Canadian Agency Announces New Ski & Snowboard Helmet Standard
Many already know the benefits of wearing a helmet while participating in sporting activities such as bicycling and playing hockey. In fact, legislature has been put in place requiring such preventative measures. The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) is taking it further. They are releasing new national standards for ski and snowboard helmets after results from helmet tests in those areas. Helmet advocate Richard Kinar fears that without a federal law preventing the sale of sub-standard helmets there is a change the new standards will never be used. “I have personally spoken to helmet manufacturers and they have told me that they would refuse to make the helmets unless they were forced to by the federal government by passing a law that would classify helmets as hazardous products,” said Kinar. Classifying the sub-standard helmets as hazardous materials would effectively make it illegal for retailers to sell such helmets. A Bill is underway that would prohibit the sale of non-CSA approved sports helmets under the Hazardous Products Act. In the meantime, helmet manufactures can voluntarily produce helmets that meet the new standard, and stores can voluntarily sell them. “The real shame of it all is that now we have this great new standard that has the ability to save lives and prevent head injury and paralysis, and we may never use it,” Kinar said. “We have no national injury prevention strategy, even when we have studies that show that preventable injuries are a leading killer and disabler of children in Canada.” Preventable injuries are costing the health care system an estimated $15 billion a year according to figures from the Brain Injury Association of Canada.
