WARNING! - KEP riding hat safety - please open

[MozartK]

After paying a substantial amount of money for my beloved KEP riding hat, I would have liked to have though my head was well protected. How wrong could I be!!!

These pictures show what happened to my hat after my horse stumbled trotting on a grassy field, unseating me face first into the grass. As you can see the panelled design of the hat cause the hat to fall apart on impact. In fact the hat was no longer on my head after the fall but was hanging in pieces around my neck, held together by the harness!

The picture of my face shows bruising and grazing to my forehead, exactly where the hat should have protected. I count myself as extremely lucky to only have facial bruising and not a fractured skull and brain injury. Others may not be as lucky!

These hats have passed the relevant safety tests, hence I was confident my head was well protected. I will be contacting KEP, BHS and BETA regarding my accident and the inadequate performance of this hat. Hopefully they will take action as these hats are so common in dressage and show jumping. I dread to think what the outcome could have been if I had been going faster or jumping and landed in the same way!

http://s880.photobucket.com/user/MozartK/media/Hat 2.jpg.html

http://s880.photobucket.com/user/MozartK/media/Hat 6.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

http://s880.photobucket.com/user/MozartK/media/Hat 4.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2

http://s880.photobucket.com/user/MozartK/media/Hat 2.jpg.html?sort=3&o=3

http://s880.photobucket.com/user/MozartK/media/Hat face 1.jpg.html?sort=3&o=4

 

[ester]

meep! It looks like it has just fallen apart!

 

[MozartK]

Yip, it did! I just opened H&H mag and half the show jumpers are wearing this hat!

 

[Luci07]

That is horrific. Glad you are OK but how scary

 

[MrsMozart]

Blinking heck!

I know hats are meant to absorb the impact of any knock, hence always replacing when it's had a bash, but I'm not aware of any that are meant to fall apart like that!

It will be really interesting to hear what the relevant organizations have to say.

Hope you're okay lass. Have you been checked over?

 

[bluebellfreddy]

That is quite scary, hope you get good responses from the right people.

 

[Marydoll]

Holy moley that looks to have just disintegrated on impact

 

[MozartK]

Yes, I went and got checked out. No concussion or broken bones fortunately and my teeth are ok, all of which suggests it wasn't really a hard impact.....

Blinking heck!

I know hats are meant to absorb the impact of any knock, hence always replacing when it's had a bash, but I'm not aware of any that are meant to fall apart like that!

It will be really interesting to hear what the relevant organizations have to say.

Hope you're okay lass. Have you been checked over?

 

[milliepops]

Blinking heck!

I know hats are meant to absorb the impact of any knock, hence always replacing when it's had a bash, but I'm not aware of any that are meant to fall apart like that!

^^ this! Glad you're (almost) unharmed, that's really quite alarming. I feel better about my boring old-fangled hats now

 

[soulfull]

Omg that is horrendous. Just as a comparison, I took a big lump hammer to my old Charles Owen show jumper hat. I couldn't make a noticeable dent in it never mind crack it.

 

[Sheep]

Goodness that is scary! Glad you are OK.

 

[Pebble101]

What are the safety standards shown in the hat?

 

[only_me]

Wow! The hat really did fall apart!!

Glad you're ok after the fall

 

[MozartK]

Omg that is horrendous. Just as a comparison, I took a big lump hammer to my old Charles Owen show jumper hat. I couldn't make a noticeable dent in it never mind crack it.

Yes, I rode out this morning in my good old trusted Charles Owen jockey skull cap and have just ordered a new Charles Owen Ayr8. I actually took the remains of my hat and showed the hat fitter in the shop, even though I didn't buy the hat there. She was absolutely horrified by both the hat and my face! She said she has never even seen pictures of damaged hats that look like that, never mind one that has been brought into the shop! She agreed that BETA need to be made aware and gave me the contact details. My 'hat remains' actually gathered a crowd in the shop and one lady shopper had been thinking of buying a KEP.....not any more!!!

