Improper lighting could be a health and safety hazard and can have a negative impact on the quality of work performed by people working at your office. The quality of lighting at your office will affect the overall mood and level of effectiveness of your employees. Light does so much more than just lit up the office, it also keeps you awake and alert, reduces eye strain, and boosts productivity levels. Having an office that is lit well enough for its users to perform their best every day is an asset you should have. How to properly light your office? What is the best lighting for office space? Let's find out.
How to Find Out if Your Office Needs Better Lighting?
One of the most effective ways to find out if your office is suffering from poor lighting is to reach out to your employees and ask them whether they suffer from any of the common and negative effects associated with insufficient lighting.
- Suffering from eye strain.
- Squinting throughout the day to see things more clearly.
- Common headaches among your employees while at their desks or looking at a computer screen.
These are the signs you should look for to know that your lighting is not up to part and needs an immediate update to ensure that conditions at your office enable effective and healthy work. You can also try to assess whether your office needs better lighting by performing various ergonomic tests. You might want to measure the average illumination throughout your workplace and compare your findings with the recommendation for optimal productivity and safety.
Best Lighting For Offices According to Regulations
Are you aware that there are lighting regulations in place for offices? Before you decide which lighting solutions to purchase for your office, it is best to consult a professional regarding those laws and find out which regulations you can potentially break if your lights are not up to standard. Following lighting regulations will help you improve the quality of conditions in your workplace and help you make sure that the lighting used to light up your office follows the current standards.
Light in Layers
To illuminate your office effectively, you need to make sure to light it in layers. Start by checking what light is currently available to you naturally through windows and artificially via installed fixtures. Note how the light is currently distributed, where the under-lit areas in the room are, and the light levels in the office spaces where your employees and colleagues will primarily be working, like desks and reading chairs. Once you have that prepared, you can start designing the best lighting for the office environment by layering three types of lighting. To be able to do that, you can look at the office dedicated lighting products from Lena Lighting, with excellent BARIS LED lights among many others. Here are the three types of lighting you should have in your office:
- Ambient lighting - general lighting, the light used to enter the office and move around it safely.
- Task lighting - a light used in any spot where tasks like reading, writing, or computer work will be performed.
- Accent lighting - a light that accentuates important items and architectural details of your office that you wish to highlight.
The Right Colour Temperature and Quality of Light
You might know that there’s a science behind or circadian rhythm, also known as the sleep clock. According to the study about the effects of circadian rhythm, when there is a low level of light, people tend to get tired faster. That's why it is crucial that the lighting used in your office should be distributed evenly. Having low levels of light will instantly make your employees feel more exhausted than they should be during working hours.
The temperature of the light is a significant factor when searching for the perfect office lighting. Generally speaking, there are three colours to choose from warm, neutral, and cool. 3000k light temperature features more red, yellow or orange range; colour temp. of 4000k would feature less yellow and more blue range;5000k colour temperature that comes with more light in more blue and white.
When it comes to colour temperature, the best lighting for the office environment is between 3500 Kelvin and 5500 Kelvin, as it helps to maintain the atmosphere of natural sunlight to prevent sleepiness and help your workers remain productive throughout the day. Anything above 5500K is just too blue and anything below 3500K will make your employees less productive.
You can also use the CRI (Colour Rendering Index) to determine the quality of your light. The index uses eight pastel colours to assess how a solid-state light source renders colours. CRI ranges from 0-100, with the number indicating how well a light source renders colours in comparison to a standard light. The closer CRI is to a hundred, the better the light source is rendering colours. LED lights typically have a score between 80 - 90, which makes them similar or more optimal than natural light. They are the perfect lighting solution for the office.
Which Light Bulbs Should You Choose?
LED lights are significantly brighter and cheaper than regular incandescent bulbs and fluorescent tubes, which makes them perfect for your office space. They used to be expensive in the past, however, they are a lot more affordable these days, especially taking into consideration that they are brighter than regular bulbs.
When it comes to colour temperature, the best lighting for the office environment is between 3500 Kelvin and 5500 Kelvin, as it helps to maintain the atmosphere of natural sunlight to prevent sleepiness and help your workers remain productive throughout the day. Anything above 5500K is just too blue and anything below 3500K will make your employees less productive.
You can also use the CRI (Colour Rendering Index) to determine the quality of your light. The index uses eight pastel colours to assess how a solid-state light source renders colours. CRI ranges from 0-100, with the number indicating how well a light source renders colours in comparison to a standard light. The closer CRI is to a hundred, the better the light source is rendering colours. LED lights typically have a score between 80 - 90, which makes them similar or more optimal than natural light. They are the perfect lighting solution for the office.