Ergonomic study of lighting conditions in rural and urban homes of Ludhiana district
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Date
2017
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Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Abstract
The present study entitled “Ergonomic study of lighting conditions in rural and urban
homes of Ludhiana district” was undertaken to study the existing general and task lighting
conditions in rural and urban homes of Ludhiana district. The study was conducted to assess the
impact of inadequate lighting conditions on human health and to prepare instructional booklet
suggesting guidelines for adequate lighting conditions based on ergonomic recommendations. The
first part of the study comprised of household survey in rural and urban homes. For rural sample,
one block was randomly selected and further from the selected block two villages was randomly
selected. A sample of thirty home makers was also randomly selected from each selected village
thus making rural sample of 60 homemakers. Whereas for the selection of the urban respondents,
one zone out of four of Ludhiana city was randomly selected, out of further two localities were
randomly selected, and from each selected locality 30 respondents were randomly selected thus
making urban sample 60. So, the total sample size comprised 120 i.e. 60 from both rural and urban
area. A total of 22 female home makers from the sample of field survey having the permissible
limits of physiological parameters were selected for field experiment. Results of the study
revealed that from both urban and rural area maximum of the respondents preferred to work in
natural light. In urban and rural area people were aware of all light sources except halogen bulbs.
Most of the respondents used CFLs for their daily activities and economically ranked these first.
Various visual discomforts like declined vision, eye strain, glare in eyes, were observed due to
inadequate light. Likewise, some psycho-emotional problems (frustration, irritation, anger) were
also faced due to poor lighting. The subjective scales used also highlighted that respondents felt
visual discomforts due to insufficient lighting and improper placement of light fixtures resulting in
awkward positioning of neck, back and arms. Thus causing pain in neck, lower back, upper back
and shoulders. Therefore, lighting of the house should be ergonomically designed which can help
to maintain the good working posture and ultimately reduce the musculoskeletal and visual
problems. Further, objective scales applied on selected objects also showed that the posture of
bending, cervical flexion, bent wrist and unsupported feet were under high risk and for these;
corrective measures were required. These corrective measures could be achieved by adequate
lighting, right positioning of light fixtures and type of light source.