Effect of Workstation Lighting on Employee Performance

TITLE:

Impacts of individually controlled dynamic task light and human centric task lighting solutions for office workstations in Bangalore (India).

RESEARCH QUESTION:

Does using individually controlled task lighting (LED Table lights with individual control system with change in intensity, color temperature and flexibility of the task light), or the automatically programmed human centric task lights play a better role in lighting the workstation help in the performance and comfort of the employees than the conventional ceiling lighting system in Bangalore (India).

ABSTRACT:

Lighting design for an office workstation in Bangalore (India) IT industry has focused mainly on general lighting providing sufficient lighting for visual performance. Little attention has been given to understanding how and what kind of workstation lighting affects the productivity of the employees by eliminating the problems caused by wrong lighting system. This thesis investigates the reports of two experiments conducted in the same office space involving 20 active participants involving in the research. There are 3 stages in the research process, firstly observing the employee performance, satisfaction and comfort levels with the existing ceiling lights. In the second step, switching the ceiling lights to user controlled task lights, where individual control were given on tuning the intensity, color temperature and flexibility of the task light. The third step involved in changing these task lights from user controlled to automatically program human centric task light, where employees had no control on the lighting. This research tests and gives an effective feedback if ceiling lights in the workstation can be harmful and if task lighting plays a significant role in solving the problem of bad workstation lighting. The research also shows the impact of two different lighting controls and understand employee’s preference in the Bangalore (India) IT industry and help in understanding that, if undertaking task lights with individual control or automated circadian light exposure on work stations help to diminish eye strain, improve posture, so the user can work in comfort and companies can keep their employees satisfied.

INTRODUCTION

Investigations of the ideal lighting conditions for office workstations have brought about a reasonable comprehension of the lighting conditions important to accomplish maximum levels of visual performance furthermore, to stay away from visual discomfort. Lighting practitioners all over the globe today have embraced their knowledge to give the best solution for the office spaces and avoid visual exhibition or extraordinary visual inconvenience. Effective quality lighting is very important in all the areas of the office, however workstations are the most significant place as it can also be called as the heart of the organization. Most of the work is generated by the individuals on their workstations, and this is the place where the employees tend to spend most of their time in a day while working, generation revenue for the organization. Lighting is as significant as some other workspace device to specialist comfort. Without great light, individuals will hunch, squint, and glare over their work, without acknowledging it. By decreasing eye fatigue and enabling individuals to keep up sound stance, appropriate workstation lighting can improve profitability. Light is one of the most important segment of vision and vision in turn being responsible for about 85% of our view of our general surroundings. It is hard to understand why organizations ignore legitimate lighting on office workstations which will have a noteworthy negative effect on efficiency.

With my personal work experience as a lighting designer in India, I have notices that often lighting is considered as the last priority while designing an office space. The workstation lighting is often rushed, overlooked or sacrificed for the uniform look or design of the office. The effect of which can be observed after sometime, when people start putting out their frustration. There are people coming to India from many parts of the world to work in the IT industry. My observation tell that people who have designed the lighting for the offices that have come up in the last decade, show a significant influence of the European culture. Which according to psychology and practically does not fit into the region like Bangalore (India) is the 4^th largest IT hub in the world and it’s known for people working most of their time on their desks in front of their systems. Considering the global placement of the location close to the equator, there is ample daylight from 6:00 AM in the morning to almost 7:00 PM in the night. My dissertation focuses on these offices whose working hours are from around 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM and creating a sustainable lighting design concept for the workstation lighting which would have a significant impact on the work and minds of employees.

An examination led by the American Society of Interior Designers demonstrated that 68 percent of workers were disappointed about the lighting circumstance (Jensen, 2019) in their workplaces. That is an enormous level of individuals from all over the world, demonstrating it is anything but an issue of individual taste. Late years have seen phenomenal changes in the manner individual’s work. For most of it specialists the need to make a noteworthy customer experience has prompted the strengthening of work and the need to adapt to consistently changing work necessities and a quicker pace of work. In this unique circumstance, the test for employers and researchers is to configuration workplaces that can best address the issues of 21st century employees and guarantee greatest dimensions of prosperity and execution. It’s a well-known fact or common scene that performing any work for long hours at low level lighting can strain the eyes and cause migraines, bringing down efficiency at work and bringing about representative exhaustion. Dim lights additionally result in laziness and distractions. On the other hand too much lighting is equally having the same kind of harsh effects on human body. Certainly, it’s basic information that working under improper lighting can hurt your eyes, yet it has impacts well beyond that, and an employer’s decision of lighting can significantly affect the efficiency of the organization.

