Inline Skating Helmet Standards
A message from the late Les Earnest
Summary: This 1996 page is history. ASTM’s inline skate standard is now formally part of the bicycle helmet standard, as Les had always recommended, but CPSC never has agreed. We leave this page up to explain the issue.
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 1996 13:03:48 -0800 (PST)
From: Les Earnest
Subject: Roller skating helmet standards approved
After many years with no recognized helmet standard for roller skating, ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) has now approved not one but two such standards.
1. The new Recreational Roller Skating helmet standard (F-1751) is identical to the bicycle helmet standard (F-1447) except for labeling. It is rated for general roller skating use, including speed skating on either quads or in-lines, but not for freestyle skating or roller hockey.
2. The scope of the existing skateboarding helmet standard (F-1492) has been expanded to recognize its applicability to freestyle roller skating.
Note that whereas the recreational skating helmets (F-1751), like bicycle helmets, will be designed to absorb a single hard impact, the Freestyle (F-1492) helmets are designed for multiple impacts of slightly lower energy.
It can be argued that instead of creating a new helmet standard for recreational skating, ASTM could have recognized the applicability of their bicycle helmet standard to this sport. Indeed, I tried hard to make that argument before the standards committee (ASTM F08.53) but got shot down. It appeared that several manufacturers would like to be able to pretend that you need a different helmet for roller skating than for bicycling. While making it a separate standard proved to be the only way I could get it through the committee, I hope that nobody gets taken in by a claim that you need different helmets for cycling and skating.
Getting this through the standards process has taken five years and has been greatly facilitated by support from Uwe Brockmann, working on behalf of IISA, and by written endorsements from IISA, USAC/RS and USA Cycling.
In view of the fact that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is developing a bicycle helmet standard based on the ASTM standard that will probably become the national standard in about two years, I have been lobbying them to also recognize it as a roller skating helmet standard. Unfortunately, their directive from the U.S. Congress mentions only bicycle helmets and they have apparently chosen to adhere to that narrow guidance rather than extending the scope of their standard.
One thing that I find strange about that is that the head of CPSC went on national television last year urging all skaters to wear helmets, even though her agency does not recognize any skating helmet standards. My letter to her pointing out this anomaly elicited a polite response that promised nothing.
Another helmet standard for ice skating, aimed principally at short course speed skating, is still under development by Bell Sports and will probably be approved by ASTM next year.
-Les Earnest
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