Advice about lighting.

[Fishyfingers]

I'm on a floating duty that covers the PHG duty once a week,the regular PHG is going on holiday soon and because there is no one in the office that knows the duty i'm going to get stuck in there for the couple of weeks he's off.The problem is there is no natural light in the office so the whole place is lit by strip lights and every time i do the office duty i get a splitting headache i recon it's the lighting as none of the lights have defusers fitted.I have told the DOM but like most managers he couldn't give a toss as long as he get's the duty covered.Just wondered if i could go down the Health and saftey route,any help would be great.

[Himaggen]

You could argue that your Employer should reduce the glare so far as is reasonably practicable using reflectors/diffusers instead of subjecting you to it, but you would need to prove that it was unreasonable light not your reaction to reasonable lighting that was the problem.
If you get a doctors note corroborating your problem then your Employer must make an effort to provide you with an alternative, although it may not be to your liking.

There is a glare index system produced by the IES which provides a maximum desirable glare index range. Figures above those recommended levels for a given location may lead to discomfort. With a set of light meter readings it may be possible to prove that there is a problem with the level of luminance. There may even be a marked difference between levels from one room to another for those constantly traversing between them. Unfortunately you'd have to ensure that the light meter readings were taken and confirmed to be above recommendations before your Manager would have to do something.
Your Local or Area Health and Safety Rep should be able to make enquiries into this, but I wouldn't expect a quick solution.

[SexyLegs]

Drink lots and lots of water!

[wayoutman]

eat lots of carrots.

[DGP1]

No natural light in my office at all, just strips and strips of fluorescent lights but TBH it's never bothered me (apart from the humming sound ).

[fishtank]

No natural light in my office at all, just strips and strips of fluorescent lights but TBH it's never bothered me (apart from the humming sound ).

Same here...the only windows are in the toilets,the canteen...and the managers offices.

[Fishyfingers]

Cheers for the advice,i'll give the water advice ago see if that helps.

[DGP1]

We have bars on our windows

To keep you in or people out

[TrueBlueTerrier]

We have bars on our windows

We have suicide nets, they say its to stop the pigeons I don't believe them.

[hans solo]

is there not legal requirements regards lighting in buildings im sure their is
there are eu directives re lighting or lack of especially during winter months
lack of natural light can cause sad depression stress etc
may be worth asking h/s for info

[youwot!!!!!]

Cheers for the advice,i'll give the water advice ago see if that helps.

this will help because you will spend so much time on the toilet and out of the office that the lights won't have enough time to give you any problems.

by the way just because you cover the duty once a week doesn't mean you have to cover a/l and s/l especially if the hours of your normal duty don't match the hours of the phg duty.i cover 2 floater jobs in my rotation but because the hours don't match then i cannot be withdrawn against my wishes.

[Stormproof]

We have lights on our frames because of the lack of windows and the windows that we do have only open a few inches. I don't think they want us jumping. I have more of a problem with the heat, there are fans on the ceiling (about 20ft up)but they don't do much. A LM made me laugh yesterday he was standing out on the ramp looking pissed off, he was moaning about the heat.........how about coming out on delivery and then you'd have some thing to moan about ffs Gits ain't going to get no f***ing sympathy off me sat in there office with all the floor fans. Had another take the piss out of me because I got sunburnt on Tuesday, felt like saying to him at least I ain't ginger like you ya arsehole
Rant over, feel better for that