Warehouse lighting: tips to enhance health, safety and productivity

These are exciting times for the UK warehouse sector, with the United Kingdom Warehousing Association identifying online retailing and a manufacturing renaissance among the factors to be increasing demands upon the sector.

With lighting sometimes accounting for as much as 80% of a warehouse’s total energy bill, the economic imperative to implement more efficient lighting systems is firmly established. But it can also yield benefits for employee health and productivity that may manifest themselves over the longer-term – and with this in mind What We’re Thinking has the following top tips to impart…

In particular, it is very important to avoid lighting systems with no effective glare control. Exposing employees to glare – for example, a forklift driver who is loading and unloading goods from high racking – could lead to a momentary loss of vision, and by consequence severe injury or even death.

2) Prioritise a solution that accommodates the challenging design of warehouses. Large industrial spaces like warehouses can be tricky to light – very tricky, in fact! Arriving at a solution that delivers consistent illumination to vast open spaces, high ceilings, narrow aisles and high racking can necessitate a protracted period of consultation and design.

3) Consult your employees about their experience of lighting. How do they feel about the current lighting infrastructure, and in what ways do they think it could be improved? It is worth canvassing some opinion ‘at the coalface’ before making that all-important investment.

In short, implementing next-generation lighting is arguably the fastest route to enhancing a warehouse’s overall efficiency. To talk through ideas, strategies and technologies to make your warehouse more energy efficient, give us call or drop us a line – we’d be happy to help.