You "know" when the advantage you get from the new features of a new update "outweighs" the disadvantage of a possible serious bug in the new update.  I parenthesize those words because you can never be sure since no one can predict the future.  If a lot of users and/or mission-critical operations are involved, only experienced IT persons can make the call of running an update or not.  And they would tell you they couldn't predict the future either.

My general rule of thumb when I was the IT person in my old job:

If an update is for improving security (like most Windows updates, browser updates, etc.), I update them more promptly and frequently, because the advantage outweighs the disadvantage.  But for general application updates, I usually don't do it as promptly or frequently.

The same thing applies for pretty much all devices that need any kind of software updates: routers, smartphones, printers, gaming consoles, etc.  If it has to do with security (read the update notes if necessary), you need to run it sooner rather than later.

Most of the Access updates are NOT for security, as the update history shows:

     https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-microsoft365-apps-by-date

But you would still need them if they happened to fix bugs that affected you.  So you need to read the "fine prints" of all of those updates.

Almost all updates have "undocumented" features, which could be good or bad.  So there is always a risk.  Again, you weigh the pros and cons for your particular situation and needs when you make this decision.

Gary, I updated the new version of Access (2409) released this week. The bug that caused the lock file to persist after closing Access appears to be fixed. If that was your difficulty, you may want to update Access now and try it out.

I'm still using 2406 from July.  And that's because that was the last time Access had a security update, as shown in the list of Office security updates:

     https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/microsoft365-apps-security-updates

Regarding when it is safe to install an update, it would definitely be UNsafe to not install an update when it improves security.