One of the best solutions for these problems are being exposed to a lot of natural light, which unfortunately not many offices in Bangalore (India) can provide for all the employees as the population is more and a lot of buildings are built very close to each other obstructing natural daylight entering the buildings. In this research paper, I will considering one of the office space in Bangalore (India) and conduct a research on the user experience of the existing ceiling lights in the first step. The second step will involve changing the work station lighting to only task lights with individual control (intensity, color temperature and flexibility) given to every employee. And the third step will have the task lights changed from individual control to automatically controlled human centric lighting system task lights on the work stations. The test is conducted with a group of 20 people who will be interview and observe whether employees are changing or making due with average lighting, below average or the right kind of lighting installations.

WHAT IS A TASK LIGHT?

Task lighting is a form of light that lights up a particular area and makes the accomplishment of the work easier rather than ambient lighting that illuminates a general region, or accent lighting that lights up for creating an atmospheric or effect purposes.

WHAT IS HUMAN CENTRI LIGHT?

Light plays a very important role in everything that has life today. In addition to the fact that it allows us to see our surroundings. Light stimulates humans and has an impacts our mind-sets. Since our physiological reaction to light relies upon the light’s attributes and it been proven by many researches that spending too much time indoors or under artificial light has a negative impact on human mind and performance. Human body has a circadian rhythm which is an internal cycle that repeats generally every 24 hours and regulates the sleep and wake cycle. It’s a biological cycle of humans with a stable phase and is synchronized with the sun rise and sun set.

Human centric lighting adjust employee’s daily rhythm and improve their productivity and health by keeping them motivated. Our circadian rhythm is the reason why natural light is important to us, human bodies are sensitive to the rhythms of natural outdoor lighting, hence reproducing this in the form of lights during office hours will help the employees to keep themselves motivated and energized. As a result the employees get to have a long peaceful and restful sleep, which will make them have a productive day.

LITERATURE REVIEW

(Roth, n.d.) Studied “The Hazard’s of Poor Lighting in Workplace” and found that appropriate lighting, without glare or shadows, can reduce eye fatigue and headaches. It highlights moving machinery and other safety hazards. It also reduces chance of accidents and injuries from ‘momentary blindness’ while eyes adjust to brighter or darker surroundings. How much daylight reaches inside building depends on amount and direction of sunlight, cloud cover, local terrain, and season. Size, orientation and cleanliness of windows were also important. Amount of daylight entering workplace can be controlled with tinted glass, window blinds, curtains, and awnings. Daylight were desirable in workplace provided it does not cause glare or make work area too bright. Remember, not enough light can also be problem so even in workplaces where daylight were available, it were essential to had good electric lighting system.

(Veitch, 2001) Studied “Psychological processes influencing lighting quality” and observed that Stein, Reynolds, and Mc Guinness once defined lighting quality as “a term used to describe all of factors in lighting installation not directly connected with quantity of illumination. Their definition, although flexible enough to be applied to wide variety of lit environments, offers little guidance concerning how to measure quality of lit environment. Veitch and New sham proposed that lighting quality exists when luminous conditions support behavioral needs of individuals in lit space. This definition had merit of being measurable, but it only considers immediate consequences of luminous conditions on individuals. More accurately, this definition should be expanded to include architectural and economic considerations, as well as individual well-being. Quality of lighting in any given installation were determined in balance of these dimensions. One central concern for lighting community were means by which they describe luminous conditions in a space.

(MORTON, 2014) Studied “The Dark Side of Poor Lighting” and found that Eye strain, headaches, low mood, poor concentration, absenteeism, and job dissatisfaction – even few minutes working under wrong lighting can kill productivity. Proper lighting were cornerstone of indoor environmental quality. It encourages better learning in students, increased purchases in retail settings, faster healing in patients, and higher performance levels in workers. You can easily keep occupants energetic in well-lit spaces without sacrificing your utility bill. Improve quality of lighting by focusing on personalized controls and glare reduction. Daylighting were an invaluable component of library environment. It creates an inviting atmosphere, reduces eye strain in readers, encourages study habits, and provides illumination for bookshelves. Guests were also more likely to linger in library if they find it visually comfortable.

