ILLUMINATION SURVEY & LIGHTING ASSESSMENT
An illumination survey measures workplace lighting against the legal minimum lux levels, and employers need one wherever lighting may fall short. It covers offices, production areas, stores, yards and parking areas. The result shows where your lighting meets the Physical Agents Regulations, 2024 and where it does not.
Poor lighting is common and often goes unnoticed, because the eye adapts to sub-standard conditions. The legal values are minimum maintained averages, so the average must not fall below them as lamps age and fittings get dirty. Indoors, they include 100 lux in corridors and stores, 500 lux at general office workstations and 1 500 lux in electronic workshops.
WHY POOR LIGHTING IS A RISK
Poor lighting causes eye strain, fatigue and headaches, lowers concentration, and increases error rates and the risk of accidents. Glare on screens and flicker cause visual discomfort. Where flicker makes rotating machinery look slowed or stationary (the stroboscopic effect), operators face a direct hazard. For the business, that means more mistakes, lower productivity and avoidable incidents.
The legal values have changed. The Physical Agents Regulations, 2024 replaced the Environmental Regulations for Workplaces, 1987, so a survey done against the old values no longer shows whether your lighting complies.
Workplace lighting is regulated by the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993 (OHS Act) and the Physical Agents Regulations, 2024. Three duties set the intervals.
• Risk assessment (regulation 6): a competent person must assess exposure to physical agents before employees are exposed, then at least every 24 months. It covers lighting along with heat, cold, indoor air quality, vibration and non-ionising radiation.
• Illumination survey (regulation 11): where the risk assessment calls for it, illumination must be measured by a competent person at intervals not exceeding 24 months. This applies where lighting may fall below the minimum values in Tables 4 to 7, or where flicker or specialised task lighting is a concern.
• Emergency lighting: the employer must have it tested at least every three months (regulation 11(6)(e)). This test is separate from an illumination survey.
Review your overall occupational health risk assessment (OHS Act, section 8(2)(d)) together with these assessments. The regulations do not require an approved inspection authority (AIA) for any of this work.
WHAT THE LAW REQUIRES FOR LIGHTING
HOW WE CONDUCT AN ILLUMINATION SURVEY
Christo de Wet leads every illumination survey from planning to report. He is an occupational hygienist registered with the Southern African Institute for Occupational Hygiene (SAIOH), ROH 0953, with 15 years of experience.
Before the visit, we ask for a floor plan and agree access to all work areas, including night-shift areas where relevant.
On the day, we walk the whole site with you, including yards, loading bays and parking areas. We measure illuminance and uniformity area by area with calibrated instruments, at the working plane for each task, following SANS 10114-1 indoors and SANS 10389-1 outdoors. We also note glare, flicker, failed lamps, and dirty fittings or windows.
After the visit, we compare every result with the minimum maintained average values in Tables 4 to 7. The report sets out recommendations in order of priority, ready for the documented action plan the regulations require.
Indoor air quality can be assessed on the same visit. On mines and quarries, we survey surface operations only, under the Mine Health and Safety Act, 1996. Christo can take the section 12(1) appointment for those operations.
- • Measured lux levels for each area and task, compared with the minimum maintained average values in Tables 4 to 7
• Uniformity results, showing where light is uneven across a working area
• A floor plan of the areas surveyed
• Notes on glare, flicker, failed lamps and dirty fittings or windows
• Practical recommendations, in order of priority
• A report written for management, SHEQ teams and auditors
What affects the quote: the size of the site and the number of work areas to cover, which set the time on site, and travel to site. Quotations list each service as its own line item, so a combined lighting and indoor air quality visit shows each survey separately.
WHAT YOUR ILLUMINATION REPORT INCLUDES
- How often must an illumination survey be done?
Where the risk assessment shows lighting may fall below the minimum values, illumination must be measured. The Physical Agents Regulations, 2024 require a competent person to do this at intervals not exceeding 24 months (regulation 11). Emergency lighting has its own three-monthly test, which is separate from this survey. If your last survey used the values in the old Environmental Regulations for Workplaces, 1987, plan a new one: the Physical Agents Regulations replaced them.
Who may do an illumination survey?
It must be a competent person, with the knowledge, training, experience and relevant qualifications for the physical agent. They must also be familiar with the Occupational Health and Safety Act and its regulations. The regulations do not require an approved inspection authority (AIA) for lighting. Christo de Wet, SAIOH ROH 0953, leads every Qualitas survey.
What must we prepare?
A floor plan and access to all work areas, including night-shift areas where relevant.
What happens after the survey?
You receive a report with results, priorities and recommendations. The regulations require a documented action plan for the recommendations, and records kept for 40 years. Our free online Compliance Gap Assessment shows which other assessments your workplace needs and which are overdue.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Free online tool: Compliance Gap Assessment. See what is due at your workplace
Occupational hygiene for warehousing, logistics and distribution
Occupational hygiene for manufacturing, engineering and foundries
Occupational hygiene for hospitals, clinics and laboratories
What are the minimum lighting levels for workplaces?
What must a physical agent risk assessment cover?
What do the Physical Agents Regulations, 2024 require?
What is an AIA inspection in South Africa, and which AIA do you need?
FREE TOOL AND ARTICLES
REQUEST A QUOTE
Request a quotation for an illumination survey below, with your site address and the areas to cover. We work in all nine provinces, travel is quoted upfront, and indoor air quality can be added to the same visit.
