CIBSE Lighting Guide LG2: Lighting for healthcare premises

This new edition of the Lighting Guide LG2: Lighting for healthcare premises replaces the 2008 edition. This new edition has been produced to ensure that our guidance is up-to-date with modern lighting practice and to illustrate varying ways of lighting the modern hospital environment. Illumination recommendations have been aligned where appropriate with European Standards on lighting and the SLL Code for Lighting.

The lighting industry has seen an increase in marketing related to lighting for health and productivity (‘human-centric lighting’, ‘circadian lighting’ etc.), with products claiming to enhance performance and productivity, and to avoid disrupting sleep patterns. This edition does not detail or promote these techniques, which will disappoint some, but these claims should be taken with caution and all such products should be carefully evaluated. While the SLL Code for Lighting and BS EN 12464-1 acknowledge the importance of non-visual effects of light on health and wellbeing, the SLL warns that research in this area is still very limited and the existence of beneficial effects due to changing the colour and level of electric light during the course of a day has yet to be unequivocally demonstrated.

Ultimately it should be remembered that the key objective of all these measures is to define the quantity and quality of light and that it should replicate as close as possible the conditions under which we have evolved. Good design principles should always be followed with priority given to daylight and complemented by electric lighting. Note also that daylight has unique and complex qualities, to some extent still not fully understood and for which metrics are not agreed; it cannot be replaced by electric lighting and should therefore be given priority.

LISUN following instruments fully meet CIBSE Lighting Guide LG2: Lighting for healthcare premises

LSG-1890B High Precision Rotation Luminaire Goniophotometer

LPCE-2(LMS-9000) High Precision Spectroradiometer Integrating Sphere System

LEDLM-84PL LED Optical Aging Test Instrument

EMI-9KB EMI Test Receiver

SG61000-5 Surge Generator