Author:jaco-de-klerk

Chemical exposure’s hidden inheritance 15th August 2025 As a father myself, few things concern me more than the idea that our workplaces might unknowingly affect our children’s future. A new study sent shivers down my spine …   The study from the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health finds parents’ workplace chemical exposure may be linked to a range of behavioural challenges and developmental delays in their children with autism.  “This study is one of the first to connect […]

The one-week rule 25th June 2025 Remember when scoring an international business trip felt like winning the office lottery? Reality check: your body disagrees and will thank you for this business travel hack … That five-day sprint to Tokyo – the one with back-to-back meetings and seven-hour time difference – is why you’re spending every weekend in recovery mode. Come Monday, you’re back at your desk, running on fumes. Here’s what business travel experts now understand: it’s not you, it’s […]

Happiness quantified 14th April 2025 This just puts a smile on my face: Dr Alphonsus Obayuwana, a contributor for Psychology Today and a renowned expert on happiness, has created a formula to measure happiness in numbers! Obayuwana says that happy employees are more productive, more engaged, less likely to be absent, make fewer mistakes, and tend to be more creative — all of which contribute to a more stable and more profitable workplace. His new book, The Happiness Formula, contains […]

Short stories for safety professionals 3rd March 2025 To be honest, many books on health and safety are just drab and textbook-like. Real Meeting – the latest offering from Aneta and Brian Darlington – is the complete opposite, however …  “We both believe that leadership is like any other skill – practicable and learnable. Upon practising anything, we become better at it. Therefore, the book is full of practical knowledge that will hopefully give the readers the opportunity to learn […]

An Oprah moment 8th October 2024 The talk show queen’s most iconic line unveiled the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Amendment Bill, 2020, at this year’s Saiosh Health and Safety Conference. “Look under your seat,” said Ernst van Biljon, director of Legislation Compliance Specialists – a law firm specialising in OHS – at this year’s conference, adding, “The new Bill is under there!” This Oprah moment had delegates laughing, as the Bill hasn’t surfaced since its draft version was released […]

Looking to boost your heart health? Try a baked potato 13th August 2024 A potato small enough to fit in your hand is loaded with nutrients that can help whittle away waistlines and lower blood sugar in adults with Type 2 diabetes.  This may sound farfetched, but Neda Akhavan, assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences at the University of Nevada’s School of Integrated Health Sciences, recently presented her findings on the cardiovascular benefits of potatoes. “I […]

Leave politics at home 18th June 2024 South Africa’s future might be a little bit brighter with the historic outcome of this year’s elections … But surely the workplace is no place for politics? The ruling party’s complacency was shaken by the election results. Only time will tell what the future holds (the final structure of governance was yet to be announced at the time of writing), but I do believe things will improve … Navigating political affiliations in the […]

Tracking the the Sandman 11th April 2024 We’ve recently expanded our family with a new addition, which warms my heart but does keep me up at night. It turns out that was just the inspiration I needed for this article. Our new baby boy, who joined the family in March, does what babies do. Cry. Day and night. (Luckily this is remedied by one of the steps of the golden trifecta: Feeding him. A new nappy. Or putting him to […]

Smart style ready to roll? 6th February 2024 Our world is becoming evermore connected by the day. Now, it looks as if clothes are set to join the data stream … A single strand of fibre, polyaniline, has been developed at Washington State University (WSU), boasting the flexibility of cotton and the electric conductivity of a polymer. The newly developed material shows good potential for wearable e-textiles. The WSU researchers tested the fibres with one system that powered an LED […]

Squats could preserve your brain power! 2nd December 2023 We know sedentary behaviour is bad for our health, especially for those of us who sit at a desk all day. It has even been linked to mild cognitive impairment. Previous research has suggested that executive function – the processes in the brain that enable people to plan, focus, remember, and multitask – may suffer when we sit for long periods without moving our bodies. All hope isn’t lost, however, as […]