I thought it might be interesting for you to know what the legal position is
in the UK.  I have cut and pasted some bits from a piece that my colleague
in The Breastfeeding Network has produced (and which was in our newsletter),
and updates regularly.  She is Jane Britten, and I hever her permission to
post.

"Employers have a duty to assess whether there are risks in the workplace to
the health and safety of new and expectant mothers, and breastfeeding
mothers, as well as to their child, and to avoid these risks.

There is no limit on the time breastfeeding mothers should be protected from
risks.  Risks which must be avoided include certain physical, biological and
chemical agents, processes and working conditions, including travelling,
mental and physical fatigue and night work.

Until recently, the health risk of not breastfeeding has not been
specifically mentioned in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance to
employers.  The latest guide, published in 2000, says only, ’Although there
is no legal requirement to do so, you will want to consider providing a safe
and healthy environment for workers who are breastfeeding to express and
store milk’.   However, shortly after this guide was published, new European
Commission Guidelines were issued on the assessment of workplace risks for
pregnant workers and new and breastfeeding mothers.

The Guidelines are a major step forward, in that they introduce a new
isk  - ‘not being breastfed’ - which may be a hazard to the health of
mothers and their babies.  The HSE is now reviewing and revising its guide,
but it is important for women returning to work to know about the new EU
Guidelines meantime.

Employees should notify their employer in writing if they wish to exercise
their rights under Health and Safety legislation.

The HSE guide for employers gives information on how the protection works in
detail:

1. A risk needs to be identified.  The employer is responsible for doing a
risk assessment, bearing in mind the fact that the employee is
breastfeeding.  Pointing out to the employer that EU Guidelines say that
obstacles to breastfeeding at work may constitute a health and safety risk
may be sufficient to convince the employer that there is a risk.
Breastfeeding mothers may also want to provide evidence about the health
risks of not breastfeeding.  Health professionals and breastfeeding
supporters may be useful in providing her with research evidence.
2. Once a risk is identified, the employer will need to decide what action
to take.
3. If the risk cannot be removed or controlled  - eg if a room for
expressing cannot be provided, an employer must temporarily adjust working
conditions and/or hours of work to avoid the risk.  If this is not possible,
suitable alternative work must be found, and if this is not possible, the
employee must be given paid leave for as long as is necessary to protect her
or her child."

Of course this is not relevant to this woman, but here in the UK she would
have a risk assessment carried out by the employer -- and if she were the
first to have it done, the fire department would have that basis for the
next worker.  Certainly rather than the worker or breastfeeding helper
having to guess what kind of things she is breathing in, there should be
info from the department.  Others have posted along the lines of risk
assessments, so I thought you might like to know that this is the legal
situation here.

Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Supporter, BfN, UK

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