Workplace Lighting Guide: Staying Compliant
Oct 9th 2025
Lighting is a crucial safety control. Adequate illumination helps vehicles and people navigate, keeps operators aware of hazards, and—in emergencies—guides everyone to exits and areas of refuge.
General Lighting
Strength of illumination is measured in foot-candles. Most workplaces (construction areas, warehouses, hallways, maintenance areas) require at least 5 foot-candles, while critical spaces such as first-aid rooms can require up to 30 foot-candles. OSHA 1926.56 provides guidance:
| Foot-candles | Area of Operation |
|---|---|
| 5 | General construction area lighting |
| 3 | General construction areas; concrete placement; excavation and waste areas; access ways; active storage; loading platforms; refueling; field maintenance |
| 5 | Indoors: warehouses, corridors, hallways, exitways |
| 5 | Tunnels, shafts, underground work areas (10 fc at tunnel/shaft headings during drilling, mucking, scaling; cap lights acceptable) |
| 10 | Construction plants & shops (batch/screening plants; mech./electrical rooms; carpenter shops; rigging lofts; active storerooms; mess halls; indoor toilets/workrooms) |
| 30 | First-aid stations, infirmaries, offices |
Exit and Emergency Lighting
Exit routes are a “continuous and unobstructed path…to a place of safety.” Emergency lighting must provide 1 foot-candle at any point in the building and at least 0.1 foot-candle along the egress path at floor level. Illumination should be automatic and continuous for at least 1 ½ hours during an outage.
OSHA 1910.37(b)(6)
Each exit sign must be illuminated to a surface value of at least five foot-candles (54 lux) by a reliable light source and be distinctive in color. Self-luminous or electroluminescent signs with a minimum luminance of 0.06 footlamberts (0.21 cd/m2) are permitted.
NFPA guidance recommends photoluminescent (glow-in-the-dark) markings for fire equipment and egress identification—highly visible in smoke and power-loss scenarios and not dependent on external power in an emergency.
