Ski and snowboard helmets: the standards, the regulators and the racing rules.

The recreational standards

ASTM F2040

ASTM lists F2040-18, "Standard Specification for Helmets Used for Recreational Snow Sports", as the active version (page last updated 23 March 2018). Earlier versions are F2040-00, -02, -06 and -11. ASTM describes it as a performance standard for helmets for non-motorised recreational snow sports such as skiing and snowboarding, which does not restrict design and follows the ASTM F1446 test methods except where it says otherwise. Its scope says a compliant helmet may reduce the risk of some head injuries at slower speeds, and puts responsibility on users to ski within their abilities and follow the responsibility codes. ASTM also bars partial claims: a product that fails any requirement should not be sold as meeting any part of F2040. No version newer than F2040-18 was found, which does not prove there is none.

EN 1077

EN 1077:2007, "Helmets for alpine skiers and snowboarders", was published in Norway as NS-EN 1077:2007 in December 2007 and replaced EN 1077:1996, "Helmets for alpine skiers". It sets requirements and test methods for two protection classes, A and B, for alpine skiers, snowboarders and similar users, including children and competitors. Its requirements cover construction (including field of vision), shock absorption, penetration resistance, the retention system, and marking and information. Team Wendy, a helmet maker, says (2020) that class A helmets cannot have detachable ear covers and use a higher impact speed in the penetration test, and that class B was developed for more ventilation and better hearing. That is the maker's summary of a paywalled standard that was not read, so it is unconfirmed.

Snell S-98 and RS-98

The Snell Memorial Foundation's 1998 Standard for Protective Headgear for Skiing and Other Winter Activities (S-98) covers helmets for alpine and cross-country skiing and other non-motorised winter activities. It names four elements of protection: impact management, positional stability, retention strength and extent of protection. It sets no construction or material specifications, says activities such as speed skiing and acrobatics carry extra risk for which more protective headgear may be appropriate, and says no helmet meets it without both initial certification and ongoing random sample testing by the Foundation.

Snell's own documents disagree about RS-98. Its standards list names RS-98 as a 1998 helmet standard for recreational skiing and snowboarding and it keeps an RS-98 certification list, while a Snell pre-test form describes RS-98 as rescinded. All three were seen only as search summaries, so RS-98's current status is unconfirmed.

What regulators say

• United States: the CPSC's January 2026 brochure "Which Helmet for Which Activity?" says bicycle and motorcycle helmets must meet mandatory federal standards, while helmets for many other activities fall under voluntary standards. For skiing, snowboarding and snow tubing it lists ASTM F2040 and Snell S-98 and RS-98. It says a helmet that meets a standard carries a label or marking showing so, and advises against relying on a helmet's name, looks or packaging claims. It separates single-impact helmets, whose foam crushes once, from multiple-impact helmets, and says a helmet may need replacing after one severe impact with visible damage.
• Canada: Health Canada's notice (last updated 4 July 2023) says ski and snowboard helmets that do not conform to the applicable criteria in one of four standards, or an equivalent, are a danger to human health or safety under paragraphs 7(a) and 8(a) of the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act: CSA Z263.1-14, ASTM F2040-18, Snell RS-98 and EN 1077:2007. Meeting those clauses does not by itself make a product fully compliant with the Act, and Health Canada does not approve helmets before sale: makers, importers, advertisers and retailers are responsible.
• Nova Scotia: the Snow Sport Helmet Regulations (N.S. Reg. 206/2012, under the Snow Sport Helmet Act, S.N.S. 2011, c. 47, in force 1 November 2012) require a helmet meeting the latest edition of the recreational ski and snowboard helmet standards of ASTM, CEN, CSA or the Snell Memorial Foundation. The prescribed sign says Nova Scotia law requires all skiers and snowboarders to wear a properly fitted, fastened helmet.

Helmet laws elsewhere, including the youth rules of several countries, are on youth helmet rules.

Rotational-impact systems: a maker's claims

Mips says its system is a low-friction layer inside the helmet, usually between the padding and the foam, that lets the helmet shift slightly in angled impacts, and that it is "intended to help reduce the risk of brain injury". Mips says the first helmet with its system was released in 2007. Its own disclaimer says no helmet or impact system can protect against all injuries and that it does not guarantee a wearer will avoid concussion or other brain injury. The research did not see a rotational-impact test in any of the snow-sport helmet standards above; that is an observation from searching, not a statement by a standards body.

Helmet rules in competition

FIS writes "ASTM 2040" and "CEE 1077" or "CEN 1077", read here as ASTM F2040 and EN 1077, and states no edition year for either. FIS also says manufacturers alone bear product liability for helmets (3.6.3).

What the research says about helmets and injury

The studies point in different directions, and each finding belongs to its own study:

• A CPSC staff report (January 1999) estimated that 44 percent of skiing and snowboarding head injuries could be addressed by helmet use; that is a 1999 estimate, not a current finding.
• A meta-analysis by Russell and colleagues (CMAJ, 2010, as reported by ScienceDaily) associated helmet use with a 35 percent lower risk of head injury and found no evidence of higher neck-injury risk; the authors said they could not judge the design, quality or fit of the helmets studied.
• The BFU, the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention, said on 17 December 2024 that a helmet reduces the risk of a serious head injury by one third.
• Shealy, Johnson and Ettlinger (2006) concluded that helmets may be effective against minor injuries but had not been shown to reduce the overall incidence of fatality in skiing and snowboarding.

More of this research is on what helmets do and do not do, and concussion rules by body on concussion by body.