Predictors of the return to work for pregnant employees on preventive leave: Patients from an occupational medicine consultation in Switzerland

Karine Moschetti; Loïc Brunner; Alessia Abderhalden-Zellweger; Isabelle Probst; Saira-Christine Renteria; Julien Vonlanthen; Peggy Krief

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0300686

Predictors of the return to work for pregnant employees on preventive leave: Patients from an occupational medicine consultation in Switzerland

PLoS One. 2024 Mar 22;19(3):e0300686. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0300686. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Karine Moschetti¹, Loïc Brunner¹, Alessia Abderhalden-Zellweger^{2

3}, Isabelle Probst³, Saira-Christine Renteria⁴, Julien Vonlanthen², Peggy Krief²

Affiliations

¹ Center for Primary Care and Public Health (Unisanté), Department of Epidemiology and Health Systems (DESS), University of Lausanne (UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
² Center for Primary Care and Public Health (Unisanté), Department of Health, Work and Environment (DSTE), University of Lausanne (UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
³ School of Health Sciences (HESAV), University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO), Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁴ Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, (CHUV), University of Lausanne (UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland.

Abstract

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. The study sample includes data on 258 workplaces of pregnant workers on preventive leave, collected during an occupational medicine consultation aimed at supporting the implementation of the OProMa. Information is available on the worker (age, date of consultation), the hazards to which she is exposed, the company's knowledge of the OProMa and whether a risk analysis exists. Descriptive statistics and multivariate regression analysis are carried out. In 58% of the workplaces, it was not possible to return to work before the end of the pregnancy. This corresponds to an average absence of 4.5 months. In 42% of the workplaces, a return to work was possible thanks to workplace adaptations. A conforming risk analysis and a full knowledge of the OProMa for companies, and an early visit to the occupational medicine consultation for workers are good predictors of the likelihood of returning to work. Younger age and exposure to certain types of risks are factors that influence the duration of preventive leave. The implementation of OProMa in Switzerland poses serious challenges, but early identification of occupational hazards and practices that anticipate compliance with the law in the company increase the return to work in safety for pregnant workers.

Copyright: © 2024 Moschetti et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

MeSH terms

Employment
Female
Humans
Occupational Medicine*
Pregnancy
Referral and Consultation
Return to Work
Switzerland
Workplace

Grants and funding

This study has been carried out in the context of a project financially supported by the “Commission de la promotion de la santé et de lutte contre les addictions” (CPSLA), Health Department of Vaud canton, Switzerland. PK is the recipient of the funds. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.