Advanced Lighting Features Assist with Workplace Safety and Employee Well-Being
New technology continues to raise the bar on behalf of safety.
- By Aaron Freund
- Sep 10, 2024
There are many factors that contribute to workplace safety today, including proper facility maintenance, reduction of tripping hazards, cleanliness, everyday floor upkeep, proper use of hazardous materials and so much more. However, a very important measure—which is sometimes overlooked—is proper lighting, both overhead and direct, to not only prevent slips, trips, and falls but to protect eye strain, headaches, and employee fatigue.
Various studies suggest that appropriate lighting in the workplace reduces eye tension, improves productivity, and eliminates the numbers of accidents and falls. A CDC study found that LED lighting reduced glare discomfort by 45 percent and floor trip hazard detection improved by 23.7 percent.1
Improvements in overhead and stationary lighting have made great strides in enhancing workplace safety, but new technological advancements are also yielding an unprecedented number of features and applications in flashlights, lanterns and headlamps, which are becoming indispensable safety tools on the job. From USB rechargeable lights that can be charged on the go to safety-rated lights that protect workers in all types of hazardous environments, today’s professional-grade flashlight products have come a long way.
Delivering Multi-Function Lighting
Workers in many industrial settings depend on high-quality flashlights, headlamps and lanterns to fill a work area with either soft flood light that won’t tire eyes or a bright focused beam for concentrating on the task at hand. High lumen (1,000 lumens or more) flashlights provide full situational awareness by delivering extraordinary brightness in a wide beam pattern. These lights are ideal for smaller areas where workers require a lot of light, including hard-to-see peripheral areas and corners where dangers might lurk, but not an exceptionally long reach. Other categories of lights feature high levels of candela (the distance over which a light beam is “thrown”), designed for down-range applications requiring optimal beam distance. Some lighting products can provide both functions in the same light, enabling workers to either light up entire work scenes—thus illuminating potential fall hazards—or provide spot lighting for jobs closer to hand. Products also are available that allow technicians to use both a forward-facing spot beam and side-facing flood light individually or simultaneously for optimizing navigation and eliminating blind spots.
A New Generation of Work Lights
A new category of hands-free work lights that clamp virtually anywhere, stand on their own and easily pivot is also allowing workers to illuminate hard-to-reach spaces for the task at hand. Using lights that can be clamped to many surfaces, hung from a hook, or positioned in small spaces with magnets enables workers to concentrate less on the light and focus more on the job and any hazards that could threaten their personal safety. New portable work lights today can be positioned for overhead flood lighting or for direct spot lighting in tight spaces. Moreover, the lights can be easily adjusted by rotating in both a vertical or horizontal direction allowing technicians to more easily troubleshoot a problem and protect them from potential bodily harm.
These lights typically allow users to see the color spectrum as they would in natural light. The light provides a softer, warmer beam to assist with identifying subtle details and colors in various work applications, which prevents glare and eye fatigue. Glare reduction and the ability to more accurately identify colors also prevent mistakes or accidents in low light environments when working with colored electrical wires, replacing parts in an emergency, or even identifying warning signage within a facility.
Dependable Lighting Provides Peace of Mind
Perhaps the biggest trend in flashlight technology is lights that use rechargeable battery technology to ensure that light is always available when needed, offering dependable, always-on illumination that leads to less worker downtime and a safer working environment. Additionally, rechargeable batteries promote environmental sustainability by eliminating downstream waste due to the reduction of disposable batteries, leading to a cleaner working environment by reducing the number of spent batteries in landfills.
Regardless of the type of light used, when it comes to the safety of all within a work location, managers and employees should review how new lights operate to better understand any new features and safety enhancements. Every new feature in today’s lights has been carefully designed and engineered to safely support workers and their specific profession. Managers should pay close attention to the rapidly changing technology and enhancements to prevent accidents and to ensure a safe, healthy, productive work environment.
This article originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.