On March 8, 1857, garment workers in New York City marched and picketed, demanding improved working conditions, a 10-hour day and equal rights for women.
Their ranks were broken up by the police. Fifty-one years later, on March 8, 1908, their sisters in the needle trades in New York marched again, honouring the 1857 march, demanding the vote, and an end to sweatshops and child labour. The police were present on this occasion too.
In 1910, at the Second International, a worldwide socialist party congress, German socialist Clara Zetkin proposed that March 8 be proclaimed International Women’s Day, to commemorate the US demonstrations and honour working women the world over.
It would be interesting to know how women a century-and-a-half-ago felt about not having their lives and aspirations taken seriously.
Today, most women continue working while pregnant or return to work while still breastfeeding, and there is little reason why being pregnant or having young children should stop women from continuing their employment.
In terms of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority Act, chapter 424 of the Laws of Malta, employers have the duty to ensure the health and safety at all times of all persons who may be affected by the work being carried out for them.
The Act lays down an important rule – the measures that need to be taken by the employer to prevent physical and psychological occupational ill-health, injury or death, shall be taken on the basis of the general principles of prevention. The general principles of prevention provide a hierarchy of risk elimination and reduction with the preferred action being the ‘avoidance of risk’. The Act sets out various important provisions such as the general duty of the employer, the duties of workers and the general principles of prevention.
In 1989, the Council Directive 89/391/EEC, also known as the Framework Directive, introduced various measures to improve the health and safety of workers. The directive lays down an important provision – particularly sensitive risk groups must be protected against the dangers that specifically affect them.
In 1996, the European Commission identified ‘sensitive risk groups’ as being workers with disabilities, young and old workers, pregnant and nursing mothers and untrained or inexperienced workers including seasonal, temporary or migrant workers.
On a domestic level, this was reflected in regulation 17 of the General Provisions for Health and Safety at Work Places Regulations (LN 36 of 2003) which states that “it shall be the duty of an employer to take all measures and precautions so as to protect particularly sensitive risk or vulnerable groups against the dangers which specifically affect them.”
The risk assessment has to cover the pregnant worker, the unborn child and the breastfeeding baby
“Before assigning work to any pregnant or breastfeeding worker or to a mother, employers have the duty to assess the nature and degree of any hazard present at the place of work. This assessment has to include the anticipated duration of exposure, as well as the resultant risks to the health and safety of the worker concerned, as well as to the safety of her pregnancy or of the child in the case of a breastfeeding worker,” explains Melhino Mercieca, senior manager at the Occupational Health and Safety Authority.
Risk assessments have to include an assessment of the hazards and the resultant risks to the physical and mental health of the worker in question and to the safety of the pregnancy arising from among others, industrial processes, chemicals, physical or biological agents that may be used at the place of work.
Furthermore, such assessment must also cover among others the risks which may arise from any particular posture, movement or lifting activity which has to be carried out by the pregnant worker, mother or breastfeeding worker. It is also extremely important that workers are involved in the process of risk assessments.
The process of risk assessment must cover at least three phases: (i) identification of hazards, (ii) identification of worker categories, and (iii) risk assessment in both qualitative and quantitative terms.
In view of the fact that the risk assessment has to cover the pregnant worker, the unborn child and the breastfeeding baby, it is considered to be of a special nature. This means that in such situations, risk assessments have to cover the various stages of pregnancy, including the delivery and after delivery stage.
Young female workers should also be aware of any reprotoxic risks associated with any chemicals they may be exposed to in the workplace as this may have an impact on their future health, their fertility and the health of any children they may have in the future. This applies to any potential fathers, as chemical exposure may result in heritable genetic damage and may also impair fertility.
Reproductive toxicity is a hazard associated with some chemical substances that may interfere in some way with normal reproduction; such substances are called reprotoxic. It includes adverse effects on sexual function and fertility in adult males and females, as well as developmental toxicity in the offspring.
Explaining further, Mr Mercieca stresses that “it is important to highlight that in terms of the Protection of Maternity at Work Regulations S.L. 424.11, an employer shall under no circumstances require a pregnant worker to perform duties for which an assessment has revealed a risk of exposure to the agents, processes or working conditions listed in section A of the Second Schedule, or when so directed by OHSA in the sole interests of health and safety”.
Section A includes certain agents and processes to which a pregnant worker cannot be exposed such as rubella virus, toxoplasma, lead and lead derivatives.
Following the carrying out of the risk assessment, the employer has to inform the worker of the results of such assessment and of all the measures taken, or that are to be taken concerning health and safety at work.
“If the risk assessment reveals a risk to health and safety, to the pregnancy, or to the child, the employer shall take the necessary steps to remove the female from such exposures, either by temporarily adjusting the working conditions, and/or the working hours, or by assigning the worker to another job which is both suitable in relation to her and appropriate for her to do in the circumstances – under such terms and conditions of employment which are not less favourable than those stipulated in her contract of employment,” adds Mr Mercieca.
No pregnant worker, mother or breastfeeding worker must be required by any employer to perform any night work if the worker concerned submits to the employer a medical certificate which states that night work can have harmful effects on the pregnancy, or on the mother, or on the child.
Pregnant workers are also entitled to time off, without loss of pay or any other benefit, in order to attend antenatal examinations, if such examinations have to take place during working hours. However, in such cases, the employer may request documentation which shows the appointment times for such examination.
One must also note that in the case of resting and eating facilities, employers have to provide suitable resting facilities so as to allow pregnant women and nursing mothers to lie down and rest in appropriate conditions.
Further information on occupational health and safety may be obtained from the Occupational Health and Safety (OHSA) site at www.ohsa.org.mt and the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work: http://osha.europa.eu/en .
Information on risk assessment
A risk assessment is the process of evaluating the risk to the health and safety of workers while at work arising from the circumstances of the occurrence of a hazard at the workplace. In a few words, it is simply a careful examination of what could cause harm to people, to enable precautions to be taken to prevent injury and ill-health.
As a general rule, there are five steps to assessing risk:
Step 1: Identifying hazards and those at risks – what has the potential to cause injury or ill-health.
Step 2: Decide who might be harmed and how.
Step 3: Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions.
Step 4: Record your findings and implement them.
Step 5: Review your risk assessment and update if necessary.