Why is a special search facility needed for standards?
NoRA was developed by the Commission for Occupational Health and Safety and Standardization (KAN) in co-operation with DIN, after searches for OSH-related aspects in standards in databases such as DITR or PERINORM had frequently proved unsuccessful. NoRA corrects this deficit.
For this purpose, OSH-related standards were additionally indexed against a substantially extended and restructured catalogue of key terms. The new search terms all relate to occupational safety and health; the classification gives particular consideration to the hazards addressed directly by standards. NoRA does not contain all standards, but only those of relevance to OSH.
What features are offered by the supplementary ErgoNoRA tool?
ErgoNoRA is a search tool specifically for ergonomics standards, i.e. for a defined subset of the standards in NoRA. It was developed because the content of ergonomics standards often fails to be accessed by those for whom it was intended - above all designers, but also members of standards committees. Not infrequently, these parties are not even aware that the standards exist. In general, the parties concerned require detailed information in order to determine in a specific case whether an (ergonomics) standard would provide useful information. For this purpose, the topics addressed in the standards must be searchable in sufficient detail for it to be clear, before a standard is purchased, which standard containing anthropometric data actually includes information on a very specific body dimension required for a design task (for example, the circumference of the wrist). The tables of contents of the standards were compiled and made available for this reason.
What are the particular features of ErgoNoRA?
Application areas 35-38 in particular were modified and extended for ErgoNoRA. Within these classes, very selective searches for certain ergonomics standards can already be performed. As in NoRA, all search fields can be combined. The search is performed in this case only within the ErgoNoRA database, however.
What charge is made for the use of NoRA and ErgoNoRA?
No charge is made for use of the tools. However, only the standards' bibliographical data, abstracts and tables of contents are displayed. The full text of a standard can be downloaded/displayed only in return for payment and only via DIN/Beuth Verlag.
What features are offered by the basic search?
The basic search enables users to enter search terms of their own (free-text searches) in the input box on the homepage.
The asterisk (*) can be used as a wildcard to truncate terms. The basic search covers all available search fields.
A hit list provides an overview of the standards returned by the search (document number, date of publication and title). Clicking on the document number in the hit list causes the detailed information for a hit to be displayed.
How are index lists used for the search?
Searches are possible directly in the right-hand column with the aid of certain index lists:
Application areas
In order to permit searches for the application area (generally product groups), the application areas have been divided into classes. The classes are numbered and contain sub-classes (the image shows an example).
The numbers in brackets show the number of standards present in NoRA. Hit lists of the sub-classes can be called up by clicking on the class numbers.
Hazards
Like the application areas, the hazards have been divided into classes and sub-classes. In contrast to the application areas, they are marked with letters rather than numbers.
Search terms
All available search terms (those relevant to OSH and those that are not) are listed alphabetically in this index list.
In contrast to the basic search, which is applied to all search fields, calling up the search of index lists causes the search to be performed only in the selected index list. In general, the search terms are considerably more detailed than the classes in the categories of areas of application, hazards and ICS, and permit selective searching for a sub-category.
What does the advanced search offer?
An additional option in the advanced search is for search terms in one or more search fields to be combined.
To use this option, first select the search category, then click on the small arrow on the right to open the search index. You can enter a search term here. If you wish, you can select a suggestion from the box below the search field.
You can use the plus sign on the right-hand side of the page to add more search fields. The following combinations are possible:
| AND: | word1 and word2 |
| OR: | word1 or word2 |
| NOT: | word1 not word2 |
| Defined word sequence: | "word1 word2" |
The default setting is "AND". OR and NOT can however also be selected.
What information on standards can be called up?
Detailed information on individual documents in the hit list can be called up by clicking on the document number concerned.
Besides the abstract, all information stored on the standard concerned (title, search terms, author, history, etc.) can be called up.
How can a search be performed for a current draft standard?
An overview list of current draft standards at the public enquiry stage is provided by a direct link in the main menu.
The Deadline for comments field permits direct searches for draft standards with a particular deadline for comments. The date convention must be observed.
Can standards be ordered through NoRA?
Standards can be ordered online (for a fee) from Beuth Verlag in Berlin. The price of a standard can be found in its detailed information.