Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Following on from a recent thread regarding helmets, I made some enquiries.

I contacted the Joint Accreditation System of Aust. and NZ (JAS-ANZ). JAS-ANZ is the government-appointed accreditation body for Australia and New Zealand responsible for providing accreditation of conformity assessment bodies (CABs) in the fields of certification and inspection.

They informed me the product standard for motorcycle helmets is AS/NZS 1698:2006, as most of you would know. This standard was most recently amended in 2009.

JAS-ANZ has accredited the following bodies to certify suppliers of protective helmets that satisfy this standard:
Global Mark Pty Ltd
SAI Global
TUV Rheinland Aust

What does this mean for us?

As long as the following certification marks include the appropriate standard (1698), then helmets carrying these logos are now legal. The helmets still need to comply with regards to construction (ie: can't remove internal padding) and labeling on the inside of the helmet.

Yeah thanks ardy I was speaking with the head gear scrutineer at the races on the weekend & with no serial numbers they are at a loss to identify individual helmets using the new marks... the AS stickers have them & this is the system currently used , the comment was Shark helmets seem to be the mystery ones with the same number used to identify the helmets...... She even rattled off the number from memory
The ID number only identifies the manufacturer apparently......I will have to chase it up & see how they went.

So in order to comply with safety standards - internal padding cannot be removed ??

I am sure that a stack of helmets are currently being advertised in local mags ( AMCN, TW etc) - and they all tout 'removable cheek pads etc' as one of the selling points ???

That's so you can wash them Dave, or possibly replace them with thinner/thicker ones to gain a better fit. You will still need them installed to ride.

If the standard says in black & white - internal padding cannot be removed......I know why they offer the removable cheek pads ( and some helmets offer more than just cheek pads..)

then taking them out and washing them - is removing them ? Maybe its to do with the internal construction or something ??

Gos, I was referring to the way some wankers (mainly Hardly riders) remove all of the internal padding that is partially designed to help absorb shock upon impact. All they are left with is a plastic bucket on their heads.

You will find that the helmets with removable liners and cheeckpads will still have the padding they require to meet the standard, stitched in.

aardvark wrote:Following on from a recent thread regarding helmets, I made some enquiries.

I contacted the Joint Accreditation System of Aust. and NZ (JAS-ANZ). JAS-ANZ is the government-appointed accreditation body for Australia and New Zealand responsible for providing accreditation of conformity assessment bodies (CABs) in the fields of certification and inspection.

They informed me the product standard for motorcycle helmets is AS/NZS 1698:2006, as most of you would know. This standard was most recently amended in 2009.

JAS-ANZ has accredited the following bodies to certify suppliers of protective helmets that satisfy this standard:
Global Mark Pty Ltd
SAI Global
TUV Rheinland Aust

What does this mean for us?

As long as the following certification marks include the appropriate standard (1698), then helmets carrying these logos are now legal. The helmets still need to comply with regards to construction (ie: can't remove internal padding) and labeling on the inside of the helmet.

thanks Jase

and an interesting one in my sphere of motorsport -
safety and labelling came to the fore at the weeeknd when a number of V8 supercar drivers happen to have racesuits
with tags or labels that didnt tie up with the FIA accredited bodies...ooops and some helmets were missing SNELL or AS details
...very oops

what hope do us weekend warriors have?

aardvark wrote:Gos, I was referring to the way some wankers (mainly Hardly riders) remove all of the internal padding that is partially designed to help absorb shock upon impact. All they are left with is a plastic bucket on their heads.

Like those guys from American Chopper? One of them wears what looks like a Darth Vader kids helmet, which looks capable of deflecting a large beetle or a decent-sized moth and not much else.

Mick

http://www.ksrc-au.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=27667
just to add more confusion owned

aardvark wrote:Gos, I was referring to the way some wankers (mainly Hardly riders) remove all of the internal padding that is partially designed to help absorb shock upon impact. All they are left with is a plastic bucket on their heads.

You will find that the helmets with removable liners and cheeckpads will still have the padding they require to meet the standard, stitched in.

Gotcha - that makes more sense....and yeh, those brain-buckets are misnamed.........no brains inside them !!!

Has anyone had a standards sticker checked (apart from at a race meeting where I know in the past they have accepted UK standards compiance )
I know the insurance issue will arrive when the ambo's take ya lid after a bingle , but ... ??

Nice work Ardy. It's getting a bit bloody confusing now. I wonder if the same testing procedures apply across the various bodies. I assume the same deal applies to removal of the sticker ie don't do it

I looked all over my helmet last night and for the life of me, I couldn't find any stickers. I ended up giving up in the end, gave it a polish, had a cigarette and went to sleep!!

Strika wrote:I looked all over my helmet last night and for the life of me, I couldn't find any stickers. I ended up giving up in the end, gave it a polish, had a cigarette and went to sleep!!

They don't make stickers that small.........

Strika wrote:....I looked all over my helmet last night and for the life of me, I couldn't find any stickers. I ended up giving up in the end, gave it a polish, had a cigarette and went to sleep!! .....

sounds like your standard night-time routine to me !