(Duijnhoven, Aarts, & Aries, 2019) Studied “Systematic review on interaction between office light conditions and occupational health: Elucidating gaps and methodological issues” and observed that Light were essential for human health and well-being. Light does not only enable people to see and perceive their environment. It also induces non-image-forming effects that subsequently trigger health effects. NIF effects range from cell division and hormone production to changes in behaviour, none of them depending on image processing of visual system. All three photoreceptor types in eye, rods, cones and photosensitive retinal ganglion cells respond, when light had been captured, initiate these biochemical processes in brain affecting human health. Before discovery of ipRGc in 2002, NIF effects of light were called light effects. Currently, growing number of researchers were investigating NIF effects of light and knowledge in this field were rapidly increasing. For example, Smolders et al.7,8 demonstrated correlation between luminance levels and alertness. They found that participants felt less tired, more vital and happier when exposed to bright light, even under usual conditions.

(Edwards & Torcellini, 2002) Studied “A Literature Review of Effects of Natural Light on Building Occupants” and found that before 1940s, daylight was primary light source in buildings; artificial lights supplemented natural light. In short span of 20 years, electric lighting had transformed workplace by meeting most or all of occupants’ lighting requirements. Recently, energy and environmental concerns had made day lighting rediscovered aspect of building lighting design. Physics of day lighting had not changed since its original use, but building design to use it has. Day lighting were often integrated into building as an architectural statement and for energy savings. However, benefits from day lighting extend beyond architecture and energy. Psychological and physiological aspects of natural light should also be considered. Comforting space and connection to environment provided to building occupants provide benefits as significant as energy savings to building owners and managers.

(Schaer, 2017) Studied “Workplace Lighting: Best Practices for Office Lighting Design” and observed that Nowadays, up to 80% of information were processed visually. This leads to fact that choice of illumination had more and more significant impact on adequate processing of information. At workplace, illumination were mainly part of ergonomic guidelines. Besides fact that light does influence personal well-being and health, it had also positive impact on motivation and performance. Lighting at workplace were based on ergonomic principles and had to meet safety requirements within meaning of occupational health and safety. What had to be taken in to consideration when it comes to office lighting? Light had different functions that had to be taken into consideration for comprehensive assessment of lighting concept in room. Illumination does not only support visual perception and therefore information brokerage, but it were also signified by psychic-emotional and psychic-biological effects.

(Santos, Bívar, & Ágoas, 2017) Studied “Human Centric Lighting: New Paradigm or Common Sense” and found that Light allows for sight, safety and orientation but can also contribute to stimulate, to relax, to improve alertness, cognitive performance and mood, and to enhance sleep-wake cycle of individuals. Light should also go beyond energy savings. In fact, real value of light Easy in combination of its visual, biological and emotional benefits. Human Centric Lighting (HCL) were defined as lighting designed to benefit human health and wellbeing in addition to providing fundamental functional requirement in buildings. So far, methodology of study included statistical analysis of questionnaires in order to derive main factors influencing individuals’ perceptions, satisfaction, attitudes and behaviour towards luminous environment. First results of research indicate that individuals not only had clear preference for day lighting, but it also seems that their daily visual performance, mood and satisfaction were better with day lighting when compared with similar levies of electric lighting.

(Jusl, n.d.) Studied “Human Centric Lighting” and observed that Lighting technologies continue to evolve and improve, bringing range of benefits to commercial building specifies and end-users. These include better energy efficiency and greater freedom and flexibility in how lighting were applied and controlled in workspace. At same time, there were growing body of research and information available on impact of lighting on human beings, with particular resonance on its effect upon our emotions, our wellbeing and our workplace productivity. This white paper explores connections between these two trends and potential for more widespread adoption of human centric lighting in commercial building environments. Human centric lighting were means by which emotional wellbeing, comfort, health and, indeed, productivity of individuals can be improved simply through correct control of lighting in place. Our thinking behind human centric lighting were defined by research carried out over last quarter century. In early 1990s, scientists started to study efficacy of light therapy in treatment of seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

(Walerczyk, n.d.) Studied “Human Centric Lighting” and found that Claiming that better lighting can improve health were big supposition. That said, it were not outlandish to state that carefully designed lighting can aid, even correct, circadian rhythms in human beings. Over time, people had evolved in harmony with Earth’s natural lighting cycle, which had low light levels and low correlated color temperatures (CCT) in early morning, high light levels and high CCTs at mid day, low light levels and low CCTs during evening, and extremely low light levels and medium CCT under moonlight. These varying light levels were at heart of human being’s 24-hour internal clock, otherwise defined as circadian rhythm. Until 200 years ago, 90% of our waking time was spent outside. Now most of us spend 90% of our time indoors with electric lighting. While we’re at work, our lighting were usually set at one light level with constant CCT—this were not consistent with circadian rhythms. Without regular and direct exposure to such dynamic lighting, circadian rhythm can be disrupted, which could lead to health issues.

