Workplace regulations on lighting

The Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA) would like to voice its concern on the feature "Workers cry over lighting" in the Classified section of The Sunday Times (June 8).

The message of this feature seems to be that the main importance of having adequate lighting at the workplace is to ensure productivity. This is a rather flawed argument, shifting the onus from the employees' health and safety.

OHSA would like to point out that employers have an obligation under the law to safeguard the health and safety of the workers and consult them or their representatives regarding OHS matters. This includes adequate lighting and the use of visual display units (such as computer screens).

There are various pieces of legislation which both employers and self-employed should be aware of. One such set of regulations - the Work Place (Minimum Health and Safety Requirements) Regulations, 2002 - states the following:

Art. 12.1. The employer shall take all the necessary measures to provide and maintain in every workplace suitable and sufficient lighting, which so far as reasonably practicable, shall be by natural light.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subregulation (1):

(a) emergency lighting of adequate intensity, and powered by a source independent from that of normal lighting, shall be provided and suitably maintained in any room in which persons at work are specially exposed to danger in the event of failure of artificial lighting;

(b) artificial lighting shall be so placed or directed, or other measures are undertaken, to prevent annoying glare.

(3) The employer shall take all the necessary measures to ensure that workplaces outdoors are adequately lit by artificial lighting while work is in progress if natural light is insufficient.

(4) The employer shall ensure that any lighting systems including lights, light fittings and light switches put up in a workplace, including in passageways, are placed in such a way that there is no risk of accident to any person as a result of the type of lighting fitted or installed.

Art. 29. No work shall be carried out in any underground room (not being an underground room used only for the purpose of storage) which is unsuitable for the purpose as regards construction, height, light, dimensions or ventilation, or is otherwise unsanitary, or which has no adequate means of escape in case of fire or other emergency.

Art. 12.3. It shall be the duty of an employer to ensure that outdoor workplaces are adequately lit by artificial lighting if daylight is not adequate.

Art. 11.7. Where windows, skylights and glass partitions are installed, they should allow excessive effects of sunlight in workplaces to be avoided, having regard to the nature of the work and the workplace.

Moreover, the Minimum Health and Safety Requirements for Work with Display Screen Equipment Regulations, 2002 also state that:

Schedule - Art. 2.b. Lighting

Room lighting and/or spot lighting (work lamps) shall ensure satisfactory lighting conditions and an appropriate contrast between the screen and the background environment, taking into account the type of work and the worker's vision requirements.

Possible disturbing glare and reflections on the screen or other equipment shall be prevented by co-ordinating workplace and workstation layout with the positioning and technical characteristics of the artificial light sources.

(c) Reflections and glare

Workstations shall be so designed that sources of light, such as windows and other openings, transparent or translucent walls, and brightly coloured fixtures or walls cause no direct glare and, as far as possible, no reflections on the screen.

Windows shall be fitted with a suitable system of adjustable covering to attenuate the daylight that falls on the workstation.

10. (1) Workers shall be entitled to appropriate eye and eyesight tests which shall be carried out by a person having the necessary capabilities before they become habitual or regular users of display screen equipment, at regular intervals thereafter, and if they experience visual difficulties which may be due to display screen work.

(2) Workers shall be entitled to an ophthalmological examination if the results of the test referred to in subregulation (1) show that this is necessary.

(4) If the results of the test referred to in subregulation (1) or of the examination referred to in subregulation (2) show that it is necessary, and if normal corrective appliances cannot be used, workers must be provided by the employer, with special corrective appliances prescribed to correct vision defects at the viewing distance or distances, used specifically for the display screen work concerned and which are appropriate for the work concerned.

It is important that one does not shift the onus from where it is most due. A person's life must surely be worth more than financial figures, albeit finance is nonetheless important.

Dr Mark Gauci is CEO of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority.