BUILDING OCCUPANCY

& OCCUPANT LOADS

OCCUPANT LOAD:
The maximum number of persons that may
be allowed to occupy a particular building,
structure, or facility, or portions hereof.

-Fire Code of the Phil. IRR 2008

BUILDING OCCUPANCY:
The purpose for which a building or portion
thereof is used or intended to be used.
BUILDING TYPE:
It is a specific class or category within an
occupancy.

Fire Code of the Philippines:

Assembly
Educational
Healthcare
Detention or Correctional
Residential
Mercantile
Business
Industrial
Storage

Theaters; assembly halls; auditorium; exhibition

halls;
museum;
restaurants;
drinking
establishments; places of worship; classrooms of
50 persons and over capacity; libraries; internet
shops of over 50 persons capacity; dance halls;
club rooms; skating rinks; gymnasiums; cockpit
arenas; bowling facilities; pool rooms; armories;
passenger stations and terminals of air, surface,
underground, and marine public transportation
facilities; recreational facilities; piers; courtrooms; conference rooms; and mortuary chapels
or funeral homes.

Schools; Universities; Colleges; Academies;

Nursery schools; Kindergartens; and Child
Day Care facilities.

Hospitals; nursing homes; birth centers; and

residential custodial care centers such as
nurseries, homes for the aged and the like.

Correctional institutions, detention facilities,

community residential centers, training
schools, work camps, and substance abuse
centers where occupants are confined or
housed under some degree of restraint or
security.

Hotels; motels; apartelles; pension houses;

inns;
apartments;
condominiums;
dormitories; lodging or rooming houses; and
one- and two-family dwellings; and the likes.

Malls; supermarkets; department stores;

shopping centers; flea markets; restaurants
of less than 50 persons capacity;
public/private dry and wet markets; water
refilling
stations;
drugstores;
hardwares/construction
supplies;
showrooms; and auction rooms.

Offices for lawyers; doctors; dentists and

other
professionals;
general
offices;
City/Municipal halls; internet shops; massage
parlors, beauty parlors, barbershops of less
than 50 occupants and court houses;

Factories of all kinds; laboratories; dry

cleaning plants; power plants; pumping
stations; smokehouses; gas plants; refineries;
and sawmills, laundries; creameries

Warehouses; cold storages; freight terminals;

truck and marine terminals; bulk oil storage;
LPG storage; parking garages; hangars; grain
elevators; barns; and stables.

National Building Code of the Philippines (IRR) :

Group A Residential (Dwellings)

Group B Residential (Hotels & Apartments)
Group C Education and Recreation (Institutional)
Group D Government and Health Services
Group E Business & Mercantile (Commercial)
Group F Industrial
Group G Storage and Hazardous Industrial
Group H Assembly for less than 1000 Occupant
Group I Assembly for more than 1000 Occupant
Group J Accessory

International Building Code 2006:

Assembly
Business
Educational
Factory
High-Hazard
Institutional
Mercantile
Residential
Storage
Utility and Miscellaneous

Refers to two or more classes of occupancies

occurring/ located/ situated / existing in the
same building and or structures so
intermingled that separate safeguards are
impracticable

GROSS AREA:
refers to the building as a whole and includes
all misc. spaces within the exterior walls.
NET AREA:
refers to actual occupied spaces and does not
include accessory spaces such as corridors,
restrooms, utility closets etc.

Single Occupancy (Library)

ROOM

LOAD FACTOR

SIZE OF SPACE

FLOOR AREA

Stack Area

100 gross

70 x 36

2,520 sq. ft.

Reading Room

50 net

16 x 18

288 sq. ft.

Study Room

15 net

10 x 12

120 sq. ft.

ROOM

LOAD FACTOR

FLOOR AREA

Stack Area

100 gross

2,520 sq. ft.

Reading Room

50 net

288 sq. ft.

Study Room

15 net

120 sq. ft.

OCCUPANCY LOAD

RESULT

2,520

100

25.2

288

50

5.8

120

15

TOTAL NUMBER OF OCCUPANTS

39 persons

MINIMUM NUMBER OF EXITS OR ACCESS TO EXITS PER

STOREY:
International Building Code:
OCCUPANT LOAD PER STOREY:

MIN. NUMBER OF EXITS / ACC ESS:

1-500

501-1,000

more than 1,000

National Building Code of the Philippines:

OCCUPANT LOAD PER STOREY

MIN. NUMBER OF EXITS/ACCESS

below 10

10-499

500-999

More than 1,000

Any room having an occupant load of more

than fifty (50) or similar purpose shall have
the capacity of room posted in a conspicuous
place near the main exit of the room.