whos toured while pregnant?

[unis]

Ok, I'm looking for experiences and anecdotes from any other female technicians who have toured or worked in theatre/gigs/outdoor events while pregnant.

 

I've done my risk assement , I've already lost some work , I have other work including an autum theatre tour lined up... Curious to know if any one has been there and done that.

 

unis

[knotted]

just out of curiosity what exactly have you risk assesed yourself for?

 

even if you've only just got pregnant, you're looking at being a minimum three months into term by the time you go on an autumn tour.

[charlyfarly]

I can't even give a useful reply as I have been 'spayed' (!).

I would imagine being aware where the local hospitals are. Contact numbers on your phone, like the ICE thing. And......Don't lift heavy things! :D Try and eat as much nourishing food as you can and keep a reasonable stash of any craving food if possible!

Best of luck. I'm sure people will make a bit of a fuss of you anyway!

[Andrew C]

Every employer has to risk asses their female staff of "child bearing age" (sorry, not my words!) and minimise risks.

 

I work in a school and we have had three pregnancies in the Dept. in the last 5 years. Two presented no problems, just taking extra care lifting etc. However, one colleague had to have a ground floor classroom, and couldn't carry on working for anything like as long as she had hoped.

 

You will need to be prepared to change your plans, perhaps at very short notice. Talking to your doctor would make a lot of sense.

[mac.calder]

The local theatres I have worked with all have a strict 'No Pregnancy' policy, which means that there are to be no pregnant staff at the beginning of a run. Of course if you fall pregnant whilst employed by them, they do not sack you, and will allow you to finish the run, but you are not on any future show until you are no longer pregnant.

 

News has a habit of traveling, and there has been (according to management) a case where a lady miscarried and sued the company - although I have no idea of the outcome.

 

I imagine a lot of people will be weary of employing anyone who is pregnant at time of interview - for a few major reasons.

 

I imagine though that a lot of it will depend on the exact position you intend to apply for. General crew, rigger etc will often be right out. Opping or SMing they may be more inclined to help with.

 

The main problems are health implications. Stressing the body (or even the mind) of a pregnant lady can lead to adverse effects.

 

However, I would suggest instead of a risk assessment, you go and see your doctor and get him to approve the jobs you would be expected to undertake. If any of the duties have to be modified however, it is a negative mark against your name. Whilst I hesitate to call it such, it is a disability, as well as a liability.

 

Do not count you out of the race, but it does mean that between a non-pregnant version of yourself, and a pregnant, the non-pregnant will get the job.

[Scouse Dave]

And make sure your blue notes are always at hand at the gig just in case...

 

Dave M.

[sam.henderson]

If your being sub-contracted in a freelancing sense then you have to provide cover/ alternative arrangements for your contractor if you are ill or cannot make a gig so this may be another issue to look at if you one day just felt like you couldn't go in and carry on due to sickness or fatigue.

 

Sam

[unis]

So no first hand experiences yet then?

 

Risk asement is one of those things that I have to do frequently anyway. This lastest one took a lot of thinking about and is for my situation "now" looking at the work I have lined up for the next 2 month which is festival power distro. I'll need to do up-dated RAs regularly as my shape changes and as I get other projects lined up.

Basicly I looked at all the normal things you look at on a RA , chem and bio haz, stress, working at heights, shock and vibration etc some of these risks are exactly the same as for any one else, others could have more serious effects on a developing baby than they do on an adult. It took some hunting to find all the info I needed , the GP and midwife were not much help, they don't DO risk assesment for people, the Gp did offer to refer me to occupational health if I wanted tho. The midwife only refered me to website with no usefull info on it.

 

The tour in question is not confirmed yet. Its between 3 and 10 dates around my region across 6 weeks with a dance piece being done in the round. I'm probadly going to accept it, but I will be looking out for a dep in case I have to drop out. Unfortunatly I already passed a really big tour on to my favourite dep so need to find a another person whos nearly as good as me:-)

 

unis

[w/robe]

The local theatres I have worked with all have a strict 'No Pregnancy' policy,

 

Is this legal?

[Brian]

It's worth noting that at least one of the H&S Regulations (Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992?) specifically requires special risk assessments for pregnant women.

 

There is some stuff on the HSE website here.

 

The local theatres I have worked with all have a strict 'No Pregnancy' policy,

 

Is this legal?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There may be a good case for a sex discrimination claim unless the policy is simply one of alternative work at the same rate of pay.

