Lighting Up 2020

Lighting Up 2020

Did you know that the expression “I have 20/20 vision” comes from the Snellen eye test?

For those who aren’t familiar with the name of the test you probably still know this eye test. It is the one where your physician or ophthalmologist makes you stand 6 metres away from a chart with various letters of different sizes, they point at one of the letters and you have to tell them what you see. In Canada we measure distances in metres, while the United States use feet. This means Americans stand 20 feet away. When you see what the “average” person sees 20 feet (6 metres) away you are deemed to have 20/20 (6/6) vision. If your vision is worse than 20/200 with corrective lenses you are legally blind. It means that what you see at 20 feet is what an average joe can see 200 feet away.

Given that 2020 is such a vision driven year, it is the perfect time to shed some light on office lighting.

Let’s Jump right into it.

An overhead light is extremely common in offices. I must say, not leaving your employees in the dark is a great way to start building productivity. Unfortunately, this type of lighting can only get you so far.

Did you know that a 20 year-old needs 10 X less light to perform the same task as a 60 year-old. Mind blowing isn’t it!?! Although the more you think about it the more it makes sense. Just think of dining in a dimly lit restaurant with your parents… Case and Point. My favourite part is the use of the table candle to illuminate the menu. It gets me every time.  

Ok, back to the task at hand, enlightening you on lighting at work.

Bad lighting can cause office workers to concentrate more on the task, making them fatigue faster and have a preventable head ache. It can also promote bad posture by making you lean in to take a closer look. Let that soak in. Productivity can be jeopardized.

The nice thing with this problem is that there are many solutions. My favourite solution is adding a task light to the desk. After all, hiring people in the same age and vision acuity bracket seems wrong and unethical.

Adding a good task light enables the office workers to fix the colour and brightness of their desk to suit their own needs for the task they are doing.

**Less light is needed for computer work and more light is needed to read or write on paper**.

 

 A good task light will…

 

  • Illuminate the whole entire working surface.
  • Not create glare on your monitor screen or laptop screen.
  • Require little to no maintenance. (LED lights have gained popularity due to its 50 000-hour lifespan).
  • Have a dimming option.
  • Be energy efficient. (The Nova task light is a top contender in this category with only using 7 watts for 440 lumens... that’s bright).  
  • Have low level of impact on the environment.
  • Not have any red listed chemicals.

 

I would like to remind you that even if you have the best set up ever, you should still follow the 20/20/20 rule J

20 / 20 / 20 rule: Every 20 minutes you look at an object 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

If you still want to learn more about lighting in your office and the effects of glare from windows feel free to contact us!


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