KANBrief 1/16

KANPraxis: make use of our services!

The Secretariat of the Commission for Occupational Health and Safety and Standardization sees itself as a service provider for health and safety professionals working in standardization. In 2014, KAN created a new brand: KAN Praxis. The services provided by KAN (in German and English) that support you in your work are grouped under this brand. These services are described in brief below.

NoRA: searching for standards

NoRA provides you with access free of charge to a database containing information on over 10,000 standards relevant to occupational safety and health. The database is updated monthly. The ErgoNoRA service is a supplementary resource permitting searches for standards in the area of ergonomics.

In NoRA, you can call up the abstract of any of the standards, and for the majority of standards also the table of contents. A link is provided on the home page to the list of draft standards relevant to OSH that are currently at the public enquiry stage. By subscribing (at no cost) to the customizable NoRA Ticker (in German and english), you receive a monthly summary of all standards in the selected fields that have recently been published, revised or withdrawn or that are currently at the public enquiry stage.

Guide: applying anthropometric data (in german only)

Have you been reluctant in the past to make use of anthropometric data during design work or during work on a standards committee? Our online guide provides assistance in this complex area. The guide is based upon a KAN Study and is particularly intended for designers and members of standards committees, with the aim of supporting them in selecting anthropometric data and using these data appropriately. Discover sources of anthropometric data, and how they were determined. How are the data influenced by the age and origin of the population? What aspects need to be considered during application of data for men and women? These are just some of the questions answered by the guide.

Modules: learning ergonomics

Training for designers often fails to give adequate consideration to communicating expertise in ergonomics. However, it is important for machinery and work equipment to be designed in a way that permits healthy work. For this reason, KAN has commissioned the production of lecture materials for the field of ergonomics. Seven lecture modules have been developed that can be used by lecturers from a range of disciplines. The modules particularly draw their content from ergonomics standards.

The materials focus upon machinery and plant construction. However, much of the content can be applied to other sectors. Besides the theoretical content, the modules include illustrative video clips, cost/benefit analyses and case studies. The resource includes descriptions of the modules, Powerpoint slides with lecturers' notes, bibliographies, exercises and solved test questions.

Machinery: finding ergonomic solutions

What aspects characterize a machine of good ergonomic design, and where can information on these aspects be found? Our Internet portal provides support in this area in the form of good-practice examples from the spheres of machine tools and in-plant transport equipment. It is intended to enhance awareness among designers and standards committee members for ergonomic influencing factors during the design of machinery, and provides references to relevant standards. Purchasers and manufacturers can also benefit from the practical solutions presented.

The portal was discontinued in June 2023.

Seminars: learning about standardization

Together with the Institute of Work and Health of the DGUV (IAG) and with the involvement of DIN, KAN is offering a seminar on the principles of standardization in occupational safety and health. The seminar provides OSH experts, whether new to standardization work or with past experience of it, with introductory information on national, European and international standards development procedures, on the reciprocal relationship between standards, national legislation and EU directives, and on the scope for the OSH lobby to influence standardization work.

Furthermore, KAN organizes webinars on a range of standards-related topics at irregular intervals in conjunction with European partner bodies.

 

Katharina von Rymon Lipinski
vonrymonlipinski@kan.de