The new EU equestrian helmet standard EN 1384:2023 has been officially implemented

Starting from November 1, 2023, the new EU equestrian helmet standard EN 1384:2023 will fully replace the previous standard EN 1384:2017 and be implemented in various European countries. The new standard will be published by the EU Standardization Committee CEN on July 31, 2023.

Equestrian is a professional sport, and safety issues have always been a concern. In order to protect the safety of riders, equestrian helmets have become one of the essential equipment. EN 1384: 2023 is the standard for testing and certifying equestrian helmets, which includes helmets with brims and targets the population involved in equestrian activities, including but not limited to personnel involved in horseback riding, training, management, and care of horses.

EN 1384: 2023 provides requirements and corresponding testing methods for the following aspects: structure, including field of view;

Collision absorption performance;

Penetration resistance;

Lateral mechanical strength;

The performance of the wearing system;

The amount of deformation of the brim (if any);

Labels and information;

Compared to the previous version EN 1384:2017, the main technical changes of the new standard EN 1384:2023 are as follows:

In clause 2, add EN ISO13688:2013 as a reference standard for harmless materials in clause 4.3;

In clause 4.1, relevant explanations have been added;

Added clause 4.2 on ergonomics and clause 5.1.6 on ergonomic evaluation methods;

In clause 4.6, a dangerous anvil impact test has been added;

In clause 4.7, three impacts were conducted according to the testing method described in 5.8;

In clause 4.9.2, the description is changed to "maximum displacement of the head shape";

Move the testing requirements from clause 5 to clause 4.3 on material harmlessness, and add clause 5.13 on material harmlessness testing;

In clause 5.7.1, the definition of Figure 3- Dangerous Anvil has been added;

In clause 5.7.3, the speed of the dangerous anvil has been added;

In clause 5.7.4, update the clause by adding collision points for the dangerous anvil;

In clause 5.7.5, due to additional impacts, the testing period has been extended to 360 seconds;

In clause 5.8.4, the added collision energy is 18.4 ± 0.5J, and the theoretical drop height is 625mm;

In clause 5.8.5, change to three collision points per helmet;

In clause 5.9.3, the force setting is changed to 800 ± 20N;

In clause 6.2, there is a requirement to add content to the instruction manual;

Table ZA. 1 has been updated to the corresponding provisions of Regulation (EU) 2016/425.