Pregnant same time as work partner (very tricky scenario)

[GTD17]

I cannot explain my actual job title or role as it's v outing. My job requires two of us to head out together to visit various places and we have a lot of heavy equiptment to lift in and out of the boot (sometimes we have various locations to visit so lots of loading and unloading the boot)

We are the only two people in our company that are qualified/trained for this role. Everyone else in our company has very specific other roles.

I have just found out I am pregnant and my colleague told me today she is pregnant (she doesn't know I am yet)

I simply don't know what will happen now with regards to our situation. If only one of us was pregnant then the other would lift and carry the equipment but now we both can't? I can't seem to think of any real solutions our boss could come up with!

In the nicest possible way, it's not your problem to worry about. Easier said than done though.

Work should assess your activity / roles now that the other lady has told them she's pregnant. To make sure she's not exposed to any additional risk of ill health or injury at work, by virtue of being pregnant.
That may see aspects of her job change, if any risks were identified.
In turn, under normal circumstances, that may see aspects of your job change slightly.

Once you advise your work that you are pregnant, they'll have to do a similar assessment for you.

That may see aspects of the job change again, what tasks you (both) may or may not do. Those changes will be to protect your welfare.

The fact that your employer only has the two of you trained for this job, is their problem. Their risk - in many ways, the situation is no different to if one or both of you handed in your notice.

If you can foresee "extra" work coming your way because of the first lady's pregnancy announcement, I'd be tempted to tell work about you now ..... even if it is a little sooner than you'd planned.

Best of luck.

Presumably they'll need to recruit/train someone (or two people) to cover you while you're on maternity leave. They need to get them in place ASAP and they can do the lifting while you train them.

Although current NHS advice is that risks are not increased by lifting during pregnancy.

Seems like. Ergectnoppyrtinth fit a bit of succession planning and training for when you both go on mat leave at the same time.

The bits of equipment are huge bulky suitcase type things which I find difficult to lift now let alone when I'm heavily pregnant! Thank you everyone. I will tell them by the end of the week so they have time to prepare

I have no idea what happened to my previous post! First line should have said “Seems like a perfect opportunity for a bit of...”