Citation and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Suspension from Work on Maternity Grounds (Merchant Shipping and Fishing Vessels) Order (Northern Ireland) 1998 and shall come into operation on 16th August 1998.

Specified provisions under the 1996 Order

2.  Regulation 8(3) and regulation 9(2) of the Merchant Shipping and Fishing Vessels (Health and Safety at Work) Regulations 1997(2) are hereby specified for the purposes of Article 98(2) of the 1996 Order.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order.)

Regulations 8(3) and 9(2) of the Merchant Shipping and Fishing Vessels (Health and Safety at Work) Regulations 1997 (“the 1997 Regulations”) require that in certain circumstances new or expectant mothers shall be suspended from work for health and safety reasons.

Articles 99 and 100 of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (“the 1996 Order”) provide that before an employee is suspended from work on maternity grounds she has the right to be offered alternative work, and if she is suspended she has the right to be paid during the period of suspension. Under Article 98 of the 1996 Order, an employee is suspended on maternity grounds if she is suspended under a provision for the time being specified in an Order made by the Department of Economic Development.

This Order specifies regulations 8(3) and 9(2) of the 1997 Regulations, so that suspension under those provisions constitutes suspension on maternity grounds.

In this way, Articles 5(2), 5(3) and 7(2) of Council Directive 92/85/EEC on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding (O.J. No. L348, 28.11.92, p. 1) are given similar effect in relation to women employed at sea as they have in relation to women employed on land in Northern Ireland.