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Your company just landed a business deal overseas. It’s an exciting opportunity for the company and for your employees. But you are a small company with limited resources. What are the next steps for international business travel? Travel visas, vaccinations, import restrictions. How do you ensure your employees’ safe and healthy travel?

Millions of patients are harmed each year due to unsafe health care worldwide, resulting in 2.6 million deaths annually in low-and middle-income countries alone. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), most of these deaths are avoidable. The personal, social and economic impact of patient harm leads to losses of trillions of U.S. dollars worldwide.

As one of the most powerful hurricanes in history begins to batter the east coast of central Florida – and after that, possibly, Georgia and North and South Carolina, the American Heart Association (AHA) is reminding people that Hurricane Dorian poses a health risk to those in its path.

With plastic pollution having emerged as a significant environment and health crisis, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for more research into the potential effect on human health of microplastics in drinking water. “We urgently need to know more about the health impact of microplastics because they are everywhere - including in our drinking-water,” says Dr Maria Neira, Director, Department of Public Health, Environment and Social Determinants of Health, at WHO.

A pollutant associated with climate change is sulfur dioxide, a component of smog. Sulfur dioxide and closely related chemicals are known primarily as a cause of acid rain. But they also reflect light when released in the atmosphere, which keeps sunlight out and creates a cooling effect. Volcanic eruptions can spew massive amounts of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, sometimes causing cooling that lasts for years.

China will carry out a comprehensive inspection on all online after-school training institutions and set up records on the institutions, their training content and teacher credentials by the end of this year as part of its oversight of the rapidly expanding industry, the Ministry of Education said. The country has carried out inspections on brick-and-mortar after-school training institutions since early 2018 to cut the excessive workload on primary and middle school students.

Although the use of asbestos has been banned in European Union (EU) nations since 2005, the substance remains a health risk in Europe due to its ubiquitous presence in many private and public buildings. Asbestos was one of the major agenda items at last month’s seminar on chemicals and worker protection held in Lisbon. Hosted by the European Trade Union Institute in Lisbon in collaboration with the General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers (CGTP), the gathering brought together more than 40 union representatives from 21 European countries.

A new United Nations “convention” against workplace violence and harassment is being hailed as a landmark measure that will help governments draft their own laws and regulations to prevent the problem. Convention 190 (C190) was adopted last month by the International Labour Organization (ILO), an arm of the United Nations that sets internationally recognized labor standards. It will be binding for governments that ratify it.

Messe Düsseldorf and its local partner Tezulaş Fuar will organize the fourth edition of TOS+H Expo, the Turkish Occupational Safety + Health Exhibition, from May 3 – 6, 2020 in Istanbul, Turkey. Held concurrently will be the X. International Occupational Safety and Health Congress, managed by the Turkish Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services.