Strategic's Quest for Higher Helmet Standards: A Letter from Norman Cheng After the ISSA Conference

The Strategic Sports logo is accompanied by the words "Protecting Life." It's not a slogan. It's our North Star. Since the beginning, we've invested in machinery, people, and knowledge so that Strategic Sports' helmet safety expertise stands apart.

That work has put us on numerous safety boards and certification committees. It's some of the most important work we do.

Recently, I spoke at the XXXIInd Global ISSA Construction Conference in Limassol, Cyprus. Industry professionals gathered to talk about industrial and construction helmet certifications, and I was invited to present our proprietary safety material, ERT (Energy Reduction Technology).

I also talked about the gaps in today's PPE certification standards. Most industrial helmets are built to meet EN397, which only tests one scenario: a static drop simulating an object striking the top of the helmet. A tougher standard, EN12492, adds lateral impacts, but almost no job site helmets are designed to meet it. Either way, neither standard simulates the forces a worker experiences in an actual fall.

In my research, I found a staggering statistic. Out of 564,000 workplace falls, 508 people didn't survive. That's more than a statistic. These are friends, parents, and spouses who didn't come home from work. To me, this is unacceptable. 

We can do more, as a factory and as an industry, to protect the people who depend on our products. "Protecting Life" is one of our core values. "People First" is another, connecting to how we treat our own global team, with respect and genuine care. Strong companies are built by people who know their company cares about them as people, and not just employees. 

But "People First" reaches further than our own walls. As an industry, from certification boards to manufacturers, we owe it to workers to keep pushing our products, and our standards, to be safer. We must treat them as people, and not just customers, and we must do more to protect them. 

I brought this message to the XXXIInd Global ISSA conference, and I wasn't alone. The event closed with the Declaration of Cyprus, a shared commitment from governments, industry leaders, and organizations from around the world to pursue Vision Zero, the elimination of workplace fatalities and serious harm. That's the same mission we've built our business around, and it was affirming to see it adopted as a global standard to work toward together.

This work doesn't stop at industrial helmets. We're constantly developing new energy management materials for our partner brands, incorporating other safety technologies, and refining our manufacturing to build with consistency and quality across every category of PPE we produce.

We work closely with Virginia Tech and certification boards around the world, and one of my broader goals is pushing certification standards higher across the board, not just where regulations currently require it.

If you're a worker, or one of our partner brands reading this: "Protecting Life" means more to us than words. It's what we work toward every day.

Want to help us push governing body standards higher? Let's connect.