The aim of this study was to analyze the quality of life (QOL) of 142 primary school teachers and 145 firemen-rescuers. To determine QOL we used a WHOQOL-BREFF questionnaire. Teachers’ QOL was significantly lower in all four domains when compared with firefighters’ QOL; however, it did not differ statistically from the Czech population norms. Significantly lower compared to the norm was only teachers’ satisfaction with their health. Our results showed a significant influence of profession, age and gender on QOL. The influence of subjectively perceived mental stress as a factor reducing the QOL was manifested only in teachers. The explanation for this difference in QOL could be predicting better physical and mental health of firefighters.

The presented study aims to compare occupational stress of 50 teachers and 56 firefighters. Both these groups are laden with high exposure to work–related stress. For assessing the occupational load the Meister questionnaire was used. We found that teachers percieved their occupational stress worse than firefighters and reached the 2nd degree of load. They complained mostly about the factor of overload and factors of the stress reactions – fatigue, mental overload and unacceptability to perform pedagogical work in the same intensity for a long time. Firefighters achieved better results (1st degree of load), even better than the population norm. An explanation may be found in the fact that firefighters represent a selected population of emotionally, psychically and physically resistant individuals.