Protective equipment for sports is designed to protect various areas of the body from cuts, grazes, bruises, and impacts. The nature of the hazard, the associated risk, and the type of activity will affect the selection of equipment used, and it is essential that the appropriate equipment is chosen for the specific application. Protectors designed to protect against hazards in one sport may not protect against the same hazard in a different sport, even though they may appear similar. To support this wide range of applications CEN (the European standards body) has developed a series of standards for protective sports equipment.