Protection of Maternity at Work Places Regulations, 2000.

L.N. 92 of 2000

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

(PROMOTION) ACT, 1994

(ACT NO. VII OF 1994)

Protection of Maternity at Work Places Regulations, 2000.

IN exercise of the powers conferred by articles 6 and 16 of the

Occupational Health and Safety (Promotion) Act, 1994, the Deputy

Prime Minister and Minister for Social Policy, in consultation with

the Commission for the Promotion of Occupational Health and

Safety, has made the following regulations:-

(l) The title of these regulations

Protection of

IS

Maternity at Work Places Regulations, 2000.

(2) These regulations shall come into force on the 1st January,

2001.

Regulation 4(2)

A non-exhaustive list of agents for which an assessment has to be

carried out

1. Physical agents regarded as causing foetal lesions, and/or are

likely to disrupt placental attachment, including

(i)

shocks, vibrations or movement;

(ii)

handling of loads entailing risks, particularly of a

dorsolumbar nature;

(iii) nOise;

(iv) extremes of cold or heat;

(v)

movements and postures, travelling inside or outside the

establishment, mental and physical fatigue;

(vi) ionizing and non-ionizing radiation.

2. Biological agents.

All biological agents endangering the health of pregnant workers

and/or of a child, or which would require therapeutic measures

which similarly endanger the health of a pregnant women and/or

of a child.

3. Chemical agents.

Work with all chemical agents.

(1)

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise

reqUIres -

"breastfeeding worker" means a worker who is breastfeeding a

child, and who informs her employer of her condition by means of a

certificate issued by a medical practitioner or midwife;

"child" includes an unborn infant, and any child under three

years of age;

"conditions of employment" has the same meaning assigned to

it under the Conditions of Employment (Regulation) Act or any other

law substituting it;

"Director" means the Director responsible for Industrial and

Employment Relations;

"female" includes a pregnant or breastfeeding worker, and a

mother;

"mother" means a worker who has recently given birth to a live

or stillborn child, and who informs her employer of such an event by

means of a certificate issued by a medical practitioner or by a

midwife, and in the case of a worker who gives birth to a live child,

shall continue to remain considered as such for a period of six months

from the birth of the child;

"pregnant worker" means a pregnant worker who informs her

employer of her condition by means of a certificate issued by a

medical practitioner or midwife.

(2) In these regulations, words and expressions shall have the

same meaning as defined in article 2 of the Occupational Health and

Safety (Promotion) Act, 1994, hereinafter in these regulations called

"the Act", and the terms "breastfeeding worker", "female", "mother",

and "pregnant worker" in these regulations shall be interpreted in the

same manner as the term "worker" in the Act.

SECTION A: Agents to which a pregnant worker

cannot be exposed

Regulation 4(3)

1. Physical agents.

(a)

Work in hyperbaric atmosphere, including pressurised enclosures

and underwater diving.

(b)

Biological agents.

Toxoplasma and Rubella virus, unless the workers are proved to

be adequately protected against such agents by immunization.

(c)

Chemical agents.

Lead and compounds of lead.

2. Any other physical, biological or chemical agent regarded by the

Director, acting on the advice of the Commission for the

Promotion of Occupational Health and Safety, as causing foetal

lesions, and/or is likely to disrupt placental attachment, and/or is

likely to cause serious disease to a pregnant woman.

SECTION B: Agents, processes or work activities

to which a breastfeeding worker cannot be exposed

Regulation 4(4)

1. Chemical agents.

Any chemical agent capable of being absorbed by the human

organism which can also pass to a child through breastmilk, and

which can have deleterious effect on the child.

2. Any other agent, process or work activity which can have a

ham1ful effect on the ability of a mother to breastfeed.

(1) A female worker who becomes pregnant shall inform Employment of

her employer of her condition as soon as she becomes aware of it.

(2) No pregnant worker, mother or breastfeeding worker shall

be required by any employer to perform any work which may

endanger her health and safety, the safety or viability of her

pregnancy or the health of her child, as the case may be.

(1) Before assigning work to any pregnant or Employer's

breastfeeding worker or to a mother, an employer shall assess the responsibilities.

nature and degree of any hazard present at his workplace, together

with the anticipated duration of exposure, as well as the resultant

risks to the health and safety of the female concerned, as well as to

the safety of her pregnancy or of the child in the case of a

breastfeeding worker

Provided that such an assessment shall also include, but

shall not be limited to, an assessment of the hazards and the resultant

risks to the physical and mental health of the worker and to the safety

of the pregnancy arising from the industrial processes used, and from

the presence of any chemical, physical or biological agent used at the

employer's place of work

Provided further that such an assessment shall also include

an assessment of the risks which may arise from any particular

posture, movement or lifting activity which has to be carried out by

any pregnant worker, mother or breastfeeding worker so as to carry

out the work or the task assigned to her.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (1) and its

provisions, a non-exhaustive list of agents for which an assessment

must be carried out, is shown in the First Schedule to these

regulations.

