The Latest Developments.
Dear Colleagues,
Over the years we have witnessed problems with lighting in the Office at Warbreck. The employer in meetings indicates that they have received advice from their “experts” (Land Securities Trillium) who have assured them that they fully comply with all legislation and associated expert guidance.
At the Warbreck Safety Committee on 15th April 2008 the employer had only just concluded repeating the above points, followed by PCS highlighting where in the relevant guidance the lighting does not comply, when LST “pulled the rug” from underneath the employer by stating that they do not comply with the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, LG7 Guidance.
The CIBSE LG7 Guidance sets out some parameters on lighting including:
a) uniformity of lighting. The CIBSE Guidance states the following about uniformity of lighting:
”The other misconception is that office lighting is all about creating a uniform lighting level across the whole space. What is needed is uniform lighting across each task area, which normally consists of relatively small areas on each desk. The lighting in the wider office space can, and indeed should, vary somewhat to create visual interest”. This means that you do not have uniformity of lighting across the room, but across a small area of the desk.
b) Individual control of lighting. The CIBSE Guidance states the following about individual control of lighting:
“This task lighting may be desk-, furniture- or partition-mounted. Local task lighting can present
problems in terms of electrical supply, safety and positioning but does allow for local switching or dimming and perhaps adjustment of light direction. This gives users greater control over their environment, which usually leads to increased user satisfaction. It is also possible in some spaces to provide localized lighting just over or around clusters of desks.”
“The use of area or individual dimming of the luminaires should be considered. This will allow users to reduce the lighting level if they prefer to do so”.
“Localised lighting is where one or more luminaires are positioned in the vicinity of the task area. This might be by luminaires in, or suspended from, the ceiling above desks, or by freestanding lighting that may be a direct/indirect luminaire placed by a desk or an indirect light placed within a cluster of desks”
“Localised lighting is generally used to provide all the required task lighting on the desk, although it is possible to use local luminaires to provide the top-up lighting from a lower ambient level up to the selected task illuminance”.
“It is important that the luminaire be provided with a local switch or ideally a dimmer control”.
“The distance on plan from any local switch to the luminaire it controls should be not more than eight metres”. Note that DWP Estates say that they work to not more than six metres.
“A way of meeting the requirement would be the provision of local switches in easily accessible positions within each working area or at boundaries between working areas and general circulation routes”.
“Even with uniform grids of luminaires across a space, with additional investment in individual dimming luminaires it is possible to have higher levels over desk locations and lower levels between.”
“Non-uniform layouts of luminaires can provide more visual interest in the space and concentrate lighting just where it is most needed”.
“Whatever type of lighting controls are installed, manual or automatic, the control zones within the overall space should be localised to groups of workstations. The individual zones should have switches close to the user to allow easy and convenient control of the lights in a local zone”.
“Other companies have a need for rapidly changing work teams or even areas for hot-desking, where staff do not have a permanent desk but claim a desk only when in the office. Here reduced background lighting with re-locatable task lighting may be more effective. Also, local control of lighting is likely to be more important in such areas”
These are good reasons why there needs to be control of the lighting.
c) The lighting level. The CIBSE Guidance states the following about the lighting level:
“The recommended design maintained illuminance over the task area in any room where office work is carried out is generally in the range 300 to 500 lux. This range allows some scope for tailoring for the exact type of work being carried out in the space”.
”The minimum level set by the Health and Safety Executive for any permanently occupied area is 200 lux”.
“With indirect lighting, direct lighting or direct/indirect lighting, it is possible either to provide all the required illumination or to provide just background lighting of, say, 200 lux, supplemented with good task lighting”.
Detriments to Health and Reasonable Adjustments
Following continuing questions by PCS the employer has acknowledged that there are over 50 cases of people who have medical problems created or exacerbated by the downgrading of the lighting. We believe that this number represents the tip of the iceberg.
The employer has also indicated that Atos (a company appointed by the DWP to provide specific medical advice) “often recommended individual lighting when they return their OHS reports.” The employer has added “but this is not something that is currently possible at Warbreck”. We agree with the medical advice that individual control of lighting is the best way to resolve the issues, but do not agree with the employer’s statement that this is not currently possible at Warbreck. The lighting could be restored to its previous levels of control for the individual.
We have asked that the employer now re-assess the 50 plus cases that they are aware of in terms of rectifying any detriments that the members may have been subjected to as a result of the erroneous downgrading of the lighting.
We will keep members informed of any developments.
Yours sincerely
Duncan Griffiths,Branch Secretary.