(German, 2013) Studied “Human Centric Lighting: Going Beyond Energy Efficiency” and observed that For first time, joint study of Lighting Europe, German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (ZVEI) and A.T. Kearney shows that human centric lighting can become multibillion-euro business, covering around 7 percent of general lighting market in Europe. Human centric lighting were intended to promote person’s well-being, mood and health. It can improve concentration, safety and efficiency in workplace or educational environments. It can support healing processes and prevention of chronic diseases among persons with irregular daily routines or in elderly care. An outstanding growth trajectory were expected for this market, which had not been focus of customers, industry and policy makers so far. This growth were fueled by technology transition from conventional light sources to LED modules. While energy efficiency and durability of LED modules were widely known in market, little attention had been paid to their advanced controllability and related applications.

(Knuffke, 2017) Studied “Human-centric lighting were next step in LED design and control (MAGAZINE)” and found that for centuries, architects, designers, and builders had looked at how to improve aspects of our work environment, be it through security, technology, or functional design. And for past few decades they had seen an explosion of innovation in workplace technology from personal computer, cell phone, Internet, and lighting. These advances had helped workers be more efficient. Interested in articles & announcements on tunable technology and controls for human-centric lighting applications?  But what if they could add new axis of innovation to work environment? What if in addition to improving tools in our spaces, they could also improve productivity of workers and at same time increase efficiency?  In terms of lighting, they can improve workplace experience by thinking about building design in an entirely new way. There were emotions associated with buildings, and many of these emotions were conjured from effects of lighting on people. Dark, poorly lit space were sterile and cold.  Slight flickering of old fluorescent lamps were corrosive to concentration and therefore performance. Best spaces are those, where lighting works with environment, evoke positive emotions of happiness, healthiness, and energy.

(Chinyere, 2014) Studied “Influence of Workstation and Work Posture Ergonomics on Job Satisfaction of Librarians in Federal and State University Libraries in Southern Nigeria” and observed that Job satisfaction were frequently studied subject as evidenced in work and organizational literature. This stems from fact that experts believe that level of job satisfaction can affect labor market behavior. Low rate or lack of job satisfaction, according to Flanagan job satisfaction, had been considered as one of most important evidence of worsening and deterioration work conditions of an organization as it could lead to quitting of job. Ergonomics were scientific discipline that were concerned with understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of system. It applies theory, principles, data and methods to design, to improve human well-being and overall system performance (International Ergonomics Association). Ergonomics aims at designing workplace so that it will fit needs and physical capabilities of employees, instead of physically forcing worker’s body to fit job.

(Korhan, 2014) Studied “The Impact of Laptop and Desktop Computer Workstations on Human Productivity” and found that Use of computers in offices had become necessity for business purposes. Thus, computers were available almost in every office. Occupational injuries pose major problem in workplaces where computers were widely used. Increase in number of employees working with computer coincides with an increase of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Work related musculoskeletal symptoms occur when there were mismatch between physical requirements of job and physical capacity of human body. These were injuries that result from repeated motions, vibrations and forces placed on human bodies while performing various job actions. Causes of musculoskeletal disorders in workplace were diverse and poorly understood. Moreover, intensive, repetitive and long period computer use results in costly health problems, and lost productivity.

(Lytle, 2017) Studied “Promote an Active Workforce with Standing Desks” and observed that cardboard box that Jason McCann’s colleague used to create standing desk in 2012 was bit ahead of its time. McCann’s co-worker wanted to stay in an upright position to ease his sciatic nerve pain but couldn’t find desk to serve that purpose, so he put box on his desk and stuck his computer on top of it. This makeshift furniture gave McCann and his co-worker business idea: to create and sell workstations that sit atop regular desks but that can pop up to create work surface at standing height when employees want to switch positions. That’s how Coppell, Texas-based startup Varidesk came to be. Few years later, standing desk market were booming, as both supply and demand had jumped for office furniture that gets people out of their seats. ​That’s due in part to growing body of medical research showing that sitting all day at work­ something millions of people do- can be bad for workers’ health. Hazards include increased risks of heart disease and other cardiovascular problems, diabetes, and impaired cognitive ability. And that’s hardly all.

(Vimalanathan & Babu, 2014) Studied “The effect of indoor office environment on work performance, health and well-being of office workers” and found that, an office were place where professional duties and administrative work were carried out in organization building. Work depends on type of business, but it will usually include using computers, communicating with others by e-mail, telephone or fax, keeping records and files etc., in hard and soft format. Features of an office such as people, building space, equipment, furniture and environment, must fit together well for workers to feel healthy and comfortable and to be able to work efficiently. More than 50% of world’s population currently works in some form of office. Mostly developing countries likes India and China were having more population. They were working with machines and majority of them were from computer related sector. In Information Technology (IT) and Information Technology Enable Services (ITES), workers were dependent on computers. More IT and ITES sectors were increasing in India.

