Hello!

A newbie question: I have been reviewing the list of applicable standards and just found out one of the standards has a new revision. However, in this specific case, I wanted to make sure we had to buy the revision. I found information on the net saying that the new revision is only a reaffirmation and that compliance with old revision means compliance to the latest rev.

Here is the question: How can we make sure that a new revision of a standard is required (to be bought)? The specific case I am looking at right now is the z1.4 standard (2003 to 2008) however, I am trying to find a general answer to that "how to" question... I find that descriptions of the standards do not give much details unfortunately...

Thanks!

Typically you will want a copy of the new standard even if there are no 'significant' changes.

I'm not keeping up with the Z1.4 standard, and I don't remember changes being discussed, but you'll see threads here on the latest revision to ISO 9001 where they say the only changes are 'clarifications' while companies are selling courses and stuff which are about the changes.

Bottom line is to be able to cite the 'changes'. And, were it me, I would have a copy of it.

Typically you will want a copy of the new standard even if there are no 'significant' changes.

I'm not keeping up with the Z1.4 standard, and I don't remember changes being discussed, but you'll see threads here on the latest revision to ISO 9001 where they say the only changes are 'clarifications' while companies are selling courses and stuff which are about the changes.

Bottom line is to be able to cite the 'changes'. And, were it me, I would have a copy of it.

There are some standards (e.g. those from SAE) that will periodically review standards and if no changes are deemed necessary, they are "reaffirmed." It's considered permissible to use "old" versions in these cases because they're the same as the current version. To answer the OP's question, the revision level for reaffirmed documents won't change with reaffirmation, but there will be a note added to cite the reaffirmation. Look at the website of the publisher of the standard if you want to know what the latest revision is, and the reaffirmation status, if any. Here's an example (http://www.sae.org/servlets/productDetail?PROD_TYP=STD&PROD_CD=AMS2409G).

...the revision level for reaffirmed documents won't change with reaffirmation... Yup - That's the key. They are two different things. If there is a revision level change it's not a reaffirmation.

The OP cited z1.4 standard (2003 to 2008) so I *assume* (possibly incorrectly) a revision level change as in z1.4:2003 to z1.4:2008.

I would have been tempted to order the latest revision, but being in a small company where few hundreds of dollars counts since sells haven't started yet, I am trying to minimize the cost of things to ensure enough money is available when required.

I guess I'll have to look for details everytime since I would have assumed a change in revision to in the specific case of the Z1.4 (from 2003 to 2008) however, on the net I found information of the forward saying that:
The forward of this standard states:
"This standard is a reaffirmation of ANSI/ASQC Z1.4-2003, "Sampling Procedures and Tables for Inspection by Attributes."

There are no changes from the ANSI/ASQ Z1.4-2003 to ANSI/ASQ Z1.4-2008 standard. All AQL Inspector's Rule conforming to ANSI/ASQ Z1.4-2003 do conform to ANSI Z1.4-2008.

Thanks for your help... It would be great if the forward of the standards was available before you buy it! Just a thought... :notme: