Outdoor LED Workplace Lighting: Low Cost Safety

The area outside your business is an important part of the workplace. As an employer or property owner, you are responsible for the safety of people on your property, which is a greater challenge in winter. Fortunately, quality outdoor lighting improves safety and security for your staff, customers, and, as a bonus, your company's assets during cold winter nights.

Do you already have outdoor workplace lighting? If so, upgrading your existing fixtures to newer ones might interest you. The cost savings are a no-brainer! This blog post will cover everything to know about outdoor workplace lighting, whether for a new project or an upgrade.

Outdoor workplace lighting for safety

Slips, trips, and falls are more likely to occur on slippery surfaces and dark pathways, which are common conditions in winter. Under the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act, employers must "take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of workers." Property and business owners are bound by the Occupiers' Liability Act to take reasonable actions to ensure the safety of anyone entering their premises.

A well-lit building and parking lot are certainly "reasonable actions" to keep people safe.

Besides the above responsibilities, there are benefits to adding outdoor lighting around your workplace. Parking lot lighting can increase security and deter unwanted guests on your property.

Lighting can also help protect your tools, equipment, or inventory. We have also had customers pair new parking lot lighting with a security system to reduce the theft and tampering of fleet vehicles and other valuable items on their lots.

New parking lot lighting projects

Every parking lot is different and requires unique lighting. Sometimes a couple of outdoor wall fixtures are sufficient, sometimes, the project is larger and more involved. In those cases, we work with lighting specialists to map out a plan that meets your needs and budget.

If you have a very large project, it will need to be handled by a general contractor. If you aren’t sure what your needs are, you can always contact us for a free consultation. We are happy to help you determine the best course of action.

Light fixture upgrades

Good news! Upgrading old outdoor workplace light fixtures is an easy decision because of the significant cost savings. Most old fixtures use metal halide bulbs which use a lot of energy.

A popular approach was to use retrofit LED bulbs, but now it's best to upgrade the whole fixture. By upgrading your fixtures to LEDs, you cut each fixture's power usage from, on average, 1000 watts to only 400. That means you can light your parking lot for less than half the cost!

The upgrade is even more appealing, considering the lifespan of each fixture type. LED fixtures can run for about 50,000 hours, or roughly 10-15 years. Many fixtures even come with a 10-year warranty. Metal halide bulbs typically last 11,000 hours or about three to four years. Additionally, the ballasts of metal halide fixtures may burn out as well.

That means you will over the lifespan of one LED fixture, you will have to:

Purchase four to five metal halide bulbs and likely one ballast.
Rent a lift several times if your business doesn't own one (Kraun owns a lift!).
Have an employee replace the bulbs or hire a licensed electrical contractor.

Those are considerable extra costs, especially if your workplace has multiple light poles.

So now, the question is: are you ready to make this easy choice to upgrade your parking lot lighting? If so, let's get started. Fill out the form below or contact us at service@kraun.ca or 1-844-667-6937

Let’s start a job together

1-844-667-6937

Serving the Hamilton and Niagara area.