Lighting in offices

Office lighting must be adequate for mixed office work—such as meetings, filing, etc. The regulations have set this at 200 lux. Normal ceiling lighting normally fulfils this requirement if the fixtures are in good order and the light bulbs are bright enough. A chandelier is attractive, but directs most of the light onto the ceiling and too little down into the workspace. Low-energy tubes or bulbs are normally used for general lighting. Light bulbs must have good colour rendition (Ra index above 90) and a fresh, cool colour (over 3000° Kelvin).

Office work should not normally be done in passageways and on stairways. The lighting here only needs to fulfil the requirements for safe movement, and the limit has therefore been set at 50 lux. Some departments maintain low-level lighting in passageways, which is raised to the required level via motion sensors.

In contrast to low-energy lights, daylight has ideal colour rendition, and should therefore be utilised to the full extent possible. People frequently switch on the ceiling lighting in the morning, even though there is actually adequate daylight. Please be aware of this.

Light on the desk

A light level of 200 lux is not sufficient at the workstation. A good work lamp can be used here to provide lighting at a level of 500 lux. The work lamp should provide asymmetric light distribution, so it covers as much as the desk surface as possible.

• Symmetric light distribution, where the light is directed straight down
• Asymmetric light distribution, where the light is directed to the side at an angle