Functionality of back protectors in snow sports concerning safety requirements

Approximately 13% skiers and 38% snowboarders wore wearing a back protector during the last season in Switzerland. This huge number suggests an ensured functionality of such back protectors. However, there is no specific standard regarding snow sports available. Therefore, the main goal of the study...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Procedia engineering 2010-06, Vol.2 (2), p.2869-2874
Main Authors: Michel, Frank I., Schmitt, Kai-Uwe, Liechti, Bendicht, Stämpfli, Rolf, Brühwiler, Paul
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Back protector
Injuries
Material test
Safety standards
Snow sports
Survey
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Approximately 13% skiers and 38% snowboarders wore wearing a back protector during the last season in Switzerland. This huge number suggests an ensured functionality of such back protectors. However, there is no specific standard regarding snow sports available. Therefore, the main goal of the study was to get an initial overview about the functionality in terms of potential protective effects of back protectors. The whole project was divided into an athlete survey and an experimental performance test (drop test). The results from the surveys clearly pointed out, that back protectors belong to the most important pieces of protection equipment in snow sports. The related customer expectations emphasize the importance in terms of injury prevention particularly regarding severe spinal column injuries. Concerning the performance test according to the standard for motorcyclists’ back protectors EN 1621-2 most of the samples did pass protection level 1. However, considering the test procedure there appears to be a mismatch between customer expectations, injury occurrence and the actual preventive potential of currently available protectors.
ISSN:1877-7058
1877-7058
DOI:10.1016/j.proeng.2010.04.080