 

[MozartK]

What are the safety standards shown in the hat?

The hat standard in the hat is EN 1384:1996

 

[Meowy Catkin]

There's a bit about the safety standards here. http://www.kephats.co.uk/page_2532503.html

Was your hat the Cromo Mica (black grill, silver surround) OP?

I never liked the look of the 'stirrup' on the front of the hat, so never looked into them. Wow they are expensive and to have fallen apart like that is very worrying. Maybe constructing a riding hat out of 'interconnecting panels' is a bad idea?

 

[soulfull]

Can I ask which style it is and what the safety standard should be. Thanks

 

[MozartK]

There's a bit about the safety standards here. http://www.kephats.co.uk/page_2532503.html

Was your hat the Cromo Mica (black grill, silver surround) OP?

I never liked the look of the 'stirrup' on the front of the hat, so never looked into them. Wow they are expensive and to have fallen apart like that is very worrying. Maybe constructing a riding hat out of 'interconnecting panels' is a bad idea?

This is my hat;

http://www.kephats.co.uk/ourshop/pr...eather-Inserts-52500-Exc-VAT-630-Inc-VAT.html

I totally agree, its the panel design that has caused the hat to fall apart. The point of impact was the left hand side of my forehead. It seems the impact has pushed up into the shell of the hat, breaking the inner foam 'strips' holding in the front panel allowing the front panel to push out. Then the impact has cracked the main body of the hat across the very top which has allowed the breakage of the rear foam 'strips' which allowed the back panel to be pushed out. Its easy to see exactly how it has happed when you look at the remains and basically hitting it on the front panel join at the very bottom, has caused the hat to 'explode'. The reason it has 'exploded' I believe, is due to the panel design and also their 'unique ventilation' system.....basically 2 strips of foam that are about an inch wide holding in those front and back panels. It is these strips of foam that have snapped on impact, allowing the panels to push out. They may as well just remove the front and back panels to give the hat a really good ventilation system.....at least then people would know exactly what they were buying!!!

 

[blood_magik]

it will be interesting to hear what KEP say about it coming apart.

the same thing happened to my friend's hat. She came off and her horse either kicked or stood on her head (there was a hoof-shaped dent in it). Her hat ended up in four pieces.
She walked away with a concussion and a few stitches so the hat did its job - at the time the doctor was certain she has a skull fracture.

Glad you're okay after your fall.

 

[TGM]

It is interesting that the hat only conforms to the safety standard that is currently being phased out by most of the equestrian organisations such as BE, PC, BRC etc, and none of the higher standards that will still continue to be permitted (such as PAS 015, Snell E2001 and AS/NZS 3838). I'm not sure whether the damage is a result of your individual hat being of faulty construction, or whether this illustrates the inferiority of the testing for EN 1384:1996.

 

[rara007]

I think it is PAS015 TGM? Website claims it anyway!

 

[TGM]

I think it is PAS015 TGM? Website claims it anyway!

I'm only going by what the OP said the standard in the hat was, in her answer to Pebble101, but perhaps there were other standards marked on the hat that she missed?

 

[ester]

Even if it was only EN1384 I wouldn't expect it to do that, I use one daily but as one piece of foam it isn't going to pop out any time soon.. in fact current one is a replacement for the previous one that my pony managed to get stuck on his foot but only made a hoof print in.

I also didn't realise quite how expensive they were :eek3:.

It will be interesting to see what responses you get OP.

 

[dominobrown]

Thanks for posting OP, absolutely disgusting from KEP. I was considering one of those! Think I will stick with gatehouse hats. Glad your are ok but you should share that as much as possible. Also would be very interested what KEP have to say for themselves...
In that price range I would expect at hat that was safe, they are some of most expensive hats you can buy...

