At AU we consider an employee’s pregnancy as a happy event and we have sharp focus on creating good and safe working conditions for both the pregnant woman and the child during and after pregnancy.
At AU, guidelines have been drawn up which are intended to contribute to the pregnant and breast-feeding woman being able to maintain as healthy and normal a work day as possible – without fearing for herself or the (unborn) child.
As soon as an employee announces her pregnancy, the immediate supervisor must invite the pregnant employee to a meeting about her working conditions.
At the meeting, the duties of the pregnant employee are reviewed to identify possible conditions that may constitute a risk for the pregnant woman, the unborn child or children who are breast-fed.
At AU, a checklist has been prepared as a tool for assessing the pregnant/breast-feeding woman´s work tasks. It is the the immediate supervisor together with the pregnant/breast-feeding woman who completes the assesment in collaboration with occupational health and safety group (AMG).
Most pregnant/breast-feeding women can keep on their work, however there may be tasks that the pregnant/breast-feeding woman cannot perform during the period. The pregnant/breast-feeding woman´s work tasks are adjusted in such a way that impacts are removed or reduced to an absolutely minimum, so that the pregnant/breast-feeding woman can work safely and healthy, if not the pregnant/breast-feeding woman must be transferred to other work.
The risk of giving birth prematurely or stunting the growth of the fetus can increase with folowwing physical matters:
Pregnant women should not be exposed to strong whole-body vibrations, e.g. when driving on uneven surfaces. Vibrations when driving in a car, bus, lorry, train or when working on planes and ships do not involve any risk.
Certain chemicals can be hazardous to the health of the pregnant woman and the fetus, as well as posing a risk to the child who is breast feed.
The employer is responsible for preparing an assessment of the risk to the pregnant woman when working with chemical substances and materials with the following Hazard phrases (H):
Substances and materials labeled with other hazard phrases may also cause hazardous effects to the unborn child or reproductive effects.
Therefore, the employer must also make an assessment of the risk to the pregnant woman when working following substances and materials:
Involve the OHS-group when preparing the pregnancy risk assessment. If in doubt, contact the occupational medicine clinic – it is the pregnant woman that contact her doctor, who if necessary contact the occuptational medicine clinic.
The local adminstrator in Kiros can pull a list of all the chemicals in the group that are classified as hazardous to pregnant and breast feeding women.
The manager must in collaboration with the pregnant woman make a assessment for the radiation dose for the unborn child.
Pregnant women´s work must be organized in such a way that there is no risk that the radiation dose to the unborn child exceed 1mSv. In account must be taken of the risk of radiation dose as a result of unintended incidents/accidents.
If the radiation dose is less than 1 mSV the work can continue without special measurements.
If in doubt, the work risk assesment can be submitted to Danish Health Authority (Statens Institut for Strålehygiejne -SIS) for final assessment.
The rules for each BioSafety Level must always be followed, and a thorough instruction must be given by the person responsible for instruction (supervisor/labmanager) before the work begins.
Laboratory animal may pose a danger for the fetus:
aboratory animals can carry a protozoa, toxoplasma gondii, which in humans can cause toxoplasmosis. It is recommended to consult your doctor and request a blood sample to determine antibodies against toxoplamosis. It is also possible to test the laboratory animals. If the presence of antibody, the work can continue, otherwise the employee must be transferred to other work.
Avoid working with birds/poultry:
In addition, pregnant women should not work with birds/poultry due to the risk of Ornithosis/Psittacosis (parrot fever). Both Toxoplasmosis and Ornithosis/Psittacosis can cause birth defects.
Patient specimens:
Pay attention when workning with blood and tissue samples; all patient specimens is considered potentially infectious and treated accordingly to that.
It is recommended to get a vaccination against infectious hepatitis before starting work and before a possible pregnancy.
Following microorganisms can pose a risk to pregnancy or during breast feeding period: