The Institution of Analysts and Programmers

Tomorrow (27th of November), sees the start of Europe’s leading event for expanding business overseas at the London ExCeL.

Going Global Live, sponsored by American Express, is the leading exhibition dedicated to providing businesses with absolutely everything they need to expand internationally and trade overseas. From globally recognised brands through to world-class seminars hosted by leading professionals, this event will be the one stop shop for all brands moving into the global arena.

2019’s edition of Going Global Live promises to be the most forward-thinking to date, focusing on some of the most significant political developments in decades, including post-Brexit trade and how this will affect the way UK companies conduct business with trade partners across the globe. Annually attracting experts from around the world, Going Global Live enables a highly interactive learning experience for both exhibitors and visitors. This year’s show will host professionals in all areas of international trade & export each leading their own informative seminar, providing visitors with second to none knowledge to utilise moving forward.

Going Global 2019 will answer every question a business has on international trade; provide unparalleled education and information on every trade agreement; and deliver an abundance of solutions and opportunities for UK businesses looking to go global. With exhibitors from across many sectors all coming together under one roof, it is hard to find a reason not to attend. Instead of spending hours searching for companies on the internet, speak to the people behind the solution face to face.

Going Global Live 2019 will be running alongside The Business Show and Foreign Direct Investment Expo, allowing for unrivalled networking opportunities across all of the events. Tickets to Going Global will grant access to the surrounding shows, opening up visitors to all the benefits of the surrounding events. Both of these shows will be providing their own valuable business masterclasses, so the opportunity to learn from international professionals has never been larger.

Meet experts from around the globe and access a whole new world of business at this years Going Global Live! Get your free tickets here!

Recently an old school friend died. Nothing particularly significant in that, he was only 58 years old though. What made this different is that he actually died at work, at his desk.

Not the work of the Butler with the Wrench in the office, or some unlikely story worthy of Miss Marple, but a health related incident.

Like me, he was a DBA and programmer, jobs that by their definition mean a lot of periods of sitting and lack of physical activity.

Studies elsewhere in the world show that people who sit for a job are twice as likely to die early that those who don’t.

Whether you sit down all day long or prefer to put you feet up periodically, prolonged inactivity increases your risk of early death, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The study found that people in our industry can be sitting for 12 hours of a 16 hour day. That does not sound good to me.

These findings support another study conducted by Cambridge University which found that one in six deaths – 90,000 per year – were caused by 9-5 office lifestyles, the Sun reports. 

Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, strokes, cancer, and dementia were mainly to blame while it also revealed that 37 per cent of British adults spend less than 30 minutes on their feet a day.

Around the world, 14 people die each day at work, never returning home! 92 people in the UK die at work each year.

So what can we do about it?

Let’s start with not eating lunch at our desk’s, go for a walk, eat in a park, employers very rarely pay an individual to work through their lunch anyway and to be honest just profit from it.

Bizarrely drinking coffee can help, as a dedicated tea drinker I feel slightly robbed of some precious minutes.

I’m the last to suggest this, but join a gym, do some gardening, get a bicycle.

More practical work placed activities, may be get up every 30 minutes and walk to the end of the office, walk up the stairs.

Diet may help, being someone who falls into an upper weight category myself, this is probably a good way forward, but don’t crash diet. I’ve spent 6 months losing 7lb’s and expect to be a reasonable weight sometime in the distant future.

What is funny in someway is that the HSE have a protocol for people who die at work, http://www.hse.gov.uk/enforce/wrdp/. Does this happen every day? unfortunately it does, not just by people dying at their desks but in industrial accidents as well.

In an industry where many of us sit all day, then go home and sit down all evening, we as individuals need to make some life choices. Before someone has to wheel us off in our chair to the back door of the building.