Office Lighting Ideas

The Lowdown on Office Lighting

Employees need perfect lighting conditions to thrive in the workplace, so good lighting is key to a successful and productive office. But many organisations fail to appreciate how important this is. And, given lighting in the workplace regulations, this could cause a number of problems. Therefore, it’s crucial that employers get to grips with office lighting. It may not be your area of expertise but, thankfully, workplace lighting is relatively simple. And, once you know what’s required, you should be able to easily implement an office lighting strategy.

Standards for Office Lighting

When it comes to workplace lighting there are certain standards which need to be met. The conditions of the Workplace Regulations Act 1992 stipulate that workplaces need to provide lighting which is both suitable and sufficient. In an ideal situation this should be natural light, but this is far from practical due to building designs and natural daylight cycles. And this is where office lighting provides a solution. For a standard office containing computer workstations and filing equipment, it is recommended that employees are supported by lighting levels of 500 lux.

Best Type of Lighting for Offices

With an understanding of what you need to achieve with office lighting, the next step is to take a look at your available options. There are numerous commercial lighting solutions, but the best ones are:

• Fluorescent Tubes: A common sight in offices over the last few decades, fluorescent tubes are operated by a lighting ballast. This ballast is used to both start and maintain the necessary electrical operating conditions. Fluorescent tubes are available in a number of varieties, the most common being T12, T8 and T5, all of which have their own unique lighting properties. The tubes themselves are cheap to replace once they have failed, but the lighting ballast is significantly more expensive to change.

• LED Panels: One modern lighting solution stands head and shoulders above all others and this is LED panels. Incredibly energy efficient and long lasting, LED panels utilise LED chips built into a combination of frames and plates. The small size of the LEDs allows manufacturers to produce these panels in a wide range of shapes and sizes. This allows you to select panels which are perfect for your office and, as opposed to fluorescent tubes, LED panels tend to focus the light into specific spaces rather than having a 360 degree span.

Office Lighting Surveys and Design

The basics of office lighting are straightforward. However it takes a certain level of precision and expertise to get office lighting right. Measuring lux levels accurately, for example, is something that requires training. Furthermore understanding the best light solutions to achieve optimum lighting is something that only comes from experience. Taking this task on yourself is, accordingly, not recommended. After all, you want to provide your employees with the best environment to work in. This is where they will be at their most productive. And this is why it pays to bring in a professional to carry out lighting surveys and help you install the best office lighting solutions.

For more information on commercial lighting, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and speak to one of our experts.

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