Blue lighting has been installed in public places like train stations to reduce crime and suicides. Studies found an 84% decrease in suicides at stations with blue lights in Tokyo, and no suicide incidents at Gatwick Airport station after blue lights were installed. Blue light makes people feel calmer and less impulsive. The concept of human-centric lighting aims to enhance human health and well-being by using light suited to circadian rhythms. It can improve mood, concentration, and performance by adjusting light intensity, temperature, distribution and personal control. Philips Lighting develops solutions like Philips Hue and SceneSwitch that apply human-centric lighting principles.

1. 5 6 ELECTRICAL CONNECTION Summer 2017
LIGHTEN THE MOOD
C
oloured lighting has been gaining
increasing attention over the
past few years, in particular the
use of blue lighting to reduce crime,
prevent suicides and increase the overall
safety of public spaces.
Japan, England and Scotland have all
installed blue LED floodlights at various
railway stations and platforms as a
cost-effective and simple way to prevent
suicides and reduce anti-social behaviour.
Tokyo’s Yamanote railway line had
blue LED lights installed at all 29
stations in 2009 and a paper published
four years later in the Journal of
Affective Disorder found there was an
84% decrease in suicides at the stations
with blue lights installed.
This prompted Gatwick Airport in
London to install its own custom-made
120W blue LED floodlights, which were
manufactured by Minimise Energy, on
train platforms in 2014. The floodlights
bathe the platforms in blue light but
have been positioned so that they don’t
dazzle train drivers.
Scottish Network Rail then announced
in 2016 that it would be trialling the
installation of blue light sources at
Scottish level crossings to help reduce
an unexplained spike in suicides.
While the trial in Scotland is still
ongoing and limited to two level
crossings, early indicators from
the Gatwick Airport trial have been
good. Network Rail, the owner and
infrastructure manager of most of the
rail network in England, said in 2015 that
the company had no reports of suicide-
related incidents at the stations since
the blue lights were installed. This is a big
improvement on the year before, which
was the worst year for suicides on the
train lines in the southeast of England.
While there still isn’t a lot of scientific
evidence to back up claims that blue
light can prevent suicides, there are
studies that have found blue lighting
can make people calmer and less
impulsive. For instance, research
published by the University of Leeds in
2015 found participants’ pulse rates
and blood pressure increased under red
light but decreased under blue light,
indicating that people felt more at ease
under blue lighting.
These studies have given rise to
the idea of human-centric lighting,
which is devoted to enhancing human
performance, comfort, health and well-
being by focusing on how light can be
used to suit a human’s circadian rhythm.
The colour and temperature of
lighting plays a role in this but is just one
facet that is considered when designing
human-centric lighting solutions.
Philips Lighting is an advocate
for human-centric lighting and has
developed lighting solutions that benefit
human psychology and physiology.
“Light can affect our well-being
in ways that are visual, through
photoreceptors in the eye’s retina,
and non-visual, through our central
biological clock,” says Philips Lighting
country leader for Australia and New
Zealand David Gardner.
“There are three scientifically proven
benefits of light on life. Lighting helps
us see better (visual), feel better
(emotional) and function better
mood and well-being. Adelle King
LIGHTING
This article has been reproduced with permission from ELECTRICAL Connection magazine, SUMMER 2017.
Connection Magazines does not endorse any manufacturer, product or service nor does it provide any assurances of product or service performance.
ELECTRICAL Connection

2. www.electricalconnection.com.au 5 7
(biological). Collectively, these give rise
to psychological comfort.”
David says delivering the combination
of the right light, with the right spectral
content and at the right time means
addressing five attributes – light intensity,
colour temperature, light distribution,
personal control and lighting design.
Although colour temperature is only
part of this holistic view, it can have a
big affect on people’s well-being.
“Being able to change or calibrate
the colour of lighting will help boost
one’s concentration, maintain optimal
eye comfort, improve alertness and
concentration, reduce sleepiness,
increase activity performance and
enhance cooperative behaviour in
warmer light conditions,” says David.
Philips Lighting has developed two
fit-for-purpose solutions around the
principles of human-centric lighting,
Philips Hue and Philips LED SceneSwitch.
Philips Hue is a personal wireless
lighting system, which combines
energy-efficient LED light with
intuitive technology that enables
users to control their lights from their
smart devices. Philips Hue can also
be voice-controlled and works with
Apple HomeKit, Google Nest, Amazon
Echo, Amazon Alexa and other virtual
assistants.
“The Hue family primarily consists of
the white and colour ambience range
that covers the entire spectrum of 16
million colours,” says David.
Philips LED SceneSwitch features
three light settings in one bulb, offering
the ability to switch from functional
bright lighting to natural lighting and
then to a warm glow. A multiple-setting
feature allows for task-lighting and
ambient lighting in the household, while
a built-in memory chip will memorise
users’ last light setting if the switch is
turned off for longer than six seconds.
Since it works with existing switches,
there is no need for re-cabling for a
separate dimmer.
Human-centric lighting solutions
are starting to be installed everywhere
from homes and streets to large office
buildings and hospital wards. While the
International Commission on Illumination
(CIE), the international authority on
lighting, illumination and colour, says
knowledge in this field is still premature,
the organisation acknowledges that
observations from laboratory studies
have found it has beneficial effects on
human health and performance.
“Human-centric lighting brings
together an in-depth understanding
of user needs, lighting applications
and scientific insights to create
evidence-based lighting solutions for
optimal vision, sense of well-being and
performance,” says David.
Philips Lighting
www.lighting.philips.com.au
This article has been reproduced with permission from ELECTRICAL Connection magazine, SUMMER 2017.
Connection Magazines does not endorse any manufacturer, product or service nor does it provide any assurances of product or service performance.
ELECTRICAL Connection