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Lighting Towers


PYROmaster

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Hi all !

 

The company I work for are needing lighting towers for our events in Nov/Dec.

They will be used for public areas, primarily on a temporary car park.

 

I am looking for advice and pointing towards regulations/H&S regarding the required illumination of an area where we will have public in the event - so that we can work out how many lighting towers we need.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a light meter so that we can check that we have sufficient light?

 

Thanks in advance :)

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Basically, there is a slight disagreement here on how many towers we think we will need. One opinion is 2, the other is 4 or 5...

 

The car park will be in the middle of a field on temporary matting and there will be car park stewards. There will be approx 250-300 cars on site at peak.

 

The question is... what is the acceptable light level for safety of the public walking from their cars to the bus (park & ride type setup)? - from this we can work out how many towers are required based on the tower specs.

In a way the money is irrelevant - if it works out we need, let say 10 towers, then we need 10 towers... we need to find out how many are needed first, and then work backwards to get the best value... we already have a couple of our own and we will find the most cost effective way of sourcing the rest smile.gif whether that is to hire or buy outright.

 

It would be helpful if I am able to quote H&S guidance/legislation and use a light meter to gauge compliance.

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Light vehicular traffic 5 Lux. Medium traffic 10 Lux. Heavy traffic 20 Lux.

 

BS 12464:2014 sets out tables but again you decide whether it is light, medium or heavy traffic. Obviously areas like gateways and turning points need more attention but for temporary installations I have never heard of anyone wandering about with a light meter. I just used to overprovide with a VT1 halide tower for each 4000 square metres or two per football pitch as a rough guide.

 

I wouldn't use towers on traffic free pedestrian walkways at all but lower intensity, lower level kit like LED festoons. If it really is as controversial as all that then sub it out and let contractors take responsibility.

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I hate to be “that guy” but the answer is “what does your risk assessment say?” Because light levels for 30 something audience that’s sober is very different to pensioners or to what drunk teenagers need, or if you have kids on site running around. There isn’t “an answer” you can specifically point to anywhere else because every circumstance has different needs and expectations.

 

And as kerry notes- towers might not be the right choice as they provide hotspots which can radically reduce people’s night vision and make them more blind than had you not supplied any lighting- if there are predictable pathways then a constant low level light source like festoon is a better, safer solution than towers which are better suited to highlighting features like entry/exit points, junctions, ticket points.

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I agree with Tom. Too many times towers do a great job of lighting the generator brilliantly and throwing much else into shadow doubling the risks. The important thing is that people can see where they are walking and that is best done by decent festoon over designated walkways. It looks good too. The labelling of the rows clearly and decent clear signposting of the exit route is as important. At exit time in the dark marshalling the people is as important as marshalling the cars. (A bete noir of mine over twenty years of reporting outdoor events is the fact that many an organiser simply doesn't organise and marshall exiting properly. I have seen so much chaos that could have been avoided.) Edited by Junior8
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I agree with Tom. Too many times towers do a great job of lighting the generator brilliantly and throwing much else into shadow doubling the risks. The important thing is that people can see where they are walking and that is best done by decent festoon over designated walkways. It looks good too. The labelling of the rows clearly and decent clear signposting of the exit route is as important. At exit time in the dark marshalling the people is as important as marshalling the cars. (A bete noir of mine over twenty years of reporting outdoor events is the fact that many an organiser simply doesn't organise and marshall exiting properly. I have seen so much chaos that could have been avoided.)

Well said.
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How do you think any of us have enough knowledge of your event plans for the future to be able to specify what lighting will be sufficient? Are you planning in a open field or in an urban space? How near are town street lights? What do you need lighting for (reading fine print needs more light than seeing a path)?
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