Pregnancy and breastfeeding

Pregnant or breastfeeding women must not be exposed to:

• rubella or toxoplasma gondii
• lead compounds
• night work: applies to employees who are pregnant or who have given birth within the last 14 weeks. A medical certificate is required.

Pregnant and breastfeeding women should avoid work involving:

• carbon monoxide
• organic solvents
• carcinogenic substances (CMR substances)
• mercury and cadmium

For work involving ionizing radiation, the equivalent radiation dose to the fetus must not exceed 1 mSv during the pregnancy. Staff working with radiation are required to inform their manager that 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.

Risk assessment template for pregnant and breastfeeding employees and students.docx