What is Occupational Hazard?
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Occupational Hazard is a risk or danger that occur at individual work place. It can cause injury, emotional trauma or even death. These Harzards can be physical, environmental, biological, or psychological in nature. I'm sure this is not your first time of coming across this crucial topic. It is what affects the society, once you are a worker, whether you are employed or an employer, then hazards of any form can happen to you.
Sometimes, we often think or assume some occupations doesn't experience hazard. We assume it's only those in chemical environment, transportation sector, construction site or manufacturing company that usually experience this ugly menace. For instance, in transportation sector, a worker might be exposed to harsh weather conditions, an accident that might cost hand or leg, not only that a construction site worker might fall from a building, or his/her body/skin got damage by chemical like cement, paint etc.
Those in caring profession experience a whole lot of hazards. From emotional stress, to bullying from their customers, and even environmental and physical hazards are all what they contend with every day. Caring Profession includes; Nursing, Teaching, Child Care, Pharmacy, Therapy, Counselling etc just to mention a few. For this article, Teaching Proffession will be clearly looks at.
Teaching is a very caring and rewarding profession, yet it's occupational hazard poses a great danger to teachers and Non Teaching in the academics environment. There are psychological, environmental, emotional challenges that workers in this profession may go through.
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Teachers/Academicians most times experience long hours of standing. This might at the end of the day's work caused fatigue that will most likely be cure by pain killers, so teachers will have to be depending or consuming pain killers to fit for another day's work. Isn't that disastrous to one's health? Also,this long standing might cause harm to the leg, joint and even spinal cord.
Also, Classroom Management can be so challenging to teachers expecially when the learners are more than twenty-five in a classroom. To control and maintain a safe learning environment can be so strenuous. There are some cases of teachers trying to control class and end up make a wreck of the whole situation. The psychological results of such situations is that such teacher end up having low self-esteem. Isn't that draining?
Many teachers have faced physical and verbal abuse from their students, parents, employee or even fellow colleagues. There are cases of parents going to their children's or ward's school to go and beat up a teacher for either punishing such student for a misconduct or misbehaviour. Students also beat up their teachers, and school management also bullying teachers. Sometimes, some teachers also face cyber bullying from their students, parents or even government.
Science teachers have larger shares in teaching occupational hazards. Science experiments and its chemicals can destroy science teachers skin/body. Not only that some arts projects can also cause some injuries, for instance, a case of a teacher casting a sculpture during the practical class might be injury. Infectious diseases like flu,colds, congested/running nose and some other contagious illness can be easily be contracted expecially from teachers dealing with pupils.
There is little or no incentive or benefits in teaching. The society believes that teacher's gain is in heaven, and so, God will be the one to reward them.
Lastly, teaching has little or no occupational security. Employer might decide to terminate a teacher's appointment anytime without prior notice, this also can be exhausting. Some years back in my state, some teachers were relieved of their job without any gratuity and without prior notice or warning from the government. Some of the concerned teachers were unable to scale through this ugly incident, some developed strokes and some died.
Teaching should be among the top paying profession because it moulds life, but reverse is the case in this part of the world, because of the day to day occupational hazards being faced by this exceptional people, while society is paying little or no attention to relieve teachers and curb some of these hazards. Government, NGO, Society, religion association and all other care giver should therefore come to the rescue of teachers to make teaching a beautiful and a better profession.