The main objective is to ensure that people have enough light to perform their tasks quickly and accurately, without any stress or strain caused by poor light levels or poorly positioned lighting, causing visual disability or discomfort.

Recommendations and standards define suitable lighting levels for office work and you also need to think about the nature of the work being done there. For example, for work involving small or complex detail, higher lighting levels are required for accurate working than for more general office tasks.

Take care when positioning luminaires and workstations to ensure that the worker does not create shadows on the task they are performing. Ensuring that all workstations are lit by more than one luminaire and from a variety of directions can prevent this.

Take care that light levels on the walls are suitable for comfortable use of notice boards, whiteboards, etc. Poorly designed lighting of shiny items on the walls (such as whiteboards or glazed pictures) may result in problems with reflected glare.

Luminaires should also be positioned to allow easy use of filing systems, ensuring that the user does not create shadowing over filing systems or copiers when standing in front of them.