Comprehensive Review of 3-A SSI General Requirements Standard Underway

The 3-A SSI Working Group 14 (General Requirements) is a specific ad hoc WG responsible for the review of amendments to the GR under a 5-year periodic standards maintenance development schedule required by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Working Group participation is open to all parties who are materially or directly influenced or interested. WG14 has been reviewing comments and proposed amendments to the GR for three years in draft T-00-01-A (N343) as circulated on September 30, 2021. Since this circulation and request for comments, additional proposed substantive changes have been made and discussed in online meetings with the first on October 22, 2021. Since this meeting there have been 28 additional “Webinars”  held for (2) hours each which produced many editorial and substantive changes. We discussed a number of these substantive changes in our previous newsletter including proposed definition modification for product.

Some notable revisions include the proposed addition of American Welding Society’s C6.2/C6.2M:2006, Specification for Friction Welding of Metal and the 3-A Sanitary Standard for Automated Milking Installations, 102-00 to the Normative References, Section B. Also newly proposed was a definition for additive manufacturing, mechanical force seals, enclosed threads, and surface imperfections. Lately, members have been discussing our informative Appendix of commonly used and special high corrosion-resistant alloys. The WG expects to complete their final review of comments and issue the draft for Original WG Ballot in April/May. This WG also understands that they may need to meet to resolve comments following this ballot, a Steering Committee Ballot, public comment period, and canvassed ANSI Consensus Body Ballot. It is important that this standard offers the opportunity for outside-industry to review and comment on critical language that defines the minimum design criteria recognized as acceptable for critical hygienic design applications.

For more information on this project or how to join WG14, please contact Eric Schweitzer, Director of Standards and Certification: erics@3-a.org.

The specific activity of all current Working Group projects is maintained on our Standards and Committees/Working Group webpage at www.3-a.org.