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Office lighting has a significant impact on everything from health and safety to productivity levels, making it essential to evaluate the lighting in your workspace thoroughly. Proper lighting can reduce eye strain, prevent headaches, and create a more comfortable working environment, all of which contribute to better overall employee well-being and efficiency.
In this article, we’ll explore various office lighting options, from natural lighting to LED solutions, and discuss key considerations to consider when planning an upgrade to your lighting system. Whether redesigning a small home office or a large corporate space, the right lighting can make all the difference in creating an optimal working environment.
Where to start?
Lamp Shop Online’s Comprehensive Guide to Office Lighting is an essential resource for designing an effective lighting plan for your office. This article provides an in-depth analysis of the best lighting solutions for various office areas and explains the differences between ambient and task lighting.
By following this guide, you'll ensure your office lighting adheres to best practices, including:
- Achieving the optimal lighting levels in your office
- Saving money with energy-efficient bulbs and lighting technologies
- Enhancing your team’s health and productivity with improved lighting strategies
Whether you're planning a lighting upgrade or designing a new office space, this guide covers everything you need to know to create a well-lit and productive work environment.
How much light is enough?
The level of light in an office significantly impacts productivity. Dim lighting can reduce efficiency, making employees feel sleepy and causing health issues like eyestrain and headaches. Conversely, overly bright lighting can trigger migraines and strain the eyes, forcing them to work harder to focus.
The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America recommends a 30–50 foot-candle (fc) range for general office lighting. A foot-candle measures light intensity relative to its source. However, many workspaces are lit to around 60 fc, which is much brighter than necessary. This over-illumination can lead to headaches, migraines, anxiety, and fatigue among team members.
Balancing light levels, including natural light from windows, greatly impacts employee health. A study by Northwestern University found that “office workers with more light exposure at the office had longer sleep duration, better sleep quality, more physical activity, and a better quality of life compared to office workers with less light exposure in the workplace.”
While natural light from windows is ideal, there are artificial lighting options, such as the Bright Source 72W LED Panel, which offers a brilliant 6000K daylight colour temperature. This panel provides vibrant and energising light that mimics natural daylight, enhancing visual clarity and reducing eye strain. Installing such LED panels in your office will ensure your team benefits from optimal 'natural' light levels, improving their overall well-being and productivity. For more details on selecting the right LED panels, check out the guide to choosing LED panels and the best LED panel options.
To Do:
- Measure Light Levels: To ensure you have the correct foot-candle levels in each area, invest in a light metre, which measures visible light intensity. While professional light metres can be expensive, a basic model sufficient for office needs can be found for around £50.
- Enhance Task Lighting: Add task lighting, such as desk lamps or overhead lamps, and replace outdated bulbs with energy-efficient options to achieve optimal lighting levels in your office. This will help create a well-lit, comfortable, and productive workspace.
Saving Money on Office Lighting
Not updating lighting and lighting systems to more efficient models can significantly impact your electricity bills. "Old technology" refers to static office lighting controlled by a single switch, meaning the lighting in an area is either fully on or off. This type of lighting lacks flexibility and can lead to various health issues, such as headaches and eyestrain. Moreover, it wastes energy since the lighting cannot be adjusted to optimise natural light.
Modern lighting solutions, including LED panels and smart lighting systems, offer adjustable and energy-efficient options that enhance comfort, reduce health risks, and lower energy consumption.
Lighting Control Systems
There’s no point in having lights on in unoccupied areas. A more efficient approach is to use lighting control systems with sensors that activate lights only when a room or area is in use. Sensor-controlled lighting in low-traffic areas such as restrooms, storage rooms, and corridors can significantly reduce energy consumption and eliminate the need for staff to remember to switch off lights when leaving.
Modern lighting systems can also work in tandem with natural daylight through daylight harvesting systems. These systems reduce energy usage by utilising natural light to offset the need for artificial lighting. As daylight increases in a room, photosensors detect the change and automatically reduce the artificial lighting output.
To maximise the benefits of a daylight harvesting system:
- Opt for Light Décor: Use light-coloured furnishings and fixtures, as darker ones absorb light, requiring more artificial lighting and increasing costs.
