Solicitors were warned this week that many law firms remain ignorant of their duty to carry out risk assessments for all pregnant women and women of child-bearing age.

It follows publication of a briefing on risk assessments for pregnant women recently by the Trades Union Congress and comes ahead of the results of an investigation into pregnancy discrimination by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC).


The law requires employers to assess the possible risks to new and expectant mothers and, where such risks are found, take suitable action to prevent or control them. But because pregnancy usually goes undetected for the first few weeks after conception, employers are also obliged to carry out risk assessments for all female staff of child-bearing age.


Helen Mason, an employment partner at Derby firm Flint Bishop & Barnett, who specialises in acting for lawyers, said: ‘While the larger firms with HR departments will be aware of the regulations and carry out risk assessments for all their staff, I would be surprised if smaller firms were even aware they have to carry out such assessments for pregnant women, let alone for all their female staff of child-bearing age.’


Ms Mason said law firms need to consider particularly the length of time fee-earners and support staff spend seated and their posture, the layout of workstations, stress, long hours and smoking in the workplace.


She added: ‘The health and safety regulations do not go far enough. Firms should think a little further than the obvious and look also at things such as how the woman gets to work – could she be offered a car parking space, for example?’


Ms Mason warned: ‘If firms do not carry out these assessments, it constitutes a breach of health and safety regulations and is automatically sex discrimination.’


Statistics obtained by the EOC show that every year around 350,000 women continue to work during their pregnancy and two-thirds return to work within 11 months of giving birth. Between 1,300 to 1,500 pregnancy or maternity-related discrimination cases are filed, and more than 90% involved some breach of health and safety legislation.


David Appleton, an employment partner at City firm Lewis Silkin, said: ‘On the whole, pregnant women are subject to the same risks that everyone in an office environment is exposed to. They get more tired and often try to work harder for fear they might be seen as slacking.’


Makbool Javaid, an employment partner at City firm DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, added: ‘There is a complacency among professional service providers that these regulations are not relevant. There needs to be better understanding.’