BP Azerbaijan opens first mother’s room at Xazar center

A neatly-designed, great-looking room on the 4th floor of Xazar centre is a private space for breastfeeding and nursing mothers that's not a bathroom. 

Until today, returning mothers have been pumping milk over toilets, in prayer rooms or returning home to feed their children. A special project team led an initiative to create a safe and secure environment for pregnant and returning mothers. This effort is aligned with BP values and there were several employees that worked diligently behind the scenes from the building services, occupational health teams, and the project team to make this a huge success. 

Gary Jones, AGT regional president: “This is a significant milestone for the region which is aligned with our BP values, to ensure all employees are respected and feel safe in their work environment. The Mother’s Room is a private and secure place for BP’s female employees and contractors who are pregnant or returning from maternity leave. I thank everyone involved for making this great initiative a reality!” 

“A woman should never have to sacrifice motherhood to have a fulfilling career, so yes, we are very proud of this significant step,” says Angeni Jayawickramarajah, the project team co-lead and reservoir and wells reliability lead. 

“This is not simply a room, it is a promise and a commitment from leadership that every employee should feel safe and respected in their work environment.”

Elnur Mirzazadeh, occupational health team leader: “In addition to helping our pregnant female employees and returning mothers to meet their maternal needs the Mother’s Room will contribute to boosting their overall well-being, increasing their productivity. But most importantly, the room will help mothers to save and take home their milk to support the natural way of providing young infants with the nutrients they need for healthy growth and development.”

“I would like to underline our occupational health adviser Naila Aliyeva’s contribution to the successful delivery of the project who was closely involved in the development of process documentation and provided overall arrangement support.”

The Mother’s Room will be managed through occupational health where our pregnant female colleagues or those returning from maternity leave can register to get access to the room.