ABSTRACT
Changes can arise from a customer’s request, a self-inflicted engineering design modification or through the built project differing in some respect from the officially issued drawings, specifications or other formal instructions. Changes requested by the customer automatically imply a corresponding change to the contract, since the specification forms part of the contract documentation. Changes requested by the customer which affect price, delivery or any aspect of the original purchase order or contract require formal documentation. The usual practice when a drawing is changed is to re-issue it with a new revision number. If, however, a change results in a manufactured component or assembly being made different from other items with which it was previously interchangeable, it is sufficient merely to change the drawing revision number. A retrospective glance at the circumstances which led to the disastrous consequences of the Coverite project will provide a useful basis for describing a more reliable method of dealing with very urgent modifications.