Dear Colleagues,
Over the years we have witnessed problems with lighting in the Office at Warbreck. The employer in meetings indicates that they have received advice from their “experts” (Land Securities Trillium) who have assured them that they fully comply with all legislation and associated expert guidance.
At the Warbreck Safety Committee on 15th April 2008 the employer had only just concluded repeating the above points, followed by PCS highlighting where in the relevant guidance the lighting does not comply, when LST “pulled the rug” from underneath the employer by stating that they do not comply with the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, LG7 Guidance.
The CIBSE LG7 Guidance sets out some parameters on lighting including:
a) uniformity of lighting. The CIBSE Guidance states the following about uniformity of lighting:
”The other misconception is that office lighting is all about creating a uniform lighting level across the whole space. What is needed is uniform lighting across each task area, which normally consists of relatively small areas on each desk. The lighting in the wider office space can, and indeed should, vary somewhat to create visual interest”. This means that you do not have uniformity of lighting across the room, but across a small area of the desk.
b) Individual control of lighting. The CIBSE Guidance states the following about individual control of lighting:
“This task lighting may be desk-, furniture- or partition-mounted. Local task lighting can presentproblems in terms of electrical supply, safety and positioning but does allow for local switching or dimming and perhaps adjustment of light direction. This gives users greater control over their environment, which usually leads to increased user satisfaction. It is also possible in some spaces to provide localized lighting just over or around clusters of desks.”
“The use of area or individual dimming of the luminaires should be considered. This will allow users to reduce the lighting level if they prefer to do so”.
“Localised lighting is where one or more luminaires are positioned in the vicinity of the task area. This might be by luminaires in, or suspended from, the ceiling above desks, or by freestanding lighting that may be a direct/indirect luminaire placed by a desk or an indirect light placed within a cluster of desks”
“Localised lighting is generally used to provide all the required task lighting on the desk, although it is possible to use local luminaires to provide the top-up lighting from a lower ambient level up to the selected task illuminance”.
“It is important that the luminaire be provided with a local switch or ideally a dimmer control”.
“The distance on plan from any local switch to the luminaire it controls should be not more than eight metres”. Note that DWP Estates say that they work to not more than six metres.
“A way of meeting the requirement would be the provision of local switches in easily accessible positions within each working area or at boundaries between working areas and general circulation routes”.
“Even with uniform grids of luminaires across a space, with additional investment in individual dimming luminaires it is possible to have higher levels over desk locations and lower levels between.”
“Non-uniform layouts of luminaires can provide more visual interest in the space and concentrate lighting just where it is most needed”.
“Whatever type of lighting controls are installed, manual or automatic, the control zones within the overall space should be localised to groups of workstations. The individual zones should have switches close to the user to allow easy and convenient control of the lights in a local zone”.
“Other companies have a need for rapidly changing work teams or even areas for hot-desking, where staff do not have a permanent desk but claim a desk only when in the office. Here reduced background lighting with re-locatable task lighting may be more effective. Also, local control of lighting is likely to be more important in such areas”
These are good reasons why there needs to be control of the lighting.c) The lighting level. The CIBSE Guidance states the following about the lighting level:
“The recommended design maintained illuminance over the task area in any room where office work is carried out is generally in the range 300 to 500 lux. This range allows some scope for tailoring for the exact type of work being carried out in the space”.
”The minimum level set by the Health and Safety Executive for any permanently occupied area is 200 lux”.
“With indirect lighting, direct lighting or direct/indirect lighting, it is possible either to provide all the required illumination or to provide just background lighting of, say, 200 lux, supplemented with good task lighting”.
Detriments to Health and Reasonable Adjustments
Following continuing questions by PCS the employer has acknowledged that there are over 50 cases of people who have medical problems created or exacerbated by the downgrading of the lighting. We believe that this number represents the tip of the iceberg.
The employer has also indicated that Atos (a company appointed by the DWP to provide specific medical advice) “often recommended individual lighting when they return their OHS reports.” The employer has added “but this is not something that is currently possible at Warbreck”. We agree with the medical advice that individual control of lighting is the best way to resolve the issues, but do not agree with the employer’s statement that this is not currently possible at Warbreck. The lighting could be restored to its previous levels of control for the individual.
We have asked that the employer now re-assess the 50 plus cases that they are aware of in terms of rectifying any detriments that the members may have been subjected to as a result of the erroneous downgrading of the lighting.
We will keep members informed of any developments.
Yours sincerely
Duncan Griffiths,Branch Secretary.
