Athletic Protective Equipment

ICS Laboratories utilizes a wide range of state-of-the-art equipment to test athletic equipment for performance standards and specifications from around the world. Athletes involved with individual and team sports at every level of play, as well as persons who use protective gear to participate in their preferred recreational activities all rely on the performance of their equipment to stay safe. ICS tests a considerable breadth of athletic PPE to ensure methods and standards that both consumers and regulators expect, and often demand, compliance with.

Gloves

ICS Laboratories tests to both of the commercially relevant performance standards for football gloves: NOCSAE’s ND 019 and the SFIA’s FBG V.001. Beyond this, ICS’ accreditation to assess products according to general test methods for hand protection (like ANSI/ISEA 138) and our capacity for conducting mechanical and chemical evaluations of protective gloves allows us to offer custom testing for athletic gloves that are not yet spoken to by an accepted standard.

Body Padding & Limb Protectors

The test equipment that ICS uses evaluates the characteristics and performance of equipment that athletes and enthusiasts use to protect their limbs from bruises, contusions and breaks. ICS Laboratories, Inc. is accredited to test to a variety of European and North American standards including the NOCSAE standard for soccer shin guards (ND 090) and EN standards for padding with protective functions that range from protecting motorcycle riders (EN 1621) to team sports players (EN 13546).

Sports Balls

As part of our thorough testing program for protective sports equipment, ICS is fully accredited to evaluate the properties of sports balls and related non-protective articles of gameplay, like hockey pucks. Our technicians evaluate sporting goods for dimensional characteristics and other physical properties that affect gameplay, including, but not limited to: hardness, compression, rebound and restitution. While these products do not overtly function as protective equipment, their compliance with applicable specifications have a significant effect on safety and the ability of helmets and pads to perform optimally. ICS Laboratories is accredited to assess the characteristics of sports balls according to various NOCSAE and ASTM standards. Additionally, ICS performs tests for manufacturers participating in the NFHS Authenticating Mark Program.