 

[MozartK]

I'm only going by what the OP said the standard in the hat was, in her answer to Pebble101, but perhaps there were other standards marked on the hat that she missed?

Definitely only tested to EN 1384. I bought the hat in 2012 but didn't really start using it until last year, as horse was injured. However, I just noticed the manufacturing date of the hat was 2008, so in effect I purchased a 4 year old hat. I'm not saying that the age of the hat is responsible for the failure but it could be a possibility. Is it common practice to purchase a hat from stock of this age???? Saying that, I still wouldn't expect failure to this extreme, from a hat of this calibre.

Does anyone have one of the more recent KEP hats, that are tested to the PAS015 standard? Does it still have the same design i.e. does it have two strips of foam glued to the front and back panels, holding them in place? You should be able to see this if you take out the removable lining, at least you can on my older one.

 

[rara007]

Ah ok! The link said PAS - guess the new ones are hence the confusion

 

[Prince33Sp4rkle]

i am fairly sure that all KEP's are PAS even if not stated inside each hat. the new ones will say it due to the kerfuffle with changing standards but the old ones do conform anyway (as per what KEP have previously clarified).

doesnt detract from this incident but just to clarify.

 

[MozartK]

So, as recommended by the hat fitter I chatted to, I contacted BETA for advice. Totally not interested, in fact she asked me 'What exactly are you telling me about it for'? !!!!!! Unbelievable! Anyway, eventually she told me to contact the British Standards Institute who were really helpful. They told me that the KEP hats carry a British kite mark and gave me the number (KM558234). They then told me to contact trading standards and to give them this KM number. I then called Trading Standards Helpline, gave them all of the information and apparently the correct person to deal with this issue will call me back sometime over the next few days. He advised me not to part with the hat as trading standards will probably want to inspect it.

I also set about trying to contact KEP, however it seems that the contact number is for their UK distributor, so I called her.
She was actually quite pleasant and even asked if I was ok. I explained the situation and she said the procedure is to return the hat to KEP. Obviously I explained I couldn't do this, so agreed to send her photographs. She said it is likely Trading Standards will contact her as she imports the hats. I will have another bash later at trying to contact KEP directly in Italy.

So at least I feel like I have made some progress but am disheartened by the response of some people particularly the lady at BETA. She suggested that the helmet may be designed to disintegrate on impact. I can understand why she said that but I pointed out that had the fall been a rotational fall, the horse would of landed on top of me, after I had lost the hat! So disintegrating on impact is definitely not acceptable! Secondly, my accident was kind of brushed off by the KEP lady as 'just one incident'. Regardless of it being 'just one incident', if there is a design fault or similar then an investigation could save someone's life, should they be unfortunate enough to suffer 'just another one incident'.

I will keep you all posted should I make any further progress. If anyone has any further ideas then feel free to share!

ETS: I now have an Italian contact number for KEP

 

[MozartK]

Here are some further photos showing the inside of the hat and the shearing of the foam inner. Notice both the front and back panel foam pieces have sheared in exactly the same place. I have counted the number of separate breaks/shears of the foam and it has sheared in 12 different places!

http://s880.photobucket.com/user/MozartK/media/Hat 12.jpg.html

http://s880.photobucket.com/user/MozartK/media/Hat 16.jpg.html

http://s880.photobucket.com/user/MozartK/media/Hat 14.jpg.html

http://s880.photobucket.com/user/MozartK/media/Hat 10.jpg.html

 

[Tapir]

Many years ago I worked for a company who manufactured riding hats. We were told that although the EN standard should in theory be the same where ever the hat was manufactured, in practice hats were far more likely to pass if tested in certain countries, than in others. A very popular & expensive hat at the time had the EN 1384 standard but it was possible to take them apart with your hands. As far as I remember, the BS mark shows that the hat was tested in the UK. I'd never buy a hat without it.

ETA I see this helmet did carry the kite mark - that makes it even more shocking and BETA/BSI should definitely take action