Pregnancy in the construction industry

[GattoRosso]

I am planning to TTC #1 from January, but am unsure what impact being pregnant might have on me doing my job (not that it is going to change my mind! Just curious...)

Although my job doesn't involve working on a construction site, I do have to visit several sites each month and walk around inspecting them. So no danger of heavy lifting, or anything like that, but just the normal site visiting hazards.

Has anyone had experience of working on/visiting construction sites whilst pregnant? Or not being able to due to being pregnant?

I don't think it will really affect my team at all, as I am always accompanied by someone more senior anyway (I could always sit in the site office while everyone else goes out on site), but it's more the fact that I quite enjoy going out on site to see how things are going, and some of my projects would have reached quite exciting stages around the time I may be pg

My husband works for an engineering firm, and one of his team recently went on mat leave. As an HR manager myself, albeit not in that industry, my advice would always be make sure you have the necessary H&S checks/assessments, and then carry on as normal!

if there is anything you are concerned about, talk to your manager - you can stop doing it/do it differently/do something else for a short period of time.

Otherwise, unless you are at risk yourself or a potential risk for others, you should not have to think about your safety on site any more than you normally would do

HTH

There is no reason you shouldn't be able to visit construction sites until the very late stages of pregnancy. Yes its a hazardous environment but as your more "visiting" than "working" the risks should be manageable.

The only thing I can think of is ladders and if the use of might be hindered with a bump.

You know the work, there is a lot of difference between walking round the semi completed floors of a new building and crawling under the floor boards writing a snagging list.

Thanks HomeEcoGnomist and Grevling - very helpful

hi
didnt want to leave you unanswered. i work in a similar role to you by the sound of it. i just informed my line manager,and individually any colleague i visited site with, in case of emergency (before it showed)
I did ask for additional risk assessments to be done, especially for potentially hazardous substances (cement dust, bitumen etc)
otherwise, wasnt a problem, and everyone was incredibly supportive.

Thanks fireblademum

I'm an architect and worked right up to the end of both of my pregnancies. I do remember climbing ladders and scuttling around scaffolding when 8 months pg with dc1. I did what I felt happy with to be honest, and I felt on the whole that my clients etc weren't going to push me to do anything I didn't want to do.

I do remember which a funny moment when I was about 8+ months pregnant with dc1, climbing a ladder to go up to the newly constructed 4th floor of a house, and I was going to have to squeeze through the timber floor joists. My contractor said to me "Not being funny orangina, but I'm not sure you're going to fit through that space....."

I managed it! But I think that was my last pregnancy ladder climb.....

Hahaha orangina I love the mental image of negotiating an 8mth bump around the nooks and crannys of a site!
It sounds like I shouldn't have any worries, especially when I'm just doing short visits. My main concern is probably when doing Independent Certifier work, where I would be on site for the whole day, and there are often nasty paint fumes and things - but I'm sure someone will be able to advise me if that is a risk or not, and if so, there wouldn't be a problem with me passing out on those tasks.

Thanks all for your thoughts - feeling much more informed now :)

I am a civil engineer. As soon as I told work I was pg, I was taken off site work (we are very risk averse) and given lots of tenders and H&S docs to work on instead. The upside of this was that I could do it from home a lot . I still visited sites from time to time, but was not allowed to go alone. Lots of PPE for breathing in fumes etc. I was also allowed to travel first class on the train when I had to go and take an exam.