- Clean Windows Regularly: Ensure windows are clean to allow maximum natural light to enter.
- Strategic Desk Placement: Position desks in areas with the most natural light and place storage units like filing cabinets and bookcases in darker corners.
- Optimise Meeting Spaces: Consider moving meeting areas or breakout spaces to darker parts of the office, as these are used less frequently than workstations.
- Implement Timers: Apply timers to lights so they only operate during working hours, preventing energy waste when people forget to turn off the lights at the end of the day.
- Additionally, ideal lighting control systems should include manual controls, allowing staff to adjust lighting according to their needs, especially during bright weather when artificial lighting may not be necessary at all.
LED Bulbs
LED bulbs are renowned for their energy-saving capabilities, and the cost savings can be substantial. For instance, a large office using 300 fluorescent tubes running for 7 hours a day could save approximately £2,529 annually by switching to LED tubes. Considering that lighting accounts for 33% of electricity use in commercial buildings, transitioning to LEDs offers a significant opportunity for savings. Although the initial cost of LEDs may deter some, they are often more affordable than anticipated. High-quality T8 LED tubes can cost less than £10 each and typically pay for themselves within around 18 months of use.
Beyond financial savings, better lighting control also has environmental benefits. Non-domestic lighting is responsible for approximately 24 million metric tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 5,052,632 cars.
To Do:
- Research Lighting Control Systems: Begin by exploring lighting control solutions on the Philips website, which details various options for enhancing office lighting efficiency.
- Determine Lighting Requirements: After determining the required light levels for your office (refer to the "How much light is enough?" section above), calculate the number and wattage of LED bulbs needed to meet those requirements effectively.
Switching to LED lighting not only benefits your bottom line but also significantly reduces your carbon footprint, making it a smart choice for both economic and environmental reasons.
Office Lighting & Health
Shedding Light on the Problem
Work can be stressful, and inadequate lighting can add to this stress. Many offices use fluorescent lighting due to its cost-effectiveness and longevity. However, fluorescent lights can negatively impact health because they flicker. This flicker, caused by the rapid pulsing of the electric ballast, can lead to headaches, migraines, and eye problems, even if the flicker is not consciously perceived. Upgrading to LED tubes can mitigate these issues. LEDs flicker less noticeably than fluorescent tubes and offer significant energy-saving benefits.
SAD and Stress-Related Conditions
Fluorescent lighting can exacerbate stress, anxiety, and depression, particularly if it emits a green cast that makes the environment look drab and sickly. Poor lighting can also worsen the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).
Counteracting Negative Effects of Fluorescent Lighting
To combat the adverse effects of fluorescent lighting:
- Spend time outdoors for natural sunlight exposure, even during lunch breaks.
- Position desks near windows or skylights.
- Replace standard fluorescent lights with full-spectrum or daylight-spectrum lights to improve colour temperature and help counteract SAD.
Preventing Eyestrain
Eyestrain is common when working long hours on a computer, especially with high screen contrast, glare, or poor ergonomic setups. Uncorrected vision problems, stress, and tiredness can worsen eyestrain, and fluorescent lighting can contribute to the issue.
Steps to Prevent Eyestrain:
- Ensure adequate but not overly bright lighting for tasks.
- Adjust the monitor's brightness to between 50-100% of the screen's brightness.
- Position lighting to avoid shadows and ensure even illumination.
- Have regular eye examinations to ensure correct vision correction.
- Follow the 20/20 rule: every 20 minutes, take a 20-second break to look at something 20 feet away.
To Do:
- Discuss with Your Team: Speak to your team about their experiences with office lighting and its impact on their health. If migraines and eyestrain are common, it's time to reevaluate your lighting.
- Invest in LEDs and SAD Lighting: Consider switching to LED lighting, which offers environmental benefits and a non-flickering alternative to fluorescent tubes. SAD lighting can help combat feelings of depression and anxiety during the winter months.
Small changes in office lighting can transform the workspace, improving how staff feel and perform. Happier employees can boost productivity by 10-50%, and better lighting can reduce energy costs and enhance overall workplace efficiency.