H&S in Offices.

[boomam]

Hi.

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but im sure a mod can move the thread if it isn't.

 

Does anyone know if any sort of Health & Safety laws exist for natural light?

Whats happening at the moment is that my little office, along with all the rooms in the same building, are having their skylights removed and replaced with normal roofing. Meaning that my office is now very dark unless i have the lights on. Which are fluorescent. .

I've spoken with maintenance, and apparently the builders have said that IF they deem it to be too dark, they'll stick up more lighting. Which in my books isn't acceptable.

 

 

Are there some sort of H&S laws around somewhere, or something of that ilk that i can use to get my skylights back?

 

Thanks in advance everyone.

[localzuk]

I think you'll be out of luck there I'm afraid. However, you should be having certain types of lights installed, depending on your screen type, the lighting angle etc... They can't just shove cheap fluorescent tubes up there.

[plexer]

For the non safety people, ever since HASWA 74 the law stopped being prescriptive - relying instead on employers to take case by case assessments - so you wont find a light level specified.

 

ALl the regs call for is "suitable and sufficient" lighting, and there is no obligation to provide natural lighting.

 

The one HOWEVER is that "suitable and sufficient" as used generally throughout the regs must be decided certainly with reference to the task and also to an extent the person: so what is suitable for someone just needing to work on IT, is not necessarily suitable for threading needles, or fixing watch mechanisms.

 

Clearly also, people need to move about safely.

 

And also what is adequate for one person is not necessarily adequate for another: - there is also an obligation on the employer to maintain, so that a flickering fluorescent is clearly a problem.

 

All of that said: the person in question will struggle to prove it is the lighting making them ill. - however a right thinking employer would generally take any easy steps that make there employers lot a happier one!

 

Taken from Minimum Office light Levels - UK Business Forums

 

Ben