The Australian standard for required workplace illumination AS1680.1.2006 offers the following advice:
| Class of Task | Recommended Maintained Illuminance lux | Characteristics of the activity / interior | Representative activities / interiors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Movement and Orientation | 40 | Interiors rarely visited with visual tasks limited to movement and orientation | Corridors, cable tunnels, indoor storage tanks; walkways |
| Rough Intermittent | 80 | Interiors requiring intermittent use with visual tasks limited to movement, orientation and coarse detail. | Staff change rooms; live storage of bulky materials; dead storage of materials needing care; locker rooms; loading bays |
| Simple Workplace tasks | 160 | Any continuously occupied interior where there are no tasks requiring perception of other than coarse detail. Occasional reading of clearly printed documents for short periods. | Waiting Rooms, staff canteens; rough checking of stock; rough bench and machine work; entrance halls; general fabrication of structural steel; casting concrete; automated process monitoring; turbine halls. |
| Ordinary or Moderately easy work tasks | 240 | Continuously occupied interiors with moderately easy visual tasks with high contrasts or large detail | School chalkboards and charts; medium woodworking; food preparation; counters for transactions. |
| Moderately Difficult work tasks | 320-400 | Areas where visual tasks are moderately difficult with moderate detail or with low contrasts | Routine office tasks eg reading, typing, enquiry desks. Inspection of medium work; fine woodwork; car assembly |
| Difficult work tasks | 600 | Areas where visual tasks are difficult with small detail or with low contrast | Drawing boards; most inspection tasks; proofreading; fine machine work; fine painting and finishing; colour matching |
| Very difficult work tasks | 800 | Areas where visual tasks are very difficult with very small detail or with very low contrast | Fine inspection; paint retouching; fine manufacture; grading of dark materials; clolour matching of dyes. |
| Extremely Difficult | 1200 | Areas where visual tasks are extremely difficult with extremely small detail or f low contrast. Visual aids may assist | Graphic arts inspection; hand tailoring; fine die sinking; inspection of dark goods; extra fine benchwork. |
| Exceptionally Difficult | 1600 | Areas where visual tasks are exceptionally difficult with exceptionally small detail or with very low contrasts. Visual aids will be of advantage. | Finished fabric inspection; assembly of minute mechanisms, jewelry and watchmaking. |
