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PROTECTION OF MATERNITY, PREGNANCY, AND NATURAL BREASTFEEDING

The protection of safety and health at work is a right enshrined in Article 40.2 of the Spanish Constitution. It is specified and complemented by the framework regulation for the prevention of occupational risks, Law 31/1995 on the Prevention of Occupational Risks (LPRL), which outlines the guidelines that all parties involved in the production process must adopt to achieve working conditions that do not harm the health of workers in the broadest sense.

The aforementioned LPRL does not seek mere formal compliance with duties and obligations but rather promotes a line of work in accordance with the preventive principles set out in its Article 15.

By adopting the indicated principles of preventive action, an optimal level of health protection for all workers is guaranteed, regardless of their personal circumstances.

In addition to the logical procedure of evaluating and reducing unavoidable risks, it is necessary to highlight the importance of training and information activities regarding the working conditions to be carried out or being carried out, as well as the specialization of workers exposed to special risk situations, who must know what risks they are exposed to and what measures can control them.

However, considering situations that require specific protection, particular regulations have been enacted for the protection of workers who are pregnant, have recently given birth, or are breastfeeding, following the premises set out by Directive 92/85/EEC, later transposed into Spanish law by Royal Decree 298/2009, focused on maternity protection. These regulations specify the aspects of work that must be given special consideration, according to Article 26 of the LPRL on “maternity protection.”

In any case, these are regulatory developments aimed at optimizing the management systems of professional risk in companies, aimed at ensuring that workers perform their work in conditions that do not harm their health or that of their environment.

If the designs of processes and protection measures were sufficient (job adaptation, training and information, selection of equipment and products, etc.), in many cases they could also be sufficient for particularly sensitive workers. That is, we could talk about safe jobs and, consequently, risk-free jobs for any worker, including pregnant or breastfeeding workers, classified in the group of “particularly sensitive workers” by the LPRL.