[mac.calder]

The local theatres I have worked with all have a strict 'No Pregnancy' policy,

 

Is this legal?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Perfectly. It is just like any other occupation with physical regualations, like a pilot. They can prove that the theatre is not safe for pregnant women. As I stated, it is not as if they remove you if you find yourself pregnant after signing the contract, however they contract on a show by show basis. It is one of the questions they do ask a lot of women before employing them.

 

It is a little over the top, maybe, but if you think of the time frame that their productions are on (most of these theatres have a very slow production cycle as they are more for your 'semi-pro's and after work actors), it can be up to 6 months on a production from first interview (of an SM) to closing if we have a sell out season. Now you have a pregant lady (say 1 month), then by the end of the production they are well into the third trimester.

[andy_s]

The local theatres I have worked with all have a strict 'No Pregnancy' policy,

 

Is this legal?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

probably not in this country, although I'm ready to stand corrected. I (clearly have no personal experience of this, but I have been on tour with a colleague who was at the end of her 6th month by the time we finished the tour. She left us just before the end of the tour, but only to go and design lighting for the next show the company was producing. She was originally planning to stay with our show and light the other on the days-off, but decided that perhaps it wouldn't be good to do both shows at once....

[Nick Evans]

We are not in the stone age. Employers nowadays cannot discriminate against those who are pregnant in exactly the same way as they cannot discriminate by race creed or ability. They must be more flexible in the way duties are allocated (not me saying that, that is the government and employment tribunals saying it).

It is just like any other occupation with physical regualations, like a pilot. They can prove that the theatre is not safe for pregnant women.

"They" have done no research into the effects of working in the theatre on pregnancy. The amount of lifting / manual labour involved is probably the same as for instance working in a school kitchen.

 

Pilots are not sacked when they become pregnant. They are given non-flying duties, it is illegal to sack them. With pilots, apparently there insufficient data to be certain that flying whilst pregnant is safe, therefore pregnant pilots are grounded. I hardly think we should be applying the same argument to all pregnant women everywhere. It is not a disease it is a condition, one which many many women manage to cope with well into there pregnancies. If a woman wishes to work whilst she is pregnant good luck to her. Neanderthal management practices should not be allowed to prevail.

[unis]

The local theatres I have worked with all have a strict 'No Pregnancy' policy,

 

Is this legal?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Perfectly. It is just like any other occupation with physical regualations, like a pilot. They can prove that the theatre is not safe for pregnant women.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

By doing that they have also "proved" that that theatre is not safe for any one to work in.

Or rather, "that" theatres working practises are unsound.

There are several jobs that I do regulary in theatres that I can't see any reason why I can't continue doing for as far into this pregnancy as I wish. Lx designer and tech for example, I'm a good programer and a good show op, that not going to change because my shape does .

Focusing doesn't have to be done using ladders and tallescopes, prehaps in this day and age it shouldn't be done that way. Catwalks, cable nets, powered cherrypickers and lift towers are all avalible and used in a growing number of venues.

If "that" theater were in the UK they would be open for a sex discrimation case being brought against them which they would probadly lose.

 

Sarah

[paulears]

While agree with unis that there are many jobs that a pregnant person can do, the fact that there are many that can't be done does tend to limit the pregnant persons usefulness. Now, for the employed on a permanent contract, all is well - pay and continuation of employment is guaranteed. I think it understandable that as a freelance, work may well dry up.

 

If a prospective freelancer, or even full-time employee was being considered for a job, then the inability to do everything, requiring an extra person who can do these jobs does rather limit your appeal. Pregnancy discrimination along with most other forms of discrimination relies on the magic term 'reasonable' yet again.

 

Theatres, properly run should not be dangerous - however, they do have a level of risk not found in many other jobs. The problem with pregnancy, as I see it, is that you aren't ill - or disabled. If you were it would be easy to work out what you can and can't do. However, a pregnant woman may or may not be able to do things, depending on a huge number of variables. Any responsible employer would not want to be responsible for any action that may bring about early labour or even worse. I can't imagine anyone would think this unreasonable.

 

Wanting to work while pregnant is great, but you are asking a lot from the employer, and, to be honest, from the others you work with - who will be naturally protective and probably annoying.

 

So you're probably legally entitled to work, but almost certainly will get treated very gently, which you'll find very difficult. I don't think it is reasonable to expect anything else. Let's be honest, if you are looking for work while pregnant, then proving discrimination will be very difficult, as you don't have access to the real reasons behind the written version you get for not getting the job.