Milking parlour visual task areas illuminance: results of a field study

The UNI EN 12464-1:2021 standard defines the minimum lighting requirements for indoor workplaces, including the average illuminance (Ea) where a specific visual task is performed and the uniformity of illuminance (Uo) as the ratio between the minimum and mean illuminance in the visual task area. According to this standard in milking parlours, Ea for the task area must be at least 200 lx to distinguish the visual objects (udder, teats, milk, milking cluster, etc.) and Uo must be at least 0.6 to ensure that everything in the parlour is perfectly visible and to avoid visual stress. As part of the MungiLUX project, funded by Regione Lombardia (FEASR - Rural Development Programme 2014–2020) four milker’s visual task areas (VTAs) were defined and the relative Ea and Uo were calculated for two milking parlours (MP1, MP2) involved in the project. The first (VTA1) included the floor area of the milking stall under the udder and the area where the milking clusters are located; the second (VTA2) and the third (VTA3) included the area in front of the udder and teats, and the milking control unit, respectively; the fourth (VTA4) corresponded to the area of milk filter. The minimum Ea of 200 lx required by the UNI EN 12464-1:2021 was reached only in MP2 at the VTA1 of the right side and at VTA3. On the contrary, the minimum Uo of 0.6 required by the technical standard was not reached in any of the milker’s visual task areas, neither in MP1 nor in MP2. These results are probably due to a lighting design based on criteria that pre-date the introduction of the new standard, suggesting that the lighting system of MP1 and MP2 needs to be reconsidered.