Lighting

Poor lighting at the workplace may contribute to hazards that put your workers at risk.

Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light for practical, visual or decorative purposes. Lighting provides a degree of brightness that enables people to see things.

At a workplace adequate lighting enables workers to easily view their work and environment without the need to strain their eyes.

How lighting affects the health and safety of workers

Lighting can have positive and negative impacts on workers.

Good lighting systems:

  • reduce the risk of slips, trips and falls at the workplace
  • enable better concentration
  • allow more precise and accurate work, particularly where detail is required
  • enable better visibility of the work environment
  • ensure the safety of people, as hazards are visible and illuminated
  • provide a safe and comfortable (visual) work environment

Poor lighting systems may result in workers suffering:

  • eyestrain, headaches or fatigue from poor postures due to poor visibility
  • neck, shoulder and back pain from straining to see items in poorly lit areas
  • increased risk of injury from slips, trips and falls incidents, in particular where workers are working in and around machinery (moving or stationary), equipment and/or near stairs in dim, dark or unlit areas
  • security risks due to violence and aggression, particularly at night near dark and unlit areas
  • psychological issues, such as anxiety, stress or depression, particularly if workers are exposed to insufficient or gloomy lighting over a period of time.

Too much light or excessive illumination can result in workers suffering:

  • headaches or migraines from exposure to excessive or overly intense light
  • fatigue from exposure to flickering lights or over-illumination, in particular from fluorescent lights
  • stress and anxiety from working in a setting of intense lighting (i.e. fluorescent lighting)
  • disruption of circadian rhythms affecting a person’s body clock and may affect sleep cycles.

Glare or reflections can result in workers suffering:

  • eye discomfort and squinting due to the contrast of the bright light against the average light in an area
  • eye strain, impaired vision or eye damage from constantly adjusting your eyes to the light in the visual field and task
  • visual discomfort and decreased safety due to the inability to see clearly.

Your responsibilities

A Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that lighting enables:

  • each worker to carry out their day-to-day work without risk to health and safety
  • people to move around within the workplace without risk to their health and safety, and
  • safe evacuation in an emergency.

A workplace inside a building may use natural lighting (daylight) or artificial lighting or a combination of both.

At a workplace, natural lighting or daylight is usually provided from the sunlight entering the workplace through the windows, roller doors or skylights of the building.

Most modern devices provide a small amount of artificial lighting such as computers, laptops, televisions or mobile phones. At a workplace artificial lighting is usually provided by various sources such as light bulbs, lamps and torches.

Requirements for lighting at workplaces

To determine the effectiveness of lighting at your workplace, consider:

  • the tasks or activities performed, how often and for how long
  • the nature of the hazards and risks at the workplace
  • the amount and quality of the light in an area, including both natural and artificial light
  • the number, type and position of the light sources
  • glare, contrast, reflections and shadows
  • the transition of natural light over the day.

Illumination is the action of supplying light or brightening an area. In simple terms, illumination is the amount of light that covers a surface or an area and is measured in lux (lx).

Illumination requirements vary according to each area of the workplace. Where a simple lighting solution cannot be found, it is recommended appropriate lighting levels (measured in lux) are determined by a competent person in accordance with the relevant Australian Standard.

For more information regarding recommended illuminance (lux) for different areas at your workplace, see Table 1: Recommended illumination levels in the Code of Practice for Managing the Work Environment and Facilities (PDF, 422.29 KB).

Emergency lighting

Emergency lights are battery-backed lighting devices which turn on automatically when a building experiences a power outage. These are now standard in most commercial buildings.

Emergency lights provide adequate lighting to allow enough time to enable the occupants of a building to evacuate safely in the event of an emergency. They are usually installed at regular intervals around buildings to provide enough light for people to exit the building safely.

Emergency exit sign lighting needs to be clearly visible and illuminated at all times. These signs can be found above exit doors, at the top of staircases and at any change of direction along the exit pathway of a building. Their purpose is to assist people to find their way out of a building in an emergency.

Working at night

People who work at night may be more at risk of work-related incidents as the lighting provided is not quite the same as working in daylight.

Some workplaces may be naturally dark, making it difficult for workers to avoid hazards, see safety signage and move safely around and operate heavy machinery and equipment.

Poor lighting at night may increase slips, trips and falls incident as well as the security risk to workers entering and exiting the workplace, such as theft, burglary, or armed holdup incidents.

Service and maintain lighting installations

Regular inspection, testing and maintenance of lighting installations is essential to ensure they are operating safely and in optimal condition.

Service and maintenance of lighting installations may involve:

  • scheduling regular inspections of light bulbs/lamps
  • repairing and replacing damaged or ineffective light bulbs/lamps
  • disposing of light bulbs/lamps safely
  • testing and checking emergency lighting on a regular basis to make sure that it is working properly

As lighting installations generally involve working with electricity, the inspection, testing and maintenance of the systems should be carried out by a competent person, such as a licenced electrician.

Read more about the legislative requirements for electrical work.

Related information

Back to top