Protective Clothing Standards

Here's an interesting problem, with many arguments pro and con.

Do we need an Australian Standard for protective motorcycle clothing,
similar to standards in place for industrial safety gear? So riders
have a better idea as to what they are buying?

What are the pros and cons of the idea? Here are some, what others are
there? Do you think it's a good or bad idea?

- riders have a reasonable idea of what they are buying. How useful
that armour is, whether the seams will split.

- it will raise the quality generally.

- europe already has a standard, if we don't then substandard gear that
can't be sold there might be dumped here.

- if we do have a standard but it's too different from the Euro one (or
compliance is too onerous) then we are too small a market and we
might not be able to *get* gear, or at least not a decent range

- if compliance is difficult, local manufacturers might lose out.

- it's only a small step from having a code to requiring anyone who
uses bikes for work to have to have protective gear to meet that
standard. and from there another small step to requiring everyone wear
such gear,.

- The BMF in the UK have negotiated that everyone who uses bikes for
work must be supplied with Euro standard kit. Would there be OH&S
implications here, for people injured in a ride-to-work crash?

What other good are bad points can people come up with?

Is an Australian Standard for motorcycle protective clothing a good
idea?


Zebee

 

My first thought without pacing the whole idea out is that it isn't a
good idea.

Come up with standards for the gear and the next thing you know we'll
be forced to wear it.

Not allowed on the road without your AS sticker on your jacket son ...

No thanks

Cheers



-------------
Kevin Gleeson
Technical Director
Blue Rocket Productions
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
www.blue-rocket.com.au

 

Yup, and I agree with most of your points.

I think for both the above reasons, the standards has to be identical
to the Euro one (if the Euro one is reasonable.)

.... on the other hand, making the Euro standard more, ummm, standard
would be an advantage to local manufacturers since they could sell
overseas (rather than trying to comply separately with local and
Euro regs)

Yeah, I'm really really really not keen on that at all. For the
obvious reasons.

Perhaps it'd be wiser to raise the awareness of the Euro standard
in the Australian market, and encourage importers to label gear
appropriately (and local vendors to seek certification).
This might get most of the pros but not the cons?

-----sharks

 

Come up with standards for the gear and the next thing you know we'll

I concur.

 

An AS for motorcycle riding equipment would then classify it as safety
equipment, hence the current 25% import duty imposed on imported gear - read
European, Pakistani et all - would be removed.

The idea itself is good in principle however I believe its able to be abused
by our law enforcement agencies, leading to compulsory wearing of gear.

Most manufacturers, including UDL comply with the Euro standards for armour,
CE approved armour is touted already in the industry. Just look for it. I
know that my company doesnt make an issue of it, because to us safety is
paramount and it goes without saying... perhaps I should advertise that
more.

Yes it will and it will lower the price of imported gear... this will hurt
the local manufacturers... walden miller and tiger angel, DBT and Peels. Im
sure they will cope though, because they would have contracts in place to
shift production off shore in this case, because it is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper
to get it made o/s and the fact of the mater is 80% of the worlds garment
expertise exists in Pakistan and China.

Its already happening now and you havent noticed. Why would you notice
later? Just like whats going on with speed cameras the population quietly
absorbs it and puts up with it.

Compliance is very very easy. It will not be an issue. As stated above, the
removal of the 25% import duty will hurt them more.

I can see this happening to. I dont like it. Sure Im in the industry and
making it compulsory will undoubtedly boost my sales but I think the idea of
compulsory riding gear has hairy knobs on it. What it will do is lower the
overall cost of gear as shops offer package deals with bikes etc. Volume
manufacturers will jump on it and the price will drop by around $50 - $60 in
the low end of the market - maybe more. It will make my life a lot more
difficult as well, but I will cope much easier than most.

As long as its contained to work related use only... yeah fair enough, but
its too easy to be abused and expanded as stated above

Good points: cheaper, removal of some manufacturers products
Bad points: impact on local manufacturers, no true australian made for long,
abuse by govt.

 

No, just adapt the CE standards.


snip

Seconding Joe's comments. Most mid-to-upper range stuff is CE standard
anyway.

Can't see a problem with that, been doing it for years anyway.

....and again, no probs with that. Everyone in many other workplaces has to
wear Safety-gear, what's the diff?

DON'T have yet another AUS standard which differs from what the rest of the
world's already got, just adapt CE wholesale, as they change, we change.

See above

cheers
pete

 

oops, adopt that is...

adopt again !!

pete (not adopted but adapted)

 

it could be a good idea
but will they force you to wear it like your helmet must be approved ??

good idea to get an idea of quality of the product but will it force a rise
due to the fact it must be tested ??

doenst mean it will be substandard , might not be worth getting it tested

as far as OH&S is concerned it is a good idea

now thats a good question
but for work and getting to work are 2 diffferent things

i can see it as an exercise in spending money and a rise in cost of gear

if there is a standard then it should be a worldwide standard not like the
shitfight of
standards like we have for our helmets

 

Good: We get better quality, and a guarantee that its not going to rip
apart at the most important time.

Bad: Could lead to legislation for compulsory wearing of said items.


I wear the whole kit and kaboodle every time i go out anyway, so the bad
point wouldnt really affect me. Would give harley riders PMS for the rest
of eternity though.

 

and the one other thing that I forgot about was

if they decide that you must wear approved gear ,

then what is going to happen to all the gear that everybody
already owns ???

 

glitch1 wrote:

<sigh>

Here we go again. :-|

(I wonder if the standards logo will look like two triangles partly
overlapping? Perhaps in yellow?)

regards,
CrazyCam
)

 

Johnnie5 wrote:

Oh, goodie....we get to wear the same gear that is designed for use in
Sweden and Finland.... :-|

I can just see that working nicely between Moree and Narrabri.

regards,
CrazyCam

 

How about a buy-back scheme?

Come to think of it, they could buy-back some motorcycles too.

regards,
CrazyCam

 

The only good thing that I can think of in this business would be if the
reportage/testing made clear how little use all the good gear can be in
lots of real-life type crashes.

But, cynic that I am, I ain't holding my breath for that.

regards,
CrazyCam

 

No. The Baron summed it up pretty nicely.

 

If that were to happen the first thing UDL would do is submit our gear for
testing, it will pass no problemo.

 

but then what about every piece of gear on the face of the earth
that doesnt have that special label ?????

 

Not necessarily. Sunglasses have Australian Standards, but people aren't
generally forced to wear them. The AS gives people the confidence that
an object meets minimum standards and will do the job they are intended
to do.

---
Cheers

PeterC [aka MildThing]
'81 Suzuki GS450-s
'87 BMW K100RT

www.dmcsc.org.au

 

....and it's not even necessary for sunglasses to have the AS certification to
be sold. They just can't be sold as "sunglasses".

Nev..
'03 ZX12R
'02 CBR1100XX

 

- The BMF in the UK have negotiated that everyone who uses bikes for

This one is an interesting one.

I had a discussion recently with one of the OH&S people at work. They were
talking along the lines that I shouldn't be allowed to ride my bike to work,
because it's dangerous, and while I'm riding to work, I'm covered by their
Workers Comp policy.

My reply arguement was that I would be quite happy to use whatever form of
transport they liked, so long as they paid for it in full, and also paid me
for the time I was using it. But whileever I was paying for any part of it,
or being unpaid for any of the time with it, it was fair for me to have a
say in it to the extent that I pay for it (at the moment 100%).

I'm not sure if I've heard the end of it or not. (Doesn't help being the
only motorcyclist in the office, see.)

Hey, you never know, I may get a company car out of it.