Motion Study
A Method for Increasing the Efficiency of the Workman

VARIABLES OF THE SURROUNDINGS 51 the light itself is but a small part of the question. Go into any factory and examine every light, and you will notice that as a rule they are obviously wrong. A light to be right must pass five tests: a. It must furnish the user sufficient light so that he can see. b. It must be so placed that it does not cause the user’s eyes to change the size of the diaphragm when ordinarily using the light. c. It must be steady. d. There shall not be any polished surfaces in its vicin- ity that will reflect an unnecessary bright spot anywhere that can be seen by the eyes of the worker. e. It must be protected so that it does not shine in the eyes of some other worker. The use of polished brass and nickel should be aban- doned wherever it will shine in the worker’s eye. For work done on a flat surface, like the work of a book- keeper or a reader, the light should be placed where the glare will reflect least in the worker’s eyes; where the work is like the examining of single threads, the relative color and figured pattern of the background, as well as good light, is important. This is obvious. So is nearly everything else in good management. Go into the build- ings among the workers, the students, and the scientists and see how rarely it is considered. All of this is not a question of getting the most out of the light. Light in a factory is the cheapest thing there is. It is wholly a