(3) An employer shall under no circumstance require a

pregnant worker to perform duties for which the assessment has

revealed a risk of exposure to the agents, processes or working

conditions listed in Section A of the Second Schedule to these

regulations, or when so directed by the Director in the sole interests

of health and safety.

(4) An employer shall under no circumstance require a

breastfeeding worker to perform duties for which the assessment has

revealed a risk of exposure to the agents, processes or working

conditions listed in Section B of the Second Schedule to these

regulations, or when so directed by the Director in the sole interests

of health and safety.

The employer shall inform the female workers referred to

in regulation 3(2), or their representatives at the place of work, of the

results of the assessments referred to in regulation 4 and of all the

measures taken, or that are to be taken concerning health and safety at

work.

(I) If the results of the assessment referred to in

regulation 4 reveal a risk to health or safety, to the pregnancy, or to

the child, the employer shall take the necessary steps to remove the

female from such exposures, either by temporarily adjusting the

working conditions, and/or the working hours, or by assigning the

worker to another job which is both suitable in relation to her and

appropriate for her to do in the circumstances, under such terms and

conditions of employment which are not less favourable than those

stipulated in her contract of employment.

(2) If the employer is unable to comply with the provisions of

paragraph (l), the employer shall grant the worker an extension of her

maternity leave for the whole of the period necessary to protect her

safety or health, or that of her pregnancy, or of her child.

(3) An employer shall not terminate the employment of a

female on the grounds that the employer is unable to comply with the

provisions of paragraph (l).

(4) The provisions of this regulation shall apply mutatis

mutandis to the case where a worker pursuing an activity which is

forbidden in tern1S of regulations 4(3) and 4(4), becomes pregnant or

starts breastfeeding, as the case may be, and informs her employer

thereof.

(5) A worker who without due reason refuses to perform the

alternative work provided by her employer in terms of paragraph (l)

shall not be entitled to an extension to her maternity leave.

(1) No pregnant worker, mother or breastfeeding worker Night work.

shall be required by any employer to perform any night work if the

worker concerned submits to the employer a medical certificate

which states that night work can have harmful effects on the

pregnancy, or on the mother, or on the child, as the case may be.

(2) An employer shall transfer a female referred to in

paragraph (1) to another daytime job which is both suitable in relation

to her and appropriate for her to do in the circumstances, under such

terms and conditions of employment which are not less favourable

than those stipulated in her contract of employment

Provided that if the employer is unable to comply with the

provisions of this paragraph, the employer shall grant the worker an

extension of her maternity leave for the whole of the period necessary

to protect her safety or health, or that of her pregnancy or of her child.

(3) An employer shall under no circumstance require a female

to perform night work during a period commencing on the eighth

week immediately preceding the expected date of delivery, and

terminating not earlier than the end of the twenty-first week after such

commencement.

(4) An employer shall not terminate the employment of a

female on the grounds that the employer is unable to comply with the

provisions of this regulation.

(5) A worker who without due reason refuses to perform the

alternative work provided by her employer in terms of paragraph (2)

shall not be entitled to an extension of her maternity leave.

(l) A pregnant worker shall be entitled to one week's Special leave.

special leave which shall be utilised immediately preceding or

immediately following the maternity leave to which she is otherwise

entitled by virtue of article 18 of the Conditions of Employment Cap. 135.

(Regulation) Act

Provided that the conditions applicable for the utilisation

by a female of such special leave shall be the same as those applicable

to maternity leave as stipulated in the Conditions of Employment

(Regulation) Act.

(2) For the purposes of this regulation, the financial benefits to

which a pregnant worker is entitled by virtue of this regulation in

combination with the benefits arising out of the provisions of article

18 of the Conditions of Employment (Regulation) Act, shall be

deemed sufficient if, in their totality, they are not less than those

accruing solely by virtue of article 18 of the aforementioned Act for

the thirteen week period.

(3) This regulation shall immediately cease to have effect

when the duration of the maternity leave established by virtue of the

Conditions of Employment (Regulation) Act, or of any other Act

which replaces it, becomes of fourteen weeks.

It shall be the duty of an employer to grant a female two

weeks of compulsory maternity leave which shall be utilised

immediately before or immediately after confinement, and such

compulsory leave shall be deducted from the normal maternity and

special leave entitlement of the female.

A pregnant worker shall be entitled to time off, without

loss of payor any other benefit, in order to attend ante-natal

examinations, if such examinations have to take place during working

hours

Provided that the employer may request documentation

which shows the appointment times for such examinations.

It shall be unlawful for an employer to dismiss a worker

during the period from the beginning of her pregnancy to the end of

her maternity leave, or during her special leave.

The Work Place (Protection of Maternity) Regulations,

1996, are hereby repealed.