inSights: Ergonomics 101: lighting and work station dimensions

There are a lot of reasons why you might get a major headache at work — but have you ever thought that the pounding between your ears is from too much light?  Thirty years ago strictly overhead lighting was the norm and designers flooded offices with fluorescent bulbs to make reading easier  — but 30 years ago no one had computer screens.  The typical person behind the desk now stares at a computer screen for long periods of time, sometimes alternating between a laptop and a desktop, reading documents, using a cell phone, and wanting to keep the plants alive.

Unfortunately for the typical business owner, the lighting issue can get so complicated that every employee may require a different degree of wattage.  This sounds like an impossible task on an endless budget, but thanks to lighting engineers like my friend, Kirk Mescher, lighting design can almost be fun.  He took me on a tour of his own office in downtown Columbia to show how different rooms and different tasks make each setup unique.

According to Mescher, principal engineer at CM Engineering in downtown Columbia, a great lighting scheme that uses a combination of overhead lighting, natural light, and task lamps, can reduce energy use exponentially.  “More lighting equals more air conditioning.  Too much lighting just creates a cascade of energy use,” Mescher said.  A corner office at CM Engineering uses parabolic lights (ambient fixtures set into the ceiling) to create a “cave-like” mood by keeping the rest of the ceiling dark.  While parabolics used to be the norm, Mescher only recommends them in conjunction with task lamps.

“Great lighting,” he said, “is very subjective.  “It depends on the task at hand and must fit the function. Great lighting can be inexpensive, but you should always buy good quality, especially when purchasing task lamps.”

In general it’s important to remember that for the average office, the standard is 1.1 watts per square foot, and most people don’t need nearly as much light as they’re given. In fact, office lighting wattage has on average decreased 2.5 times in the past ten years. Imagine how much money that has saved us!  In his own office, Mescher practically avoids all ambient light by keeping his window blinds open at all times.

I recommend focusing on two features when choosing appropriate office lighting: color rendering and glare reduction.  Good fluorescent lights give at least .85 rendering, which means colors appear really saturated.  Inexpensive, low quality lamps almost always give poor rendering, so prepare to invest in good, durable task lighting.  Incandescent lamps are also on the way out – you’ll have to change them every couple of days, draining your wallet and creating that “cascade” of energy that Mescher describes.

Mescher’s offices at CM Engineering are also great examples of other facets of ergonomics, most notably a diverse array of adjustable height workstations.  In the drafting room, where someone might spend all day bent over a blueprint, the tables are designed for maximum comfort. They feature a height ideal for employees who need to be on their feet, working on projects that lay flat rather than staring at a computer screen all day.

For basic workstations that feature a computer, a desk and a filing system, surface height should be customized for the employee who will be sitting there.  Problems with surface height are similar to issues of bad lighting — there is usually a sweet spot for each task.  What feels perfect for computer work may be uncomfortable for reading documents that lie flat on the surface.

I recommend workstations that can accommodate a variety of tasks with minimal effort for adjustment.  This may mean a surface that can be raised or lowered with the turn of a crank, or a bi-level surface that makes it easy to work comfortably in a sitting or standing position. But there are standards, as with office lighting: the 2002 BIFMA Ergonomic Guideline for VDT furniture recommends a range from 22” to 29” for seated work and 36” to 46” for standing height surfaces.

When I design an office interior, I remind my clients that the initial cost to improve ergonomic issues like lighting and surface height will be recouped in time simply because a comfortable employee is a happy employee, and a happy employee will work harder and more diligently than one who is constantly distracted by pain or irritation.

Think of it this way: every ten minutes per day that an employee does not work due to discomfort add up to nearly an hour a week of lost work or half a day each month. That’s more than a week of lost potential per employee per year!  I let them do the math, but it doesn’t take long to grasp how much money an employer saves by spending a little to improve comfort.