Pregnancy and breastfeeding

Pregnant and breastfeeding women must not be exposed to the following risks:

• Infectious agents, such as rubella, toxoplasma, and Zika virus.
  Lead compounds
• Cancer-causing substances (CMR substances)
• Carbon monoxide
• Organic solvents
• Night work: a medical certificate is required by pregnant staff who have given birth within the previous 14 weeks.
• Radiation: during pregnancy, the fetus must not be exposed to an equivalent radiation dose exceeding 1 mSv. Staff working with radiation are required to inform their manager if they are pregnant or breastfeeding.

The employer is responsible for ensuring that an individual risk assessment is carried out for pregnant women in the lab. If the individual risk assessment result show risks in the work, proper measures must be taken immediately to eliminate or reduce them. Examples of measures are changes to the working environment (e.g. measures against noise and other stress factors), redeployment of the pregnant employee (the employee gets other tasks), or leave of absence for the rest of the pregnancy.