably not kick up too much stick and assess it myself.

Have they actually refused to do one or are they just being slow? If they've either refused to do one or it's been weeks since you've requested it and you've chased them, then yes that's a problem. You could raise a grievance if you want to.

Are you actually concerned about something in particular, in which case have you raised specific concerns with them rather than just asked for an assessment?

You could tip the health and safety executive off if they refuse to do a risk assessment.

Do you work with hazardous substances or have any other significant risks to worry about in your workplace?

I work with computers but they've just upped my workload and are being funny about me having even five minutes to have lunch. Theyve just changed what I do from relatively low stress to a very high stress job, doing more
programming on site with fives minutes to do a couple of hours worth of work. Obviously there is the heavy lifting associated with moving computers when onsite and not being able to sit or sitting on floors which is getting increasingly harder to get up from.

So not specific risks just needing a decent lunch break would make my day a lot more manageable. I was hoping that if a risk assessment was done I would get that at least but have been told they don't need to do a risk assessment as they have insurance.

It's a specific legal requirement to do a risk assessment for a pregnant woman. Not sure I understand their comment about insurance, as if that makes a different to risks, what a bizarre response! Have you spoken to HR?

That was HR's response. I have to admit I thought the response was weird and got myself upset over if anything did happen no money could make up for it so what would the insurance do.

Faithless that sounds horrible. I would give the health and safety executive a ring I think you can report things anonymously and they should act quite quickly. I think this may be best in your circumstances because the risks from lifting heavy loads are worse in early pregnancy. Tell them there is a pregnant woman working in unacceptable conditions (increased and unreasonable workload, lack of breaks, heavy lifting etc) and no risk assessment appears to have been carried out.

The company has a legal duty to ensure a safe working environment and can face criminal charges if they fail to protect employees adequately (this is rare in HR where most stuff is enforceable under civil law). The HSE has the power to impose sanctions on your employer and take action much more quickly than the grievance process.

I would also go and see your GP who may sign you off or give you a fit note which your employer would be silly to ignore. I would also put all your concerns in writing to your employer too as a grievance, stating quite clearly you are pregnant and start documenting any instances where you are treated poorly.

Btw who have you been dealing with in HR? What is their seniority?

That is shocking ignorance from HR. Risk assessment for pregnancy is pretty basic HR knowledge imo. Send them this link HSE on legal requirements for pregnancy

I know this thread is a bit old but I was just wondering whether the OP managed find any guidance on at what point the employer HAS to do the RA by? I told my employer when I was 6 weeks pregnant and am now 21 weeks - I keep asking to see it/contribute to it and being fobbed off. It is really frustrating me now - I work extremely long days (8am - 11.30pm usually) and am too tired to deal with this added stress.

@pippaandpolly - our policy clearly states that it has to be achieved within a reasonable period of first being informed of a pregnancy and then regularly reviewed. I tend to review my team's RAs inline with midwife appointments unless issues are raised outside. I would suggest that you follow flowery's advice further up page where she suggests that you should consider raising a greviance. good luck.

Thanks twinklytoes - what's most frustrating is that my school doesn't even have a maternity policy for me to refer to. Honestly, I know maternity leave isn't the point of having a baby, but I'm so glad to be getting out for a year!!