Lone working at night while pregnant

[JFG17]

Firstly I'm not pregnant (yet) but this is one of the issues that is currently niggling me.

I work nights shifts in supported living flats for autistic adults. It's a great job and I really enjoy it. There is no manual handling or heavy lifting involved as all the people we support are able physically.

The problem is I work alone in an individual flats with individual clients. There are other staff in the building, working with other individuals in other flats. But we all work alone on a one to one basis and generally don't interact much while in the building.

It is likely that when I do get pregnant that I will not be able to go off on mat leave until quite far along. I want to work for as long as I can so I get longer afterwards with the baby.

Basically I'm worried about going into labour at night when I'm working alone with a vulnerable adult under my care. It will be my first baby and I know it is very unlikely the baby will just fall out of me but premature births run in my family so going into labour while at work is a possibility I have to think of.

My company does have an on call system for emergencies at night where we can call a manager so obviously I would do that but I think they may expect me to hang on until cover could be arranged.

I'm wondering what sort of safeguards they may be able to implement for me which I could request or would it be a case of them putting me on day shifts so someone is always around?

Has anyone else ever lone worked at night up until the end of pregnancy?

TIA x

Do you have a lone worker policy ?
What has happened when women have got pregnant before ?

You're massively overthinking this. You're not even pregnant yet.

Yes, they policy mentions nothing about pregnant staff.
I have not worked there long and know of no one who has been pregnant and neither does any other staff member I see so I don't know. I would have ask my manager but I think this would be unchartered territory for her as well.

I am autistic myself and being prepared is how I deal with the anxieties I doubt you would understand.

You will probably already be on maternity leave, even if baby comes early. Perhaps take it a little early if you're really worried.

Failing that, it's very unlikely a first baby will arrive fast enough for you to be unable to get to hospital safely - if there are others in the building, I imagine they'd cover for the time taken for support to arrive, as they would in the event of any illness or emergency.

It may help you to read the plans for emergencies, as I bet many of those can easily be adapted to you needing to go to hospital at short notice.

The likelihood that you will go into labour while you're working is vanishingly small. That said, I would ask what would happen if you were suddenly taken ill or something. I mean if you had an injury or something, they wouldn't expect you to stay on shift until cover could be found.

The same thing would apply

Do you have policy documents you can check to reassure you?

Surely you’d just call your boss and your husband / maternity unit / mum and tell them you’re in labour?

They will have a lone working policy and when you fall pregnant you will have a risk assessment done. You say there are other staff around, in an emergency I imagine they would take over your work, anyone could become unwell during the night and need to go home . If you feel anxious when the time comes then maybe days would be better for you but babies come at all times day and night and don't just fall out.

What happens if someone falls sick suddenly? There is presumably a procedure for this that would apply to a pregnant employee going into labour as well. If there isn't a policy for this, maybe there should be - anyone could have a heart attack, suddenly come down with food poison or fall over and bash their head.

I was pregnant in a similar job, but actually the only adult on site. I stopped working nights at about 7 months along. However, my supervisor got pregnant after me and stopped doing night shift at 3 months along

When you are pregnant, just ask for a risk assessment on long working at night when pregnant and see how other pregnant staff have been accommodated historically.

You will categorically not be working on nights at a late stage. Possibly not on Third trimester at all.

It been a long time since I was pregnant now but I started maternity leave two weeks before my due date, but booked two weeks annual leave in before that.

There's a very very good chance that you'll have LOADS of time to leave work and get to hospital if you were to go into labour early, especially with your first

I worked lone nights up until I had my baby (cam early before mat leave 😂)

i was happy to work alone, we had emergency call buttons etc for safety any way.

my concern would be more can you drop everything and leave if necessary? I’d talk to your line manager and see if an on call can be arranged for the last month or so so someone can come in if needed.

My boss does not answer her phone at 3am.

The on call system is the plan OP, realistically you wont be asking to leave, you will be telling them you are leaving - you might find that they talk to the rest of the team ahead of time to scope out who would be happy to jump in. Worth asking them now if its worrying you as every company handles it differently and it will put your mind at ease. But as a lot of people have mentioned, you may find you want to stop work just before your due dare anyway.

Yes, that is my concern.
They can arrange cover but I would have to hang on until they arrived and still be doing my job supporting someone who likely would have no grasp of my situation.
If I could just drop everything and run that would be much better but realistically I don't think it will.
It may be that someone else has to take over for a short while and they work short staffed.
Talking about this has helped, thank you to everyone who has been supportive.

You would not have to hang on, someone else does your clients work until they find cover, you call your partner, an ambulance or get to hospital safely in a taxi, try not to worry.

It is sensible to think these through. Pregnancy risk assessment from whatever Occupational Health Support you have and review the back up plans in place if someone were to be taken ill. If there are no plans in place... there should be!!

I'm the same as you, only adult in the house of 4 YP, policy states I cannot leave until cover found as always has to be staff onsite at all times. Have 3 on call managers that are all around a 30mins drive away

I'm 27 weeks pregnant and asked to stop sleep ins however they stated that as its part of the role, I have to still do them unless I've actually had a medical certificate stating unsafe. Seems abit strange to me but there isn't much information online.

This thread is nearly 2 years old

Op you should have a risk assessment completed when your pregnant by your work and this is precisely the kind of stuff it should cover.

Are your adults unable to be left alone? Are you there overnight / sleeping on site or having to be awake and available all night?

You have two things to think about if so.

What are work going to put in place to keep you safe throughout your pregnancy?

Is this a job you're happy to return to with a 9-12 mo child at home?

Have they done a risk assessment?

Risk assessment has been done, but doesn't say much about lone working. They've just said I would call oncall and they would come immediately. I work with under 18's so legally they have to have an adult on premises.

I work all day, then am on a 'sleep in' midnight till 7am. But obviously I don't always get to sleep at midnight sometimes working till 2am depending on what's happened in the day