(Kamarulzaman, Saleh, Hashim, & Hashim, 2011) Studied “An Overview of Influence of Physical Office Environments towards Employees” and observed that Office employees spend most of their time inside buildings in which they work in, therefore physical environment of an office or workplace were important to develop good and healthy working environment. According to Denyer, an office were place where clerical operations were conducted. While S.P Arora, states that office can be described as any place where information on paper and information were documented converges, preserved and used for current operations of businesses. Besides, Audrey Kaplan & Stan Aronoff, stated that “there were common understanding of an office building as workplace were held that information and knowledge processing activities of an organization, including filing, planning, designing, supervising, analyzing, deciding and communicating. Office buildings developed from need to plan, co-ordinate and administer these activities” Research had consistently demonstrated that characteristics of office environment can had significant effect on behaviour, perceptions, and productivity of workers.

(Electric, 2016) Studied “Benefits of Good Lighting in Workplace” and found that Light had great effect on us. It were what sets our body clock. This were why office lighting quality were so important. Office lighting can affect our productivity. “Appropriate office lighting were workplace necessity. Poor lighting directly affects work performance as it puts strain in workers’ eyes. This can also lead to further problems like headaches and eye illnesses. Apart from necessity factor, proper lighting also brings aesthetic advantages to your workplace.” There were many ways to improve your office lighting. These were various benefits of having proper lighting in your office. Not only will you cut costs on electricity bills, but your workers will become more productive as well. Sometimes people don’t realize that such simple, practical steps can yield enormous financial benefits for their businesses.

(Juslén, 2007) Studied “Lighting, Productivity and Preferred Illuminance – Field Studies in Industrial Environment” and observed that several examples of productivity increase occurring together with lighting change were found in literature study. However, exact reason for productivity increase was not clear. This chapter discusses possible effects of lighting change on productivity. Based on lighting and biological and psychological literature, it was possible to create model of influence of light and lighting change on profitability. Light influences people via visual and non-image forming pathway in brain. Via visual pathway they see things, while non-image forming pathway influences our biological rhythms. However, influencing pathway for some effects like alertness were not clear, but effect might be influenced by both pathways. Change process, describes here “the third pathway”, which were more psychological. Physiologically this third “pathway” actually takes information coming from all our senses and our whole history influences our reactions. Even lighting change not had any effect via visual or non-image-forming pathways if something might happened for change-related psychological reasons.

(2015) studied “The importance of lighting in office” and found that Open floor plans were ideal in that they allow for greater flow of daylight from windows. Study published in Journal of Sleep and Sleep Disorders Research discovered that exposure to natural light in an office space impacts employees’ quality of life. Individuals who sat near windows reported getting on average 46 more minutes of sleep night than their peers who didn’t sit near windows. What’s more, window-sitters scored higher than on quality-of-life surveys than others. This study highlights necessity and benefit of ensuring your office floor plan provides adequate natural light. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean you had to incorporate an open layout into space. However, it does mandate including windows in your plans. For instance, using glass walls to divide offices instead of dry wall allows for more natural light flow. Additionally, installing skylights if you’re able to do so, were another way to get more natural light into your office.

(Sivaji, Shopian, & Nor, 2013) Studied “Lighting does matter: Preliminary assessment on office workers” and observed that Good lighting were required for good visibility of environment and should provide luminous environment that were human-friendly and appropriate for visual task performed. Various studies had been conducted in order to identify effects of lighting towards human health, productivity, and well-being and alertness level. In regards of human perception, two of most important characteristics of lights were illumination and correlated color temperature (CCT). Recently, studies had proven that different CCT provided by different lighting were important in affecting human beings psychologically and physiologically, through their visual and non-visual processes. CCT were found to have had effects on visual and mental fatigue. Right selection of CCT in an office environment will benefit its occupants in terms of visual comfort and reduction of daytime sleepiness. This will lead to an increase in productivity and prevention of health effects associated with inappropriate light CCT, such as eye strain or effects towards emotion and human circadian rhythm.

