Industrial lighting / Commonwealth of Australia Department of Labour and National Service, Industrial Welfare Division.

Date:
1945
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Industrial lighting / Commonwealth of Australia Department of Labour and National Service, Industrial Welfare Division. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    factory and economical method of ensur- ing good seeing conditions in industrial buildings. There is, however, no single formula that can be used in designing buildings to ensure satisfactory natural lighting. Se comfortable daylight is the most satis- Design has been based largely on glass area as a percentage of floor area and, even on this basis, the ten per-cent standard often adopted has proved inadequate for buildings in which fine visual tasks are performed. Con- siderable research is now being undertaken on this subject and pending the issue of a code for the Natural Lighting of Buildings by the Standards Association of Australia, the follow- ing provisional standards are recommended. A. AREAS OF GLASS Most Factories Acts require that in work- rooms the glass area should equal an absolute minimum of one-tenth of the floor area. How- ever, to make the best use of daylight, most well-lit modern factories now provide a glass area equal to 20 or 30 per cent in roof lights and a still greater percentage for a combination of wall and roof lights. In calculating the glass area of windows, the sill level should be assumed to be not lower than that of the working-plane (usually at about 3 ft. 3 in. from the floor) and any glass below that level should be disregarded. The glass area should receive as much unobstructed light from the sky as possible; if any external object of jected from sill level to 15° above the hori- zontal, it should be considered an obstruction, and the window area should be increased above the minimum to compensate for it. The heads of windows should be as near the ceiling as _ possible to ensure the maximum penetration of daylight into the rooms. B. AVOIDANCE OF GLARE Direct sunlight inside work-rooms is warm and cheerful, but as workers usually cannot change their positions, it results in eye fatigue due to the high brightness of sunlit objects and the strong contrast between them and other objects in shadow. Windows in work-rooms should, therefore, preferably be planned to Page 36 face south. In places where there is cold winter weather, windows on the east side or even the that proper steps are taken to control and diffuse direct sunlight; light-coloured venetian blinds have proved particularly effective for this pur- pose, but light-coloured translucent blinds are also reasonably satisfactory. Blinds that pull up from the bottom will often screen work-tasks near the windows from- penetration of daylight to the far side of the room from the tops of the windows. In using blinds to control lighting, care must be taken not to impair natural ventilation. Where it is important to get the benefit of breezes, use is made of blinds that are held out from the’ Working-areas should be located relative to windows so that workers will face neither the light nor sunlit external surfaces. Diffusion solution of the glare problem, as the glass be- comes dazzling. ~'C. ADEQUACY OF LIGHT It can generally be assumed that daylight will be inadequate at any place where the sky is not visible from the working-plane, or where the distance from the nearest window ts greater head of the window. If in inner areas where natural lighting is poor or in working areas generally during over- cast weather or dull winter afternoons, the natural illumination at any place where work is done is lower than the minimums set out in the ‘“‘Australian Standard Code for the Interior Illumination of Buildings by Artificial Light,” then artificial lighting should be used in accord- ance with the requirements of the Code. _ D. MAINTENANCE Structural arrangements should be provided for cleaning windows and should give access to both sides of saw-tooth glazing. Ventilation systems should be planned so that fumes and smoke do not pass over the glass of windows. A regular cleaning schedule is also essential. —
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