Do we need a separate menopause risk assessment?

Not as a separate document. The requirement is to identify hazards and problems in the work and assess the risk. The point is that heat, shifts, breaks and access are actually assessed — they are often left out.

What are reasonable adjustments for menopause?

In practice: layered uniforms, local temperature control, a fan, flexible break timing, shift swaps without stating a reason, and a rest space. Make them available by default and nobody has to disclose anything to use them.

Yes, if it asks about conditions in the work rather than the health of the person answering. Ask about rooms, rotas and access, state the purpose of the answers, and avoid free text that invites health information.

How do we record measures without naming people?

Describe the arrangement: what exists, for which group or working position, how it is triggered, who owns it, and when it was last reviewed.

How often should the assessment be updated?

On significant change in the work and at least once a year, with a date and one line on what changed.

Menopause risk assessment

Written by Nicolai Bjerknes Slinning, Founder, Sydera.io Technologies AS · Working Group Expert, ISO/TC 283/WG 6 and WG 10 · member of SN/K 551. Last reviewed 18 September 2026.

A risk assessment connected to menopause should not be about who is going through it. It should be about which conditions in the work become a problem when the body has a day that is not standard: heat, draughts, shift length, night work, access to breaks, water and toilets, uniforms, noise and predictability. Those are conditions the employer controls, and they can be assessed without a single piece of health information.

Assess the work, not the worker

Identifying hazards and problems, with a risk assessment, is a written requirement in internal control rules across the EEA. The assessment of the work is the point. As soon as it starts recording who has which symptoms it is both professionally off track and a data protection risk. Write about the room, the rota and the uniform.

Ten conditions worth looking at

Temperature and whether it can be regulated locally. Ventilation and draughts. Uniform and fabric. Shift length, night work and rotation pace. Predictability in rotas and notice given for changes. Access to breaks in practice, not only on paper. Access to cold water and a toilet from the working position. Somewhere to rest. Noise and concentration demands. And finally: whether a shift can be swapped without stating a reason.

How to write it without personal data

Use groups and conditions, not people: “night shift in production”, “uniformed service with no option to layer”, “working positions more than five minutes from drinking water”. Assess likelihood and consequence on the condition. Describe the measure as an arrangement available to everyone in that group. No names, no diagnoses, no free text about individuals.

Adjustments, recorded at the right level

Many organisations look for a list of reasonable adjustments for menopause. The safest list is one where every item is available by default: layered uniforms, a desk fan, local temperature control, flexible break timing, a shift-swap route with no reason required, and a rest space. Recorded that way, the adjustment is a property of the workplace rather than a note about a person.

Participation without mapping health

Employee participation is a requirement, and it can be done without asking about health: ask about conditions. Where is it too hot? Which shifts are hard to stand? How long does it take to reach water? Safety representatives can bring in patterns without anyone having to represent their own body in a meeting.

Individual cases as a separate track

Where a case genuinely requires individual judgement, it belongs in a separate track with restricted access and its own retention period — not in the risk assessment shared with auditors, representatives or customers. The lawful basis must be identified before anything is written, and consent is rarely the right one in an employment relationship.

Test the assessment on one document

Send in the risk assessment, or the routine it rests on, and get up to three areas for improvement with reference to relevant legal requirements plus one suggested rewrite. We read the document, never employees, and it must not contain personal data.

Check one routine — free

One governance document reviewed free of charge. We read the document, never employees. The document must not contain personal data.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Do we need a separate menopause risk assessment?: Not as a separate document. The requirement is to identify hazards and problems in the work and assess the risk. The point is that heat, shifts, breaks and access are actually assessed — they are often left out.
What are reasonable adjustments for menopause?: In practice: layered uniforms, local temperature control, a fan, flexible break timing, shift swaps without stating a reason, and a rest space. Make them available by default and nobody has to disclose anything to use them.
Can we use a survey?: Yes, if it asks about conditions in the work rather than the health of the person answering. Ask about rooms, rotas and access, state the purpose of the answers, and avoid free text that invites health information.
How do we record measures without naming people?: Describe the arrangement: what exists, for which group or working position, how it is triggered, who owns it, and when it was last reviewed.
How often should the assessment be updated?: On significant change in the work and at least once a year, with a date and one line on what changed.