Security Lighting

The numbers of accidents at work are on the rise and are far more commonplace than people realise. According to HSE figures, an average of 4.7 million working days are lost by businesses each year to accidents in the workplace. Now while a large proportion of these injuries probably occurred within the premises, there have been an increasing number of accident being reported around the outside of buildings on business premises. A lot of these being put down to trips and falls in poorly lit areas.

Poor Lighting Increases Risk

With the increase in numbers of businesses being run on a 24/7 schedule, the chances of workers having accidents during the evening and overnight through inadequate lighting of walkways, stairways and access areas has greatly risen. All business owners are obliged to carry out health and safety risk assessments, but many of them still focus more on the internal environment on their business premises with many forgetting about the risks posed to staff leaving or entering the business premises during darker hours.

According to figures from the Health and Safety Executive, falls and slips in the workplace account for more than one third or all accidents. Many of these causes can be attributed to trailing cables, slippery floor surfaces and poor lighting. Staff can be encouraged to help reduce the risks by reporting maintenance faults, such as broken bulbs or lighting sensors failing to work, but business owners should also make themselves aware of the risks posed by inadequate, or the complete lack of security lighting around the external walls of their building.

Raising Awareness

Inviting staff members to contribute to health and safety meetings by giving feedback on safety issues or concerns they have will help to highlight potential or unaddressed workspace hazards, including the safe movement of staff to and from the premises.

Should there be a workplace accident, all staff members should be aware of the location of first-aid equipment and be prepared to report the accident into the log book. Managers should ensure that safety information is displayed clearly, so that everyone know where the emergency exits are and understand the risks involved with heavy lifting etc.

Business owners are expected to maintain a good level of basic facilities, including drinking water, clean working toilets and adequate security and safety lighting. While most safety checks and assessments are conducted during daylight hours, it would be easy to miss the obvious need for increased or improved security lighting on high risk areas such as external walkways, doorway, steps and staircases and areas with uneven grounds or that contain tripping hazards in the dark.

Look for common risk areas

It pays business owners to learn from any previous mistakes and accidents. If someone was injured on the premises and this could have been prevented through the use of increased security lighting or better positioned lighting units, then you should take the necessary to address these concerns to ensure it can never happen again. The law requires that you keep a record of all accidents that happen during working hours, so it can be easy to spot recurring issues where poor security lighting was to blame.