ASTM D04 eyes standard for resolving paving material test result differences

Source: ASTM International, West Conshohocken, Pa

Buyers and sellers of road and paving materials will be the primary users of a proposed standard under Subcommittee D04.94 on Statistical Procedures and Evaluation of Data, part of ASTM International Committee D04 on Road and Paving Materials.

ASTM WK35585, Practice for Data Collection and Resolving Test Result Differences Between Buyer and Seller, will provide a rational dispute resolution practice for contractors or material suppliers and agencies when numbers from two different laboratories on the same product differ. “The goal is to provide a systematic way to resolve differences in a professional atmosphere,” says D04 member James Moulthrop, P.E., a senior consultant with Fugro Consultants Inc., Austin, Texas.

Among the procedures to be described in WK35585 are: documentation to determine acceptable quality material; sample chain of custody; determination of whether data comes from the same population; determination of differences between sets of data; and, determination of assignable cause(s) for differences between test results.

“The proposed standard has been needed to provide users of ASTM Committee D04 standards a rational sequential process for resolving test result differences,” says D04.94 Chairman Ervin Dukatz, P.E., of Mathy Construction Co., Onalaska, Wis., adding that subcommittee participation is open to paving material interests.  —  James Moulthrop, 512/977-1800, [email protected]; Ervin Dukatz, 608/779-6392; [email protected]