Give your lighting a health check

before
A few years ago the offices at Hull University offices looked like this. The change brought about by a new lighting installation (shown below) is quite remarkable.
Replacing the lighting system provides a wonderful opportunity for giving an office a fresh look and increasing productivity and well being. Hugh King’s health check will help you consider your refurbishment options.In inadequate lighting scheme is not only inefficient — it could threaten your life and that of your employees. Poor lighting contributes to accidents and, more insidiously, reduces the efficiency and effectiveness with which people work. It can decrease morale, increase staff turnover and be a causal factor in industrial action. If you decide to do without a basic health check, the cost of getting it wrong can be very significant indeed. The lighting process simplified There are five main points to consider in achieving an effective lighting installation. • Ensure that the correct lighting standards are provided both in terms of quantity and quality.
• Select the correct type of lighting system.
• Use the most suitable lighting equipment.
• Control the hours of use.
• Maintain the system in efficient working order. The lighting process amplified Good lighting starts with the design objectives; if they are wrong, no amount of good equipment will compensate. Lighting is too often treated as a physical problem of ensuring the right amount of equipment is installed to achieve a physical result. We forget that the lumen is not a physical unit like the Watt, but a psychophysical unit based on human response. Lighting has a job to do — and must do it well. Lighting is not there for the building, but for the benefit of the occupants and must help to create the right appearance, atmosphere and sense of comfort. The CIBSE Code for Interior Lighting makes sound recommendations about lighting standards and good practice, and Lighting Guides 3 and 7 provide guidance for users of computer screens.
New lighting in Hull University offices shows a dramatic change from what went before (see above).
Check the system Do not mistake getting the system right with decisions about what equipment to use; that comes later. Make sure that the lighting system is right. Check whether to use general, localised or local lighting or a combination of each. See how daylight will be utilised. Establish what control strategy will be employed. Detail any strategic issues raised by the lighting objectives. Check energy efficiency The new, more stringent, Part L of the Building Regulations states that when existing buildings with a floor area of over 100 m2 undergo major renovation their energy efficiency should be upgraded. Any general lighting system with an average lamp efficiency of less than 40 lamp lumens/circuit Watt should be upgraded by either a new luminaire or with improved lighting controls to achieve 50 lamp lumens/circuit Watt. In offices, look out for old fluorescent fittings, especially those with aging diffusers that use switch start or even SRS control gear and employ 38 mm diameter lamps. There are still some industrial areas using mercury fittings and 2400 mm, 125 W fluorescents with cobwebby reflectors! You must also remember lighting controls; indeed Part L requires a report from a competent person stating they have been commissioned. Check equipment Many new luminaires appear similar and use the same lamps, yet their efficiency can vary by a factor of more than 2:1. If the fitting is more efficient, fewer will be needed, and installation and maintenance costs will be lower. Always check not only initial costs, but total cost throughout life as it is often a better sustainability and economic choice even if at first sight, it seems to cost more. People must be able to move about in safety and without risk of accident or injury, especially in an emergency. Make sure your emergency lighting conforms. For peace of mind, consider self-test fittings or even a central checking system. Check environmental appropriateness At this point, you should think hard about your responsibilities to society at large. No technological choice is right unless it factors in the following. • Use of correct and replenishable materials. Materials are important, especially for fire protection. If plastic attachments are used check them against the Building Regulations — Fire Safety.
• Manufacturers have new responsibilities within the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive, except for batteries used in self-contained emergency luminaires that are exempt and come under the battery directive. Ask your supplier for their RoHS Declaration of Conformity Certificate.
• Responsible waste management. As you have duties under COSHH and the forthcoming WEEE directive, check what measures and advice the supplier is giving on the safe disposal of lamps and fittings at the end of their life-span. Check maintenance All too often, cleaning and relamping of luminaires just does not happen, so levels are well below recommendations and often below safety values. Ask for maintenance recommendations; if you buy even the cheapest car, you will get a service book telling you how often to get the car serviced and what must be done. Despite all these checks, very few lighting refurbishments in use today realise the full benefits. This is due mainly to inadequate briefing, too much emphasis on initial cost, lack of detailed attention to the design and installation and a failure to realise the benefits of maintenance. The biggest waste of energy when refurbishing lighting today is ignorance. Hugh King is with Thorn Lighting.
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