Lighting in the Office Enviroment

In the developed countries the number of people who do the accountability work is great nowadays and its rapidly increasing. The U.S is not an exception, so millions of Ameri behinds spent one third of their life eon in the office purlieu. They be usually the most active consumers of painkillers, and the favorite clients of the companies producing glasses and contact lenses. numerous researches proved that office work is one of the most harmful for the workers health, as it doesnt provide the needed amount of physical activity, in the alike(p) time making the employee spend great amounts of time in a place where some vital for health conditions, like airing, the train of stochasticity or level of ignition argon not appropriate.The doctors consider misfortunate dismayheadeding one of the main reasons that leads to the undue eyestrain, muscle deteriorate, headaches and poor posture, the obligate about the lighting in the office from the Officinado Website ordains. Except for this it lowers the effectiveness of the employees agitate due to the optical and muscle stain the office workers experience when the lighting conditions are poor.The researches found the roots of this problem. The thing is that the level of lighting is lush in most of the offices due to the fact that the appropriate level was calculate proceeding from the assumption that paperwork would be the main activity of the workers. besides time passed, and more and more offices began to refuse from the pen and paper methods. Instead the com deputeers appeared which accomplished the needed tasks more quickly and effectively, and without the piles of paper lying everywhere.But the thing is that the level of lighting intended for paperwork is excessive for the PC drug users. indeed the employees have to work in the accommodations with the inappropriate lighting conditions, which causes discomfort to them, and, of course, makes their poke less effective than it couldve been if the l ighting was becoming. To make their work more flourishing and effective the intensity of general lighting should be reduced, and the desk lights should be put for the pan and paper tasks.One of the visual effects that appear because of the excessive lighting and improper disposal of the lighting sources is glare. The article Ergonomics in the Office by Bryan Galloy defines glare as the visual effect ca apply by large differences in brightness between an object and its surroundings. He advises several methods for reducing it, which arePositioning light sources away(p) the employees visual working(a) field Covering light sources with glare shields Using sluggishness finishes to reduce the reflectance of surfaces Installing glare screens on the VDT Covering windows or skylights with blinds or films. The doctors say that in some extreme cases the glare can even impair vision temporarily, but in the office environment its usually not that intensive. Nevertheless, it can cause visua l fatigue and eyestrain.One more factor that causes visual discomfort for the office workers is the light reflected from the shiny polished objects. The PC users suffer from it much more than another(prenominal) workers, as the monitoring devices reflect the light from the sources that are located behind the user or above him. To reduce this effect the specialists advise to put the figurer workstations between the rows of overhead lights instead of stationing them directly below them in ball club to reduce the intensity of light. The specialists also advise to put the computers in such(prenominal) a way for the person who operates the computer would not face the window or sit back to it, to make the light fall at the right angle and to move the source of light from the line of vision of the person who operates the PC.Two primary types of lighting exist in the office, which are task lighting and ambient lighting. Ambient lighting is for satisfying the unavoidably for general lig hting and for low visual-demand tasks, while the task lighting is used for completing the tasks that demand certain preciseness. The specialists advise that the task lighting should be three times the intensity of ambient lighting.The authors of the Office Ergonomics say that the lighting for the offices that use the PC together with completing the paperwork should be about 300-400 lux (30-40 footcandles). For the offices where the paper documents are not used it shouldnt be more than 200 lux (20 footcandles). It is also useful to minimize the outside lighting with the swear out of drapes, dark film, blinds or louvers, as it reduces the strain on the workers eyes. One more way to reduce the light reflections on the monitor screen exists which is the monitor filter. It is a good idea to replace the light office desktops with the reflective finishes with the darker ones whose finishes are matte. The specialists also advise the computer users to line up the screens brightness and cont rast controls to reduce the strain on the eyes.As we see, proper lighting is very important for creating a comfortable and stimulating working environment for the employees. This goal can be reached by regulating the level of artificial lighting in the accommodation, reducing the outer light with the help of the drapes, dark film and blinds and proper disposition of the computer workstations.Works Citedn.d. luminance Your Office. Officinado Website, 2004. http//www.officinado.com/user-articles/Lighting-Your-Office.html Galloy, B. Ergonomics in the Office. Rice University Website. http//www.rice.edu/projects/depts/ehs/ergo.htm Kroemer, K. H. E. Kroemer,A.D. Kroemer Karl H. E. Office Ergonomics. CRC Press, 2001