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Emergency Preparedness – Active Shooter

Report Information

Date Issued
Report Number
2020-15728
Report Type
Audit
Description
We included an audit of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) plans for an active shooter incident in our annual audit plan due to the potential risk of an active shooter incident occurring. Our audit objective was to determine if TVA has adequate plans in place to prevent, prepare for, and manage active shooter incidents. The audit scope included all program documentation and records that support TVA's plans to prevent, prepare for, and manage active shooter incidents as of May 13, 2020. We compared TVA’s procedures around preventing, preparing for, and managing active shooter incidents to best practices recommended by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS best practices include four steps (Connect, Plan, Train, and Report) to apply in advance of an incident or attack. We found TVA has plans in place to prevent, prepare for, and manage active shooter incidents that include steps to address the connecting and planning phases of DHS recommendations to prepare for active shooter incidents. However, we found the training and reporting steps need improvement. Specifically, we found TVA’s Active Threat Awareness program training is not mandatory and less than 10 percent of TVA’s employees have taken the training. In addition, portions of best practices related to active threat awareness are included in at least ten TVA Standard Programs and Processes rather than a single document and are not easily accessible by employees. TVA management agreed with our findings and recommendations.
Joint Report
Yes
Participating OIG
Tennessee Valley Authority OIG
Agency Wide
Yes (agency-wide)
Questioned Costs
$0
Funds for Better Use
$0

Recommendations

We recommend the Vice President, Resource Management and Operations Services provide active threat reference materials in a single, easily accessible document and communicate pertinent information to all employees on a periodic basis in various forms.

We recommend the Vice President, Resource Management and Operations Services consider requiring all TVA employees complete the Active Threat Awareness Program training.