Recommended Values of Illumination for Different Structures

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Good lighting is an essential aspect of all buildings and structures. The aim of providing good lighting is to encourage the safety of the people inside the building and create a pleasing environment conducive to the interest of the occupants and a sense of their well-being.

This can be achieved by:

1. Careful planning of the brightness and color pattern within both the surroundings and the working areas to accentuate the important areas.
2. Using directional lighting to assist perception of task detail and give good model, controlling reflected and direct glare from light sources to eliminate visual discomfort.
3. In artificial lighting installations, paying attention to the color rendering properties of the light and minimizing flicker from certain types of lamps.
4. By correlating lighting throughout the building to prevent excessive differences between adjacent areas to reduce the risk of accidents.
5. By the installation of emergency lighting systems.

Recommended Values of Illumination

The term illumination can be defined as to supply (something) with light: to shine a light on (something): to make (something) clear and easier to understand. This can be achieved by using daylighting, artificial lighting, or a combination of both.

The different locations or structures are grouped into the following sections:

1. Industrial buildings and process
2. Offices, schools, and public buildings
3. Surgeries and hospitals
4. Hotels, restaurants, shops, and homes.

1. Industrial Buildings and Process

	Recommended Values of Illumination
Sl.No	Visual Tasks	Illumination Lux
	A. Industrial Buildings and Process
1.	General Factory Areas:
a	Canteens	150
b	Cloak –rooms	100
c	Entrances, corridors, stairs	100
2.	Factory Outdoor Areas: Stockyards, main entrances, and exit roads, car parks, internal factory roads	20
3.	Aircraft Factories and Maintenance Hangars:
a	Stock parts productions	450
b	Drilling, riveting, screw fastening, sheet aluminum layout and template work, wing sections, cowling, welding, sub-assembly, final assembly, and inspection	300
c	Maintenance and repair (hangers)	300
4.	Assembly Shops:
a	Rough work, for example, frame assembly and assembly of heavy machinery	150
b	Medium  work,  for example,  machined  parts, engine assembly, vehicle body assembly	300
c	Fine    work, for   example,    radio and   telephone equipment, typewriter and office machinery assembly	700
d	Very fine work, for example, assembly of very small precision mechanisms	1500
5	Boiler Houses (Industrial):
a	Coal and ash handling	100
b	Boiler rooms:
1.	Boiler fronts and operating areas	100
2.	Other areas	20 to 50
c	Outdoor plants:
1.	Cat-walks	20
2.	Platforms	50
6	Electricity Generating Stations (Indoor Locations):
a	Turbine halls	200
b	Auxiliary equipment, battery rooms, blowers, auxiliary generators, switchgear and transformer chambers.	100
c	Boiler houses (including operating floors) platforms, coal conveyors, pulverizers, feeders, precipitators, soot and slag blowers	70 to 100
d	Boiler house and turbine house	100
e	Basements	70
f	Conveyor  houses,   conveyor   gantries   and  junction towers	70 to 100
g	Control rooms:
1.	Vertical control panels	200 to 300
2.	Control desks	300
3.	Rear of control panels	150
4.	Switch houses	150
h	Nuclear reactors and steam raising plants:
a	Reactor areas, boilers and galleries	150
b	Gas circular bays	150
c	Reactor charge/discharge face	200
7	Electricity Generating Stations (Outdoor Locations):
1.	Coal unloading areas	20
2.	Coal storage areas	20
3.	Platforms, boiler and turbine desks	50
4.	Transformers and outdoor switchgear	100
8	Gauges and Tool Rooms: General	700
9	Inspection Shops (Engineering):
a	Rough work, for example, counting and rough checking of stock parts, etc	150
b	Medium work, for example, ‘go’ and ‘no go’ gauges and sub-assemblies	300
c	Fine work, for example, radio and telecommunication equipment, calibrated scales, precision mechanisms and instruments	700
d	Very fine work for example, gauging and inspection of small intricate parts	1 500
e	Minute work for example, very small instruments	3 000
10	Iron and Steel Works:
a	Marshalling and outdoor stockyards	10 to 20
b	Stairs, gangways, basements, quarries and loading docks	100
c	Slab yards, melting shops, ingot stripping, soaking pits, blast-furnace working areas, picking and cleaning and cleaning lines, mechanical plant and pump houses	100
d	Mould preparation rolling and wire mills, mill motor rooms, power and blower houses	150
e	Slab inspection and conditioning, cold strip mills, sheet and plate finishing, tinning, galvanizing machine and roll shops	200
f	Plate inspection	300
11	Machine and Fitting Shops:
a	Rough bench and machine work	150
b	Medium bench and machine work, ordinary automatic machines, rough grinding, medium buffing and polishing	300
c	Fine bench and machine work, fine automatic machines, medium grinding, fine buffing and polishing	700
12	Motor Vehicle Plants:
a	General   sub-assemblies,   chasis   assembly   and   car assembly	300
b	Final inspection	450
c	Trim shops, body sub-assemblies and body assembly	300
d	Spray booths	450
13	Paint Works:
a	General, automatic processes	200
b	Special batch mixing	450
c	Colour matching	700
14	Paint Shops and Spraying Booths:
a	Dipping, firing and rough spraying	150
b	Rubbing, ordinary painting, spraying and finishing	300
c	Fine painting and finishing	450
d	Retouching and matching	700
15	Sheet Metal Works:
a	Benchwork,  scribing, pressing, punching, shearing, stamping, spinning, and folding	200
b	Sheet inspection	200
16	Structural Steel Fabrication Plants:
a	General	150
b	Marking off	300
17	Welding and Soldering:
a	Gas and arc welding and rough spot welding	150
b	Medium  soldering,  brazing  and  spot  welding,  for example, domestic hardware	300
c	Fine   soldering   and   spot   welding,   for   example instruments, radio set assembly	700
d	Very fine soldering and spot welding, for example, radio valves	150
18	Woodworking Shops:
a	Rough sawing and bench work	50
b	Sizing, planning, rough sanding, medium machine and bench work, gluing, and veneering	200
c	Fine  bench  and  machine  work,  fine  sanding  and finishing	300

