Session - 16
ME4101D INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
ME4101D 158
Why is lighting in the workplace important?
• From the workers’ perspective, poor lighting at work can lead to
eye strain, fatigue, headaches, stress and accidents
• Too much light can also cause safety and health problems such as
“glare” headaches and stress
• Both can lead to mistakes at work, poor quality and low productivity
• Good lighting at the workplace pays dividends in terms of improved
productivity, and a reduction in errors
• ILO Manual, Improving Working Conditions and Productivity in the
Garment Industry, indicates that improved lighting in some factories
resulted in a 10% increase in productivity and a 30% reduction in
errors.
ME4101D 159
Why is lighting in the workplace important?
• 80 percent of information required in doing a job is perceived
visually
• Good visibility of equipment, the product and data involved in the
work process –
• accelerates production, reduces the number of defective products,
cut-down waste
• prevent visual fatigue and headaches
• Inadequate visibility and glare are causes of accidents
• Lighting should be adapted to the type of work.
• Illumination level is measured in lux; increased in relation with the
degree of precision, miniaturization of work and age of worker
ME4101D 160
What is the difference between “luminance” and
“illuminance”?
• Luminance
• Describes the measurement of the amount of light emitting, passing through or reflected from
a surface from a solid angle.
• Luminance indicates the brightness of light emitted or reflected off the surface.
• Luminance is used to quantify the brightness of displays.
• The International System of Units, (SI) unit for luminance is candela/square meter (cd/m2).
• Another most common units of measure is the foot-lambert (fL)
• 1 foot-lambert (fL) equals 3.426 cd/m2.
• Illuminance
• Describes the measurement of the amount of light falling onto (illuminating) and spreading
over a given surface area.
• Illuminance also correlates with how humans perceive the brightness of an illuminated area.
• The SI unit for illuminance is lux (lx).
• Another non-SI term foot-candle.
• One foot-candle is equivalent to one lumen per square foot which is approximately 10.764
lux.
ME4101D 161
Why is lighting in the workplace important?
• Improvements in lighting do not necessarily mean that you need more
lights and therefore use more electricity – it is often a case of:
making better use of existing lights
making sure that all lights are clean and in good condition
ensuring that lights are positioned correctly for each task;
making the best use of natural light
• Most factories have a combination of natural and artificial lighting
ME4101D 162
Natural lighting
ME4101D 163
Why is lighting in the workplace important?
• Improvements in lighting do not necessarily mean that you need more
lights and therefore use more electricity – it is often a case of:
making better use of existing lights
making sure that all lights are clean and in good condition
ensuring that lights are positioned correctly for each task;
making the best use of natural light
• Most factories have a combination of natural and artificial lighting
• However, it appears that little attention is paid to the type of work – it is
as though all work in the factory requires the same degree of lighting.
ME4101D 164
Lighting
Class of visual task Minimum Illumination Example
Coal and ash handling locker
Casual seeing 100 rooms, dead storage of rough, bulky
materials
Assembly of heavy machine
Ordinary rough tasks 150 counting of stock parts.
Ordinary office work - reading writing and
Moderately critical tasks 300 filing.
Assembly & Inspection, extra
Critical tasks 700 fine painting, spraying
Assembly & inspection of delicate
Very Critical Tasks 1500 mechanism, gauge inspection.
Exceptionally difficult 3000 or more Fine watch making and repairing
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Lighting
ILO: OSH Brief No. 3c
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Mounting of General Lighting units
ME4101D 167
Uniform General and Local
Supplementary Lighting
ME4101D 168
Finding the best place for the light source
• It is essential for the light to focus on the work at hand and not directly,
or indirectly in the workers’ eyes
• The more detailed the task, the more light that is needed for the
workers to carry out the job efficiently.
ME4101D 169
Avoiding glare
• Glare from a direct light source or reflected off equipment or shiny
surfaces can cause discomfort, eye strain and fatigue
• Contribute to an increase in errors, and a reduction in quality and
productivity
• Glare has been described as “light in the wrong place” and comes in
three different kinds:
• Disability Glare - It is the result of too much light entering the eye
directly
• Discomfort Glare - It is caused by direct vision of a bright light source
and background
• Reflected Glare - is bright light reflected by shiny surfaces into the
field of vision
ME4101D 170
Avoiding glare
The correct positioning of lights to avoid shadows Avoid polished surfaces – use matt
on the working area finishes to stop reflected glare.
ME4101D 171
Recommended spacing
ME4101D 172
ILLUMINATION
Simpler approach for determining minimum levels of illumination - Illuminating
Engineering Society of North America (IESNA)
The first step is to identify the general type of activity to be performed and
classify it into one of nine categories
ME4101D 173
ME4101D 174
ILLUMINATION
For each category, there is a range of illuminances (low, middle, high).
The appropriate value is selected by calculating a weighting factor (1, 0, 1) based on three task
and worker characteristics
These weights are then summed to obtain the total weighing factor.
In practice, illumination is typically measured with a light meter while luminance is
measured with a photometer.
ME4101D 175
ILLUMINATION
If the total sum of the two or three weighting factors
is -2 or -3, the low value of the three illuminances is used;
if -1, 0, or +1, the middle value is used; and
if +2 or +3, the high value is used.
Calculation of Required Illumination
Consider workers of all ages performing an important, medium-
difficulty assembly on a dingy metal workstation with a reflectance of
35 percent.
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ME4101D 177
Numerical Problem
A work area has a reflectivity of 60 percent, based on the colour combinations
of the workstations and the immediate environment. The seeing task of the
inspection work could be classified as very difficult.
What would be your recommended illumination?
ME4101D 178
ME4101D 179
ILLUMINATION
Reflectance is usually calculated as the ratio between the luminance of the
target surface and the luminance of a standard surface of known
reflectance (e.g., a Kodak neutral test card of reflectance 0.9) placed at the
same position on the target surface.
L target
Reflectance 0.9
The reflectance of the target is then L standard
ME4101D 180
ME4101D 181
Self-study topics
• Noise and Vibration
• Climatic Conditions
– Working in a Hot environment
– Working in a Cold environment
– Working in a Wet environment
ME4101D 182
