Is a risk assessment needed every time for pregnant staff?

A recent EAT decision has confirmed there is no automatic obligation to conduct individual risk assessments for all pregnant employees. This reinforces a previous decision that there must actually be a potential risk to a worker or her baby’s health and safety before an employer is obliged to carry out a risk assessment. In the case of Madarassy v Nomura International (2007 EWCA Civ 33 CA), the court held that the lack of comfort involved in sitting in front of a computer did not in itself trigger the duty to conduct an assessment. In a more recent case, O’Neill v Buckinghamshire County Council (UKEAT/0020/09), the EAT did not find that a primary school teacher’s work involved actual potential risk.