Third-Party Certification

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Third-party certification enhances the integrity of our standards and is the gold standard for product compliance and conformance.

Third-Party Certification

Third-party certification enhances the integrity of our standards and is the gold standard for product compliance and conformance.

As a standards developer, NOCSAE does not “approve” or certify equipment. SEI, acting as a third party, currently oversees certification of equipment to NOCSAE standards.

Third-Party Role of the Safety Equipment Institute

In 2015 NOCSAE made the decision to require certification through a certifying organization accredited by the ANSI National Accreditation Board. The Safety Equipment Institute was selected. It is accredited to ISO/IEC 17065, which is the international standard for certifying bodies.

SEI certifies products for companies who make a broad range of safety and protective products used for recreation and in the workplace. These companies include sport equipment manufacturers who apply to SEI for certification to NOCSAE’s standards. SEI’s program involves:

  • annual production-site audits of a manufacturer’s quality assurance and quality control programs
  • evaluation of production testing data, and
  • independent laboratory testing of randomly selected samples.

SEI works with A2LA-accredited independent laboratories, which are responsible for validation testing as part of the certification process.

NOCSAE Is Unique

NOCSAE is the only sport equipment standards developer to require product certification by a third-party certifier. Third-party certification is the gold standard for product compliance and conformance.

Red baseball helmet with NOCSAE mark

NOCSAE equipment mark for batters’ helmets

What is SEI?

Safety Equipment Institute is not part of the NOCSAE organization. SEI is a certifying body accredited by ANAB and the Standards Council of Canada to the ISO/IEC 17065 standard.

Why do we require certification by a third party?

Independent certification enhances the integrity of our standards because it is the most unbiased way to determine standards compliance. A third-party accredited certifier cannot have any connection to manufacturers or products they certify.

Equipment Testing

Testing on samples produced during the production process is initially done by the manufacturer. For this sampling process, manufacturers must follow their SEI-approved QA/QC plan. Random samples for each product model are sent by SEI to independent laboratories for validation testing. Each model is certified separately.

Quality Assurance Audits

SEI conducts an initial quality assurance audit of the equipment maker’s headquarters location and manufacturing facility(ies). There must be a quality manual, a recall policy, and an internal batch testing protocol in place. Quality audits are annual.

We are the only sport equipment standards developer to require product certification by a third-party certifier.

see a list of SEI-certified equipment