Independent Audits and Reviews

Sometimes it is necessary to have a totally independent entity with strong credibility review or audit plans of operation, customer service programs, emergency procedures or provide an after-action review or critique of performance.

Independent reviews and audits are important to show that there are no pre-conceived conclusions or ideas and that the are no strings attached to the reviewers and auditors.

James Lee Witt Associates (JLWA) has acclaimed experts in all areas of crisis management, emergency and contingency planning, fire and disaster analysis, mitigation development, utilities and many other areas that are critical to keep people and their companies and communities safe and sound.

Some recent examples of work in this area:

Governor Pataki of New York hired JLWA to conduct an independent review of the emergency plans for people and communities located near nuclear plants. The team included many experts in nuclear safety and community crisis planning as well as former senior federal disaster managers.  The findings pointed out that many elements of the emergency plan were not sufficient to meet the needs of the community and recommendations were presented in the report that when implemented would ensure greater safety and security of the people who live near the plants should an accident of incident occur

Governor Blagojevich of Illinois hired JLWA to conduct an independent comprehensive review of a fatal fire at the Cook County Administrative Building that killed six state employees. The team consisted of one of the world's foremost experts in human behavior in fire emergencies, a former expert from the National Fire Prevention Association, a former incident commander managing the Oklahoma City bombing and members of the fire laboratories at the National Institute for Standards and Technology.

Pepco Holdings, Inc. (PHI) the parent company of Pepco and Conectiv power companies hired JLWA to conduct a comprehensive review of the utilities performance after they were widely criticized by city and county officials and the news media following Hurricane Isabel.  The storm left 570,000 of their 750,000 customers without power for more than 10 days.

Among the many findings was the fact that the PHI followed standard practices for utility industry, but that those previously accepted standard practices were not good enough. The lesson learned was that large scale power outages are not just power company events, they are community events. The power companies needed to work in partnership with other responding agencies to determine priorities for community-wide response and recovery. All entities involved in response and recovery after a disaster of any proportion need to work together to build and execute a recovery plan that looks at the needs of the community at the time of the event.

JLWA presents educated and expert opinions that will result in true lessons-learned and provide a blueprint for vast improvements.