(Sharman, n.d.) Studied “Advantages of Good Lighting in Workplace” and found that Good workplace lighting plays an important role in creation and maintenance of safe and healthy workplace by permitting employees to work efficiently and comfortably. Good lighting allows employees to read work instructions, safety data, and product details and hazard warning signs and labels to ensure compliance with safety protocols. These measures were put in place to ensure safety compliance at work, but does workplace lighting influence our actual behaviour in workplace – and if so, why? Risk assessment process helps us to identify not just workplace hazards, but also those persons who may be at increased risk of harm; for example, pregnant women. Once a pregnant employee were identified and the employers were duty-bound to take suitable and sufficient action to prevent harm to worker and her unborn child. Often, they look at specific risks of her workplace and aim to perhaps reduce repetitive tasks, long periods of sitting, or manual handling, work flow and demands and so on.

(Gupta, 2017) Studied “Multipurpose Table Lamp: Functional Improvement of Table Lamp” and observed that Product development refers to process of adaptation of existing product by modifying its present feature or construction of completely new product in order to meet changing customer needs. It consists of activities involving identification of market opportunities, analysis of technical feasibilities, and construction of manufacturing plan and validation of plan in present market condition. Prime objective of product development were to expand its market share considering all customer requirements. It were necessary for product not only to fulfill customer need but also to cope up with target market specification. In competitive era of industrialization, companies were focusing more and more to develop existing product concept so to gain higher market priority. In order to survive with present market condition, latest technology and market policies were to be updated time to time according to customer need. More company will give attention in product development, less difficulty will face in construction of product. Simplification in existing product development requires large number of research works.

(Veitch, Ph, Newsham, & Ph, 1996) Studied “Determinants of Lighting Quality II: Research and Recommendations” and found that Luminance were quantity of luminous energy propagated in given direction by point on surface. Colloquially, this were what were generally meant when they speak of brightness of an object, although this use confuses photometric quantity and sensation of brightness, which depends on state of adaptation of eye as well as luminance of object (Rea, 1993). Visual system adapts to changes in ambient luminance by changes in pupil size and responsively of retinal photoreceptors. For example, pupil size decreases sharply upon going outside at high noon on sunny day. Long history of lighting research were dominated by investigations of relationship between luminance and visual performance, with result that they understand well how light levels affect visibility. It were well established that visibility relates to four variables: luminance, task/background contrast, task size, and age of observer. Colombo, Kirschbaum, and Raitelli suggested that fifth variable, blur, be added to visual performance model.

VARIABLES

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE:

The employees working in an office. The details of which is mentioned in the table below.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES:

There are many variables of lighting affecting the employees in a workstation. Light as a general variable has a very positive impact on the performance of the employees except for a few problems caused by light on the workstations like the glare, shadows, low or high lux levels on the tables which cause eye strain and disproportionate posture which makes it uncomfortable for the employees to work.

It is significant that offices consider the requirements of people when evaluating their lighting necessities. This ought to improve representative solace and prosperity. For instance, a few people may want to work with minimal counterfeit lighting or on the other hand low degrees of luminance; different lights have movable fittings and controls that can oblige these necessities.

1. Intensity of light.

In simple words which means brightness, which is measured as the rate at which light energy is delivered to a unit of surface, or energy per unit time per unit area.

Measuring the intensity: So as to explicitly gauge the measure of light entering the eye, individual circadian light meter called the Daysimeter has been created (Rea, Bierman, Figueiro, & Bullough, 2008). This is the main gadget made to precisely gauge and portray light (intensity, spectrum, timing, and duration) entering the eye that influences the human body’s clock.

How light needs to be changes according to age: As we age, our bodies change according do our physical needs. The more seasoned we get, the more articulated these progressions become little print may be more diligently to peruse and light may create more glare than it used to, however fortunately by modifying our lighting, we can make things increasingly agreeable for more seasoned ages and ourselves. Different age groups react differently for the intensity of the luminaire, sensitivity to glare and color. Younger employers respond faster and more accurately to visual changes when compared to the ageing people who would need more light to achieve what they are doing. Increase the light levels, over the age of 50, eyes commonly need twice as much lighting as the individuals who are around their 25. For assignment lighting, select lights with a lumen level of at any rate 1300—generally the lux level of a 100 watt brilliant bulb. Utilize dimmer changes to take into consideration greater adaptability with brightness levels.

Continue lighting even – While you would like to make the light more bright, you would prefer not to make drastic change in the intensity of light from one plane to another. Since more seasoned eyes experience issues changing in accordance with varieties in light levels, keeping the light level even all through a workstation will make it simpler for more seasoned inhabitants to explore the space immediately to enable their eyes to modify.

2. Color temperature:

Correlated color temperatures (CCT) in office lighting plays an important role in human psychological and physiological needs. CCT (Ames, 2016)is essentially a gauge of how yellow or blue the color of light emitted from a light bulb appears. It’s measured in the Kelvin unit and is most commonly found between 2200 Kelvin degrees and 6500 Kelvin degrees.

