Seasonal Minimum and Maximum Solar Ultraviolet Exposure Measurements of Classroom Teachers residing in Tropical North Queensland, Australia.

The risk of keratinocyte skin cancer, malignant melanoma and ultraviolet radiation (UVR)-induced eye disease is disproportionately higher in Australia and New Zealand compared to equivalent northern hemisphere latitudes. While many teachers are aware of the importance of reinforcing sun-safety messages to students, many may not be aware of the considerable personal exposure risk while performing outdoor duties in locations experiencing high to extreme ambient-UVR year-round. Personal erythemally-effective exposure of classroom teachers in tropical Townsville (19.3o S) was measured to establish seasonal extremes in exposure behavior. Mean daily personal exposure was higher in winter (91.2 J m-2 , 0.91 Standard Erythema Dose (SED)) than summer (63.3 J m-2 , 0.63 SED). The range of exposures represent personal exposures that approximate current national guidelines for Australian workers at the study latitude of approximately 1.2 SED (30 J m-2 effective to the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection). Similar proportions of teachers spent more than 1 hour outdoors per day in winter (28.6%) and summer (23.6%) as part of their teaching duties with seasonal differences having little effect on the time of exposure. Personal exposures for teachers peaked during both seasons near school meal-break times at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm respectively. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.