Using light to live safely

Concerned about reducing dangers in your home? It's obvious that life is easier, more comfortable and far safer if you can see what you're doing. So don't put up with dismally dark corridors and spooky staircases. Install more lights.

Make sure that the type of lighting you choose is appropriate — some "green" energy-saving bulbs light up very slowly, which can be hazardous. Equally, the wrong type of lighting, that glares or disorients you, is almost as bad as no light at all. And electric light is no substitute for daylight. Here are a few bright ideas.

• Make sure that doorways, stairs and hallways are well lit with bulbs of the maximum appropriate wattage.
• Leave landing or hall lights on overnight in case you need to leave the bedroom.
• Ensure you have light switches within easy reach at the top and bottom of stairs and at both ends of corridors.
• Have sufficient lights throughout the house — make sure kitchen surfaces are well lit, and add table and floor lamps in living areas if fixed lighting is poor.
• Avoid bare bulbs, clear-glass shades and chandeliers that can produce glare and disorient you.
• For reading and desk work, use freestanding lamps (task lighting) that can be raised, lowered and swivelled. Keep the light behind and to one side of your working area, so that it is shining downwards onto what you're doing.
• If your colour perception is weak, buy halogen or fluorescent bulbs that are designed to improve colour rendering; ask a lighting retailer about current options.
• Where light switches are hard to see or to reach, consider installing motion-sensitive lighting that switches on automatically when you enter a room; check that the light will stay on for a comfortable period of time.
• For outdoor safety, install automatic motion-sensitive lights on driveways, paths and outside doorways.

• Generally, strong contrasts make objects easier to see. So if you keep tripping over the sofa, try covering it in a boldly coloured fabric or painting the wall behind it a contrasting colour.
• Put striped borders around your light switches so they're easier to see in dim light. But minimize contrast in lighting between rooms so that your eyes don't have to adapt quickly.
• For the same reason, give yourself a moment or two to adjust if you come indoors from a sunny garden or go out into the sun from a dark room.