Occupational Health Hazards among Teaching Community- A Questionnaire based Survey

Teachers’ role is inevitable in spreading knowledge to pupils. These noble professionals are not exceptional to occupational hazards. The present study deals with the occupational health hazards among teacher’s specifically vocal, physical and psychological hazards with respect to their workplaces. A total of 3258 questionnaires were distributed to 115 schools in Visakhapatnam to examine the prevalence of symptoms related to their occupation. Teachers facing voice problems like dysphonia (27%), vocal fatigue (19%), oral paresthesia (21%) and consistent incidence of voice symptoms like tired voice (54%), weak voice (43%) were observed in this study. Physical symptoms like cervical spondylitis (62%) were observed in high frequency than other physical symptoms like varicosis (34%), back pain (18%) and articular pains (42%). Few symptoms like pink eye infection/ conjunctivitis (9%), dryness of hands (73%), atopic dermatitis (22%) and contact dermatitis (34%) were noticed in teachers. Application of information and communication technologies, avoiding usage of chalk piece & black boards, use of collar mikes, more time lapse between lecture periods and no extra workload to teachers will minimize the impact of occupational health hazards among teachers.