ABSTRACT

Fire in the buildings has been always a threat to human life and property. The threat increases as large numbers of people live and work in bigger buildings throughout the world. In the Province of Sultan Kudarat, the Bureau of Fire Protection – Building Plan Evaluator shall undertake the necessary evaluation and review of the plans in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Chief, BFP for this purpose, indicating whether or not such plans conform to the fire safety and life safety requirements of RA 9514 and its RIRR. For this purpose, a Fire Safety Checklist shall be used to facilitate the checking of building plan. The evaluated plans and the corresponding Fire Safety Checklist shall then be submitted to the Chief, FSES/U for review and recommendation to the C/MFM having jurisdiction.

Using a multi-level method of qualitative and quantitative research design, focus group discussion and survey questionnaires were utilized in gathering data. The result shows that a Capability Building Program needs to be conducted among the building plan evaluators in collaboration with different agencies/organization such as Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE), Institute of Integrated Electrical Engineers (IIEE), Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers (PSME), and Office of the Building Officials (OBO) to enhance their level of competence. Also, it is suggested that in the selection process of fire officer 1, the Human Resource of BFP should consider those who has the knowledge of building plan evaluation.