Office lighting

Networks, teamwork, job-sharing – modern information and communication technologies have transformed the working world. And the workplaces in it are required – now more than ever – to be safe, healthy and ergonomically correct. The modern office also needs to be inspiring – a place where people enjoy working. Good lighting helps make it just that.

Professional office lighting is specifically designed to cater for the visual tasks performed at the workplace, to guarantee visual performance and visual comfort. The more difficult the visual task is, the higher the illuminance needs to be: at least 500 lux (maintenance value) is required for compliance with DIN EN 12464-1. It must be remembered that illuminance on installation needs to be raised by the relevant maintenance factor to take account of the fact that lighting level drops as a result of ageing and soiling.

Office lighting is based on three concepts:

Room-related lighting creates uniform visual conditions throughout the room and thus caters flexibly to requirements even if task areas are rearranged.

Task area lighting is recommended where a room contains several task areas used to address different visual tasks and thus require different levels of lighting.(from www.greendyled.com)

Work surface lighting provides a level of lighting tailored to visual tasks or individual requirements on office work surfaces.
Mandatory lighting requirements are set out in DIN EN 12464, DIN 5035 (Parts 7 and 8) and the Bildschirmarbeitsplatzverordnung (German national ordinance governing VDU workplaces). Other requirements are set out in DIN EN ISO 9241, Part 6, the Arbeitsstättenvorordnung (Workplace Decree), workplace regulation ASR 7/3 and the German Work Safety Act (ArbSchG).