According to the Swiss legislation on maternity protection in the workplace (OProMa), if pregnant workers are exposed to occupational hazards and no protective measures are taken, a gynecologist will prescribe a certificate of preventive leave and the women must stop working. Returning to work is only possible if job adjustments are made. This study aims to evaluate the burden of absences on companies and to examine the predictors of the return to work for pregnant workers on preventive leave, by examining both the probability of return to work and the time required to return to work.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Occup Med Environ Health
September 2023
Most women continue to work during pregnancy. However, some of them have to stop working before giving birth. Absence from work poses several challenges for employers and employees, as well as for society.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSince the establishment of the Gender and Work Technical Committee (TC) of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) in 2006, many researchers have addressed the role of sex and gender in ergonomics, producing a great deal of new information. This special issue aims to present new ways of viewing women's work and gender differences in work-related injury risks in an era of rapidly changing labour market configurations. It offers innovative methods for integrating sex and gender into ergonomic analysis and for designing work environments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpecific working conditions may endanger pregnant women's and their children's health. Switzerland has specific legislation for the protection of pregnant and breastfeeding employees. However, the implementation of these provisions presents important shortcomings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Switzerland's maternity protection legislation aims to protect the health of pregnant employees and their unborn children by regulating their potential occupational exposure to hazards and strenuous activities. This legislation provides a role for obstetricians, but not for midwives.
Aims: Identify the practices of Switzerland's French-speaking midwives that favour the implementation of maternity protection legislation and reflect on the profession's role in supporting pregnant employees.
Background: In accordance with the International Labour Organization’s Maternity Protection Convention (No. 183) and European Union Directive 92/857CEE (1992), Switzerland’s Labour Law and its Maternity Protection Ordinance (OProMa) aim to protect the health of pregnant employees and their future children while enabling them to pursue their working activities. Gynaecologists-obstetricians have a key role in this legislation, particularly through the prescription of preventive leave for patients who would otherwise face dangerous or arduous tasks in the absence of an adequate risk analysis or suitable protective measures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Switzerland's Ordinance on Maternity Protection at Work (OProMa) requires that companies take the necessary measures to ensure that pregnant employees can continue working without danger.
Objective: To investigate the extent of compliance with OProMa within companies in French-speaking Switzerland as well as factors which facilitate and obstruct the ordinance's implementation.
Methods: A stratified random telephone survey of 202 companies from the healthcare and food industry was conducted.
Background: In several countries, maternity protection legislations (MPL) confer an essential role to gynecologist-obstetricians (OBGYNs) for the protection of pregnant workers and their future children from occupational exposures. This study explores OBGYNs' practices and difficulties in implementing MPL in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.
Methods: An online survey was sent to 333 OBGYNs.
For parents working in the transportation industry, atypical schedules are often a daily puzzle. Schedule planning systems allowing workers to choose shifts may affect job strenuousness and work-family balance (WFB) for both female and male workers. How could ergonomic interventions related to the implementation of those systems better consider gender dynamics regarding WFB strategies, and minimize inequities among workers? This article presents a joint analysis of two independent case studies related to ergonomic interventions in transport companies in Canada and Switzerland.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Most industrialized countries have introduced maternity protection legislation (MPL) to protect the health of pregnant workers and their unborn children from workplace exposure. This review aimed to assess this legislation's level of implementation, barriers and facilitators to it, and its expected or unexpected effects.
Methods: A realist narrative review was conducted.
Introduction: Like most industrialised countries, Switzerland has introduced legislation to protect the health of pregnant workers and their unborn children from workplace exposure. This legislation provides for a risk assessment, adaptations to workplaces and, if the danger is not eliminated, preventive leave (prescribed by a gynaecologist). This study's first objective is to analyse the degree to which companies, gynaecologists and midwives implement the law.
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