The right selection of CCT in an office environment will benefit its occupants in terms of visual comfort and reduction of daytime sleepiness (Sivajib, Shopian, Nor, Chuan, & Bahri, 2013).This will lead to an expansion in efficiency and prevention of wellbeing impacts related with wrong light CCT, for example, eye strain or the impacts towards feeling and human circadian rhythm. The best light temperature suggestion for any workplaces is between 3500 Kelvin and 5500 Kelvin given by most of the lighting professionals. Anything above 5500K is simply excessively blue and anything below 3500K will make your representatives less beneficial.

Cool white: 4600k and more

Neutral white: 3500k – 4600k

Warm white: less than 3500k

Why use the color temperature close to day light: As the name suggests, it is a replica of daylight which is the most energizing color of natural light.it is the best way to work at full enthusiasm and energy levels. The color of the natural daylight for optimal productivity. However not all the IT companies in Bangalore (India) can access to constant daylight. The next best solution is to mimic the natural daylight with artificial lighting which ranges between 6000k to 4000k.where above 6000k gives the closest color temperature to daylight, but 4000k can also work well.

The culture of light: Light is not just for decoration; it is an important feature of the living environment (Carucci, 2019). The effect that cultural background and natural environment have on lighting choices fascinating. Perceptions of sunlight and how individuals identify with light can settle on our choices as lighting designers differ between countries. The duration of dawn and dusk, the hues that natural light makes and the rise of the sun in the sky would all be able to assume how people become familiar with lighting. Every latitude had different times of sun set and sun rise over seasons. In India as the place is located close to the equator, the period of dawn and dusk remain almost constant throughout the year. Bangalore (India) is considered as a warm place with bright light throughout the year and people prefer the same kind of bright lighting even inside the work environment.

3. Contrast

Contrast identifies with different elements including light position, light quality, and the association between assignment lighting and surrounding lighting. However more contrast between task and ambient lighting will cause frequent contraction and dilations of the eyes causing strain and fatigue.

For example, what happens when it is a cloudy and a windy day outside and there is very little of natural light? There has to be a specific kind of lighting on the workstations to illuminate a specific task over a larger surface area. In order for it to be effective, the light used on the workstation should be bright and have a contrast with the rest of the space

There are two significant problems while discussing about contrast, the contrast between the colour and the object and the second problem is when there are very high difference in the light levels, from one surface to another. The illumination on the workstation should be higher than the surroundings. If the surrounding light is more than the lights on the workstation, then ones attention gets distracted from the task being performed. The differentiation between shades of items, for example, between the print itself and paper, or content and background on PC screens, can likewise cause issues. Too little complexity among print and the paper – or characters on a VDT screen and the foundation – makes the work troublesome.

4. Flexibility with the arm of the task light

The workstations in offices are usually big and spacious so that it accommodates everything that is needed to work. A task light with height flexibility will illuminate the work station area not leaving behind dark spots or less illuminated areas. Flexibility in a laminar is a life saver or surprisingly better, eye saver meaning less eye strain for these sorts of tasks. Work area lights are adaptable, customizable and portray a high diversity of decisions, including cutting edge advancements, for example, mood adjustment, strength, and adaptability. The figure below shows a few kinds of adjustable factors

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DISADVANTAGES OF THE CEILING RECESSED LIGHTS

Customized sleek recessed lighting can be designer for office spaces. However there are potential disadvantages faced by the employees due to the lighting.

1. Spacing

Placement of the lighting over a workstation becomes really challenging, as they demand to be properly lit to avoid a lot of disadvantaged like the glare, shadows and less lux levels on the tables. According to the standards, there are minimum spacing that is required between two lights. The interior designer’s furniture layout does not match with the lighting design, causing discomfort for the employees.

2. Cost

The cost basically depends on the kind of fixture the organization finalizes. The general life span of an led light is for about 50000 hours, however depending on the manufacturer better the cost , better is the quality of the LED which would require less chances of replacing the light. Some of the fixtures come with an inbuilt driver, and some comes with an external driver. From my experience as a lighting designer, Most of the time it’s the driver that fail to operate over the LED adding to the cost.

3. Installation

Recessed lighting are more difficult to install than any other kind of lighting. The holes of the size of the lighting fixture have to be created in the ceiling to place the lights in position. You will have to cut a hole to fit the mounting kits of the luminaire and also run the wiring between lights. Significantly the whole ceiling will require a lot of repair work by the end of the installation.

