NOCSAE

The National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) is a non-profit organization operating in the United States, whose mission is to reduce athletic injuries and death through standards and certification for athletic equipment. Schools and universities look to NOCSAE certification of equipment, particularly helmets, to protect players and reduce liability. NOCSAE data indicate a significant reduction in athlete fatalities and brain injuries when using NOCSAE-certified equipment. NOCSAE has been criticized for stifling innovation, holding a conflict of interest, and not furthering true player safety.

NOCSAE was organized in 1969 with the purpose of reducing death and injuries through the establishment of standards and certification for athletic equipment. It does this through researching and testing equipment, developing new standards, and improving existing ones.

NOCSAE's commissioning came in the wake of the death of 32 players in organized football in 1968 and subsequent concerns over safety of athletic equipment. Based on its limited funding, NOCSAE has narrowed its efforts from protective athletic equipment in all sports toward helmets' effectiveness in reducing injury, particularly in football, lacrosse, and baseball.

As a general matter, to be approved by NOCSAE, helmets must resist brain-injuring, concussive forces. Research from NOCSAE, in addition to targeting helmet safety standards, has also increased understanding of the mechanisms of head and neck injuries and the design and structure of helmets, headgear, and face masks.

NOCSAE standards are adopted, if at all, on a voluntary basis. While a sport governing body may mandate that a piece of equipment be "NOCSAE approved", that is a rule or mandate of the governing body, not NOCSAE.

By 1973, NOCSAE had finalized and published a standard testing criteria for football helmets. The NCAA began advising its members to purchase helmets certified by NOCSAE beginning in 1975. NOCSAE helmet standards were required in colleges in 1978 and in high schools in 1980.

Stickers indicating NOCSAE certification are placed onto helmets. Attorneys specializing in sports law advise schools and universities to purchase appropriate athletic equipment for the athletic activities offered that is of satisfactory quality, specifically football helmets that adhere to NOCSAE guidelines. School athletic staff are advised by experts to search for NOCSAE certification stickers, both as part of their athletic training education and day-to-day activities . They are warned to do this, in particular, for liability reasons, as "serious legal reprecussions may occur if a helmet is issued to a student athletic " lacking an approval sticker.

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