Facility Lighting Operation Questions Checklist

List each area that is lit and note which control serves it, walking the site with whoever installed the lighting if that is still possible.

The link between a switch and an area is obvious to the installer and unknown to everybody who comes afterwards.

Note where each control is, whether it sits inside a locked enclosure and who holds the key to reach it.

A control behind a lock whose key nobody can find is the reason lighting gets left on for an entire season.

Note whether the lighting can be operated in parts or whether the whole facility comes on together, as described by the installer.

Whether an area can be lit on its own decides how sessions are arranged and what neighbours experience.

Note anything lit that is not the playing area itself, such as the path, the store, the bin area or the gate.

The parts lit for arriving and leaving are the ones nobody records, and they are needed after the main lighting goes off.

Note any lighting on or beside the site that belongs to somebody else, such as a school building, a car park or a neighbour.

Light the group does not control still affects the facility, and its owner may change or remove it without warning.

Photograph the control position and any labelling on it, and keep the photographs with the facility papers.

Labelling fades and gets painted over, and a photograph taken at handover is the only record of what it said.

Decide who is permitted to switch the lighting on, and record how that permission is passed to a hirer or a visiting group.

Where permission is informal it spreads, and the group loses any way of knowing who was operating it on a given evening.

Ask the installer what the controls do when nobody switches off, and write the answer down rather than assuming anything about it.

What any control arrangement is set to do is stated by the installer for this installation and is never assumed from another site.

Note whether anybody is able to override the arrangement, and how the group would know that it had happened.

An override nobody can see is how a facility ends up lit long after the last session finished.

Note whether the control sits on the route people take when leaving, since a control nobody passes is a control nobody uses.

Position relative to the exit route predicts whether lighting is switched off far better than any instruction does.

Agree what a user should do when they arrive and find the lighting already on, and who they tell about it.

Without an agreed answer, users assume somebody meant it to be on and nobody ever reports the pattern.

Note whether any part of the lighting remains on after the facility is locked, and record who decided that and why.

Something left on deliberately looks identical to something left on accidentally unless the decision is written down.

Agree who switches on and who switches off for each type of session, and write that into the booking terms rather than leaving it verbal.

Booking terms written before the facility was lit usually say nothing about the one task that causes complaints.

Where one session hands over to the next, record which of the two groups is answerable for the lighting while both are still on the site.

Handovers between groups are where switching quietly stops belonging to anybody, since neither treats the end of the evening as theirs.

Ask whether there is any delay before the lighting can be switched back on once it has gone off, and record exactly what you are told.

How the equipment behaves when switched is a matter for the installer or manufacturer to state, not for an operator to test.

Note whether equipment is put away after the point at which the lighting would sensibly be switched off, and how that is handled here.

Packing away is the last task of an evening and it happens after the main lighting has served its purpose.

Note who checks that the lighting was actually switched off, and how they would know either way.

On an unstaffed site nobody returns to look, so this is usually answered by the next person to arrive or by a neighbour.

Note what happens when a session runs on beyond the time agreed, and who deals with it at the moment it occurs.

Sessions overrun, and whether that becomes a problem depends entirely on somebody having agreed who says something.

Decide who is expected to report a failure, given that the people using the facility after dark are often not those managing it.

Failures are noticed by users and reported to nobody, which is how a lit facility quietly becomes an unlit one.

Write down the route a report takes from a user to somebody able to arrange attendance, and check it does not rest on one individual.

A reporting route with only one name on it fails silently, because the user who sent the message assumes it arrived somewhere.

Log each failure with the date it was noticed, what was reported and what happened next, so that the pattern is visible to whoever looks later.

Failures reported verbally leave no trace, so a unit that has been replaced repeatedly looks exactly like one that has never given trouble.

Ask who holds any spares and what the arrangement is for obtaining a replacement, recording the answer with the facility papers.

What replacement items are appropriate for this equipment is confirmed with the installer or the supplier who provided it.

Ask how each position would be reached when something needs replacing, including whether a vehicle would cross the playing surface.

How equipment at height is reached and worked on is for a suitably qualified professional to determine and carry out.

Note whether the facility would still be used with part of the lighting out, and carry that forward as a question rather than an assumption.

Whether a facility may be used with part of the lighting out is confirmed with the installer and the relevant governing body.

Confirm locally what conditions attach to lighting this site, and record who was asked, what was said and when.

What conditions apply to lighting a facility varies by location and must be confirmed with the local authority for this site.

Note what the group has told neighbours about hours of use, and whether that matches what is actually happening on site.

A gap between what was promised and what happens is what turns a tolerant neighbour into a complainant.

Decide who responds when a neighbour raises the lighting, and keep a dated record of what was said on both sides.

Different committee members giving different answers damages the standing of a facility faster than the lighting itself does.

Note whether the lighting is used outside the sessions it was intended for, such as for maintenance, clearing up or informal play.

Incidental use is invisible to the group and highly visible to anybody living beside the site.

Note who has authority to agree an exception to the agreed hours, so that exceptions do not quietly become the normal pattern.

Exceptions granted by whoever is asked accumulate until the original arrangement no longer describes anything.

Check whether any funding award or lease condition mentions hours of use or public access at this facility.

Conditions on hours or public access written into an award or a lease are checked with the awarding body or a suitably qualified adviser.

Note whether the units can be reached for cleaning and who would carry that out, recording the answer rather than assuming somebody will.

Work at height on lighting equipment is carried out by a suitably qualified professional and never by users or volunteers.

Note what has grown since the lighting was installed, including hedges, trees and planting on neighbouring land.

Any work to trees or hedges near the site is for a qualified arboricultural professional to advise on, after checking locally what is restricted here.

Note anything new that now stands in the way, such as netting, a shelter, a container, a scoreboard or a banner.

Additions are made one at a time by people who were not thinking about the lighting, and the effect is only noticed later.

Note whether any column, bracket or fixing has been struck by a ball, a vehicle or machinery, and report it rather than judging it yourself.

The condition of a column, bracket or fixing after any impact is assessed only by a suitably qualified professional.

Note whether users have begun to mention shadows or dark corners, and record exactly where on the facility they mean.

Users describe the change long before anybody measures anything, and the location matters more than the description.

Note any change in how the area is used since the lighting was installed, since the arrangement was put in for something specific.

Facilities take on new activities without anybody revisiting whether the original lighting arrangement still suits them.

Ask for the operating instructions in writing, including what the controls have been set to do and what an operator may expect.

Operating instructions for this equipment come from the installer or the manufacturer and are not inferred from another facility.

Ask which settings an operator may change and which must not be touched by anybody on site, and record both lists together.

Which settings may be altered at all is decided by the professional responsible for this installation and put in writing, never judged on site.

Note who holds any maintenance arrangement for the lighting, what it covers and how attendance under it is requested.

An arrangement nobody knows about goes unused, and the facility pursues repairs through a route that was never intended.

Ask what would affect any manufacturer or installer arrangement covering this equipment, such as work carried out by somebody else.

What affects a manufacturer or installer arrangement is confirmed with that manufacturer or installer directly.

Ask who should be shown how the controls work, and make sure more than one person from the organisation is present when it happens.

Handover demonstrations are usually given to one person who then leaves the committee before anybody else has been shown anything.

Record where the supply to the lighting can be shut off and who may reach it, as described to you by the installer.

Every question about the supply, its condition and what may be operated belongs with a suitably qualified electrical professional.