Lighting
How wholesalers can bring wellbeing through lighting controls
Wellbeing is increasingly being talked about in building and construction spheres. So, how can lighting controls contribute to this notion, and how do electrical wholesalers jump on this supplier trend? Mike Brooks, Marketing Manager at CP Electronics, explains more.
O
nce of very little importance, wellbeing is now one of the biggest items on the agenda for companies
and organisations of all sizes. Oſten starting from the boardroom, if this issue is not looked aſter properly, it can cause staff retention issues, health problems, absenteeism and more. A key area of improving wellbeing is
improving the environments where people work. This is leading to an extensive rethink along the supply chain as to how lighting controls can be incorporated into buildings. For wholesalers, it represents a huge opportunity to maximise revenue, but also to offer insight and expertise. To do this, it’s first important to understand how lighting can affect our health and safety, and the best practice of combatting these issues.
Lighting – Physically and Physiologically On the health and safety side, trip hazards are an obvious danger of poor lighting. This may seem needless to point out for those working in office- based environments, but it can be particularly
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important to businesses operating outside of ‘normal’ working hours, in outdoor spaces or within manufacturing facilities. Lighting should be positioned to combat dark
areas, and the lighting should be bright enough for visible hazards to be identified. Users can now have complete control over their lighting, meaning lights can be set up to be dimmed instead of switching off entirely to keep an area appropriately lit. Glare is also an area of huge concern. Defined
as ‘difficulty seeing in the presence of bright light such as direct or reflected sunlight, or artificial light such as car headlamps at night’, this unwanted light can lead to headaches, eyestrain or sight loss. Veiling reflection is also similar to this, where high-luminance reflections can interfere with vision or the detail of a task, such as reflections on monitors, metallic equipment or lighting contrasts on the pages of a book. Physiologically, circadian rhythm is another phenomenon that researchers are uncovering more about day by day. As Dr Peter Boyce, the long serving editor of the lighting industry's peer
reviewed journal Lighting Research and Technology (LR&T) found, light can send varying signals to the brain to produce different effects, such as circadian rhythm, which regulates the ‘body clock’. This can regulate levels of alertness in individuals during specific points during the day, as well as potentially affect mood. Lighting control should ideally be positioned to manage levels of brightness in the built environment and enhance the benefits of circadian rhythm. However, there is still more research to be carried out, to ensure long term health aspects are understood.
Bright ideas equal brighter sales prospects With lighting affecting the body and mind so dramatically, it pays for businesses to put lighting controls into their buildings. However, consultancy, full scale fit outs, rewiring and installation can be costly and also disruptive. Contractors and electrical engineers are also facing their own set of problems. Skillset
●Continued over November 2019 electrical wholesaler | 19
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