2. Offices, Schools, and Public Buildings

	Recommended Values of Illumination
Sl.No	Visual Tasks	Illumination Lux
	B.  Offices, Schools and Public Buildings
1	Airport Buildings:
a)	Reception areas (desks)	300
b)	Customs and immigration halls	300
c)	Circulation areas and lounges	150
2	Assembly and Concert:
a)	Foyers and auditorium	100 to 150
b)	Platforms	450
c)	Corridors	70
d)	Stairs	100
3	Banks:
a)	Counter, typing and accounting book areas	300
b)	Public areas	150
4	Cinemas:
a)	Foyers	150
b)	Auditoria	50
c)	Corridors	70
d)	Stairs	100
5	Libraries
a)	Shelves (stacks)	70 to 150
b)	Reading rooms (newspapers and magazines)	150 to 300
c)	Reading tables	300 to 700
d)	Book repair and binding	300 to 700
e)	Cataloguing, sorting and stock rooms	150 to 300
6	Museum’s art Galleries:
a)	Museums:
1	General	150
2	Displays	Special lighting
b)	Art Galleries
1	General	100
2	Paintings	200
7	Office:
a)	Entrance halls and reception areas	150
b)	Conference rooms and executive office	300
c)	General office	300
d)	Business machine operation	450
e)	Drawing office:
1	General	300
2	Boards and tracings	450
f)	Corridors and lift cars	70
g)	Stairs	100
h)	Lift landings	150
i)	Telephone exchanges:	200
1	Manual exchange rooms	150
2	Main distribution frame rooms
8	School and Colleges:
a)	Assembly halls:
1	General	150
2	When used for examinations	300
3	Platforms	300
b)	Class and lecture rooms:
1	Desks	300
2	Chalk boards	200 to 300
c)	Embroidery sewing rooms	700
d)	Art rooms	450
e)	Laboratories	300
f)	Libraries:
1	Shelves, stacks	70 to 150
2	Reading tables	300
g)	Offices	300
h)	Staff rooms and common rooms	150
i)	Corridors	70
j)	Stairs	100
9	Theatres:
a)	Foyers	150
b)	Auditoria	70
c)	Corridors	70
d)	Stairs	100

3. Surgeries and Hospitals

	Recommended Values of Illumination
Sl.No	Visual Tasks	Illumination Lux
	C. Surgeries and Hospitals
1	Dental Surgeries:
a)	Waiting rooms	150
b)	Surgeries:
1	General	300
2	Chairs	Special lighting
c)	Laboratories	300
2	Doctors Surgeries:
a)	Waiting rooms and consulting rooms	150
b)	Corridors	70
c)	Stairs	100
d)	Sight testing (acuity) wall charts and near vision types	450
3	Hospitals:
a)	Reception and waiting rooms	150
b)	Wards:
1	General	100
2	Beds	150
c)	Operating theatres:
1	General	300
2	Tables	Special lighting
d)	Laboratories	300
e)	Radiology departments	100
f)	Casualty and outpatient departments	150
g)	Stairs and corridors	100
h)	Corridors	300

4. Hotels, Restaurants, Shops and Homes

	Recommended Values of Illumination
Sl.No.	Visual Tasks	Illumination Lux
	D. Hotels, Restaurants, Shops, and Homes
1	Hotels:
a)	Entrance halls	150
b)	Reception and accounts	300
c)	Dining rooms (tables)	100
d)	Lounges	150
e)	Bedrooms:
1	General	100
2	Dressing tables, bed heads, etc	200
f)	Writing rooms (tables)	300
g)	Corridors	70
h)	Stairs	100
i)	Laundries	200
j)	Kitchens	200
k)	Goods and passenger lifts	70
l)	Clock-rooms and toilets	100
m)	Bathrooms	100
2	Restaurants:
a)	Dining rooms:
1)	Tables	100
2	Cash desks	300
b)	Self-carrying counters	300
c)	Kitchens	200
d)	Clock-rooms and toilets	100
3	Shops and Stores:
a)	General areas	150 to 300
b)	Stock rooms	200
4	Homes:
a)	Kitchens	200
b)	Bathrooms	100
c)	Stairs	100
d)	Workshops	200
e)	Garages	70
f)	Sewing and darning	700
g)	Reading (casual)	150
h)	Homework and sustained reading	300

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