4. Permanent placement

Once installed, changing the position of the recessed ceiling lights will be difficult due to lack of flexibility. Once the holes are made in the ceiling, you either need to change/remake the ceiling or chose a bigger fixture than the existing fixture to cut down the cost. In this case the lighting positions cannot be changed according to the new office layout.

5. Heating of the fixture

Recessed fixture might need insulation to be done around them, which might want to involve experts insulating contractors which will increase the cost of the project. Recently most of the LED fixtures comes with an inbuilt heat sink which would need minimum insulating space required in the false ceiling, which automatically makes the clearance space between the floor and the false ceiling less.

ADVANTAGES OF TASK LIGHTS

1. Difference in vision

The vision differs from one person to another person depending on various situations, resulting in different demands depending on the age group, sex, working hours, personal health and culture. Earlier researches have shown that people in their 20s have 4 times better visual abilities when compared to people in their 50s.Men become alert when exposed to enriched blue light when compared to women (Chellappa & Cajochen, 2017).Researches have shown that people following the circadian system of lighting have more productivity when compared to others. Anyone’s who is less might have lesser ability for vision when compared to a healthy person. The structure of work may differ for individuals which may be solved by the use of task lighting.

2. Achieving a good vision

Appropriate task lighting enables us to get the most extreme profit by a visual guide, and may even take into account diminished amplification. Expanding the measure of light coordinated onto a task will help make up for little print size or poor difference. Due to the uniform distribution of the light on the table will help people to have clear view on the required data. Instances of poor complexity incorporate blurred print on white paper, dull print on a dim foundation, or diminish characters on a PC screen.

3. Personal control

Having personal control over anything in today’s world shows significant changes in how people would like to use it. Adjustability in the arm and intensity gives the user maximum level of optimal comfort. If there is enough daylight entering the work place from morning to evening, there will be change in employees sitting posture at some degree.as a result of these changing conditions, we need to adjust the intensity levels positioned on the workstation in order to reduce fatigue and eyestrain.

4. Easy installation

The easiest way of incorporating the flexible use of light is by installing the desk/table lamps. There are no need for any permanent holes to be drilled in the office space to incorporate this lighting solution. There is no need of any labour cost which is involved in changing the position of these lights when the furniture plan changes, as there are very user friendly and can be done by any individual. The replacement of these lighting systems are very easy and there are a lot of desk light sin the market with different adjustability factors which make it easy and comfortable for people to use

5. Environmental benefits

In many important cities of US, awareness for the energy efficient lighting was brought into light with the help of “Green Light “program by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to EPA (Hogrebe, n.d.) Industries, offices, warehouses and store use about 80 to 90 percent of the total electricity supply for lighting. In India lighting accounts for 35 percent of consumption of the total electricity bill. By giving employees the flexibility of using the light according to their needs, the organization is indirectly spreading the importance of energy consumption.

THE LUX LEVELS THAT NEEDS TO BE ACHIEVED ON A WORK PLANE

According to (GSA) General Services Administration, the employers in any organization need certain amount of light for each of the task to be performed and the lighting layout should provide even amount of lighting through the office also considering all the shadows being casted due to the partitions and should be adjusted to minimize the problems. And according to the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers in offices, the computer workstations should have a minimum of 300 lux to – 500 lux per square meter in order to have significant lighting. Organization or an employer in every country is responsible to provide enough amount of lighting and make sure that work can be done accurately. On the off chance that individuals experience issues carrying out their responsibility since lighting is excessively dim, at that point it may not be ‘appropriate or adequate’. The better the detail, the higher the illuminance required. Employees who move between brightly lit and faintly lit regions may likewise be in danger since it takes a couple of minutes for the eyes to acclimate to the distinctive light levels, so it is important to attempt to guarantee there isn’t a sudden change in the light levels.

Location of the research

The fig represents the day and night solar timing in Bangalore (India)

This dissertation reports on three experiments conducted in the same office. 20 participants worked under each one of these lighting setup for a period of 3 weeks. In the first step, retaining the old CFL luminaries with louvers which were there in the site from the past 6 years. The second design had the overhead ceiling lights above the workstations switched off and incorporated individually controlled task light for every individual. Employees were given control over the intensity of the light output, color temperature and the flexible arm of the task light. The third design had the same task lights incorporated to each of the individual, but were given no control over the control of the light output and was set to human centric lighting system. At the end of end of every week, a questionnaire was given to every employee asking about the satisfaction and comfort levels. In the end of every third week I personally communicated with the employees to take an overall feedback about the lighting system installed.

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