expresses an element of respect toward the designer. Sending a rejection letter doesn't. Since I respect them enough to communicate directly with them, I convey that my job is not to cause them trouble but to keep them out of trouble. This makes the designers appreciative and grateful. Because of that, I never have a problem getting them to make corrections.
Politics: Electronic plan review is something that is very beneficial for the constituents. That's good politics. As a government plan reviewer, the constituents you deal with are owners, designers and contractors. Trust me, if you want to make them happy, electronic plan review will do it.
Conclusion As a reviewer, the greatest concern is that fire protection systems will do what they are intended to do in the event of a fire. In the interest of life safety and property conservation, the government has a responsibility to protect the public by assuring that fire protection systems meet proper standards and are correctly engineered. ThThe government also has a responsibility to assure those efforts are not a hindrance to prosperity.
The private sector lives and dies on the premise of free enterprise and competition. If a business or industry in the private sector refuses to embrace new technologies that improve efficiency, they will quickly be left behind by those that do. The government lives off of taxation and has no competition. But state agencies are supposed to be working for the constituents and enterprises that generate and pay taxes, not the other way around. Those of us
who work in the government must not lose sight of the private sector's ingenuity that moves this country forward.
It is well proven that computer technology has given us the ability to do things tremendously quicker and more efficiently. Whether you like it or not, this is the computer age. Electronic review is not the wave of the future. It's already here. No question about it.
The advantages of electronic plan review are indisputable. All that's left is to just start doing it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: At present Bruce Erkiletian is the Senior Fire Protection Engineer for the Wyoming State Fire Marshal's Office. He created (and personally implements) electronic plan review of design documents for fire protection sprinkler systems, special hazard systems and fire alarm systems. Erkiletian is a graduate of the University of Missouri – Rolla (Missouri University of Science and Technology) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. He is a registered professional engineer in the fire protection discipline in Missouri and Wyoming through the National Council of Engineering Examiners and is past president of the St. Louis Chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers. He entered the fire protection profession in 1977 with Factory Mutual Engineering (now known as FM Global) as an industrial field investigator and plan reviewer and was trained in Fire Protection Engineering at the Factory Mutual Research Center in Norwood, Massachusetts. He entered the engineering design field in 1980 and has designed virtually all types of fire protection and fire suppression systems for government, industrial and commercial facilities
EDITOR'S NOTE: Part 2 of this article will appear in a future issue of Sprinkler Age.
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