ISO-14001-Lead-Auditor Practice Questions

XM, a chain of 25 petrol stations, established an EMS following the requirements of ISO 14001, which was third-party certified 10 years ago. You are performing an internal audit before the fourth certification cycle.

During the audit to the EMS Manager (EM), the following dialogue takes place:

You: Could you please give me some details on the inspection of underground tanks in each station?

EM: It ' s very simple. There is a regulation that requires an annual leak inspection.

You: Who performs these inspections?

EM: I personally contract the inspectors and submit the results to the local authority. These are the certificates submitted last year.

You: I see only 22 certificates. There are three missing.

EM: The tanks of those three stations will be removed next year and replaced by new ones. I phoned the local authority and they told me that I do not need to send any report of the tanks that will be changed.

Which one of the following would be your next question?

An audit team leader arrives at a steel fabrication organisation that manufactures fire escape stairs to carry out a Stage 2 certification audit. At a meeting with the EMS Manager, she is informed that they have secured their largest contract from a construction organisation to manufacture and install fire escape stairs. They appointed a subcontractor to perform the installation work. The EMS Manager wants the ISO 14001 audit extended to cover the installation site.

During the audit, a team member found that several complaints had been made to the organisation regarding their installation operators being seen to dispose of excess paint into the site drains, which breached legal requirements. The EMS Manager blames the contractors they had to take on because of the big contract. The auditor raises a nonconformance against clause 8.1 of ISO 14001.

Which one of the following statements would support this finding?

A management system meeting ISO 14001:2015 requirements is based on the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle.

Which two elements of the management system are part of the ' Check ' stage of the PDCA cycle?

A small services organisation has been contracted to handle the disposal of waste for a local hospital. You are an auditor conducting a Stage 2 audit of the care home to ISO 14001. You are reviewing the contract with the Service Manager (SM). An addendum to the contract only requires that biological waste is disposed of in the most environmentally friendly way, without reference to any regulatory requirements.

You: How was the waste disposal plan for the contract developed?

SM: We have a basic template that covers the materials, labour requirements and methods to be employed. Some of that is specified by the contractor.

You: How does the plan deal with specific items like biological waste, which are included in the contract and can pose biological hazards to the environment?

SM: The basic plan covers general waste, but we have an addendum that covers biological waste.

You: Are you aware of the regulatory requirements for waste disposal standards in hospitals?

SM: Yes but we depend on the contractor to look after that side of things.

You raise a nonconformity against section 8.1.d of ISO 14001.

At the Stage 2 closing meeting of the audit, the EMS Manager objects to the nonconformity raised and asks for it to be withdrawn. He insists that they meet all the regulations.

Choose one of the options that the audit team leader should take in response to the request.

A large public library established an EMS following the requirements of ISO 14001, which was third-party certified 10 years ago. You are performing the second surveillance audit of the third certification cycle. The audit plan included an audit of the Director as the last interview before the closing meeting.

During the interview with the Director, you audit clause 6.2, Objectives and planning to achieve them. The dialogue is as follows:

You: Could you please tell me which environmental objectives were defined for last year and show evidence of their achievement?

Director: Yes. We had defined three objectives. As you can see from our Annual Plan, one of them was to separate our waste into four categories: paper, plastics, metals, and food. Before, we had only three, because plastic and paper were disposed of together. We developed an Action Plan to achieve this objective.

Which six of the questions would you ask related to the Action Plan?

What are the primary purposes of implementing an EMS based on ISO 14001:2015? Select two.

You must prepare an audit plan for a second-party audit of ABC’s ISO 14001 environmental management system, an organisation that offers firefighting equipment to the Indian market. ABC’s head office is in New Delhi; the manufacture of firefighting equipment is outsourced to organisation FIREF, located in Bangladesh. The outsourced activities include design, production, logistics, and procurement. There are six ABC employees in the New Delhi head office and none in FIREF’s Bangladesh plant.

What documented information required by ISO 14001:2015 would you need to review during the audit of ABC’s EMS with reference to outsourced processes? Select two.

The audit team leader presents the audit outcome at the closing meeting attended by the Chief Executive and the senior managers of a care home. The agenda involves the reporting of a low number of minor nonconformities in the EMS to ISO 14001. It becomes clear to the audit team leader and team members that the Chief Executive becomes increasingly agitated as the meeting progresses.

Before the audit team leader can present a summary of the audit results, the Chief Executive interrupts the report and angrily claims that the whole process is flawed and that the organisation has wasted its time on trying to get certification because it has chosen the wrong certification body.

Select the one option you would take as the audit team leader in response to the situation.

Which two of the following options are an advantage of using a sampling plan for the audit?