ISO-14001-Lead-Auditor PECB Certified EMS ISO 14001 Lead Auditor Exam Questions and Answers

You are conducting a Stage 2 certification audit of VitalSpark, a pharmaceutical organisation manufacturing vitamins and other healthcare medicines.

In a separate area in the centre of their large site, a supplier produces oxygen supplies piped directly into the manufacturing processes of VitalSpark. They also deliver oxygen in bulk tankers to other customers. When you review the environmental aspects register, you find that the only environmental aspect recorded for this arrangement relates to the heavy goods vehicles of the supplier transiting the site.

You ask the EMS Manager about the environmental consequences to VitalSpark of this arrangement and are told that they are not significant since the supplier has its own services for water, sewage, waste and energy. The EMS Manager tried unsuccessfully to communicate with the supplier who is located inside the VitalSpark site and outside the scope of the EMS.

After gathering more evidence, you note down findings against several clauses of ISO 14001. Determine which three of the findings stated are non-conformities.

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 told that they have won their biggest 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.

Select which one of the options is the correct response by the auditor.

Showitoff is an organisation specialising in the design and production of wall decorating materials for the domestic market. During an ISO 14001 certification audit of the site, the auditor comes across an open, walled area just outside the maintenance department. It contains various scraps of wood and metal as well as several rusty components. They are lying on an oily floor. When asked about it, the EMS Manager states that he presumes that the materials come from maintenance work.

The auditor interviews the Maintenance Manager in his department. He notes that shelves containing various spares are well labelled and neatly stacked. He asked about the "dump" outside and is told that it contains some excess materials that the Manager likes to keep in case they come in handy at some stage. The auditor points out that the "dump" might be classed under regulations as a landfill site, which requires an operating licence. The Maintenance Manager is not aware of such a licence.

The auditor decides to review the process for evaluation of compliance with environmental regulations in more depth.

Select three options that provide a meaningful audit trail for this process.

ABC is a large lubricant oils manufacturer located in country A. Due to tax exemption and other economic issues, they decided to move the whole plant to a neighbouring country B. They moved every single piece of the plant (equipment, systems); the new plant has the same layout, the same dimensions, the same suppliers of raw materials and the same customers. Even more, most personnel accepted to move to country B.

They operate a third-party certified EMS; the certificate was transferred to the new plant after a half-day audit from the certification body. You are auditing ABC's EMS in the new location, representing ABC's largest customer. When interviewing the Environmental Manager (EM), you ask:

You: Can I see the plan you developed to keep under control the impact of the EMS due to the change of site?

EM: We listed all elements and processes of the EMS that might need to be changed and selected those that we considered needed a careful review and probably a revision.

Below you will find that list; select six that you consider will need to be revised.

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 chain of 10 paint shops in a city has established an EMS following the requirements of ISO 14001, which was third-party certified 10 years ago. You are performing a second-party audit. The audit plan included an interview with the General Manager (GM). The dialogue was as follows:

You: Hi, good evening, I have seen a well-developed environmental risk assessment process. However, I did not find the identification of emergency situations included in the results of this process. The Environmental Manager (EM) could not provide me with an acceptable answer to this question.

GM: The EM joined us 2 months ago, and he may not know some decisions we made some time ago, when we first certified our EMS. During those days, I met with all 10 supervisors and asked them what the emergencies were that they feared most. They unanimously said: fire. That was it. This is the only emergency we care of. As far as I remember we do not test the plan very often because the supervisors of all our 10 shops know it very well. The auditors of our certification body accepted this. We did not have a fire in the last 10 years.

What evidence would you need to review to determine conformity with ISO 14001 in this scenario? Select six.

A group of 22 Italian restaurants in downtown San Francisco (US) established an EMS following the requirements of ISO 14001. You are performing an internal audit before the fourth certification cycle. The audit plan included an audit of the General Manager (GM) as the last interview before the closing meeting. During the interview with the GM, you audit clause 10.3 (Continual improvement). The dialogue is as follows.

You: Could you please tell me how did you improve the EMS to enhance environmental performance (Clause 10.3)?

GM: One way to improve the EMS is to improve one or several of its processes. We decided to improve the water-consuming processes in all our branches. We use water in many of our processes (e.g. to wash our kitchens, our cutlery, plates, and glasses, to keep our floors clean). The idea was to review these processes in detail to reduce the amount of water used per customer. Each of the 22 branches sent us their results, we analysed the data and found out that the average water consumption per customer was reduced by 13%; therefore, we improved our environmental performance. We are happy about that.

You: What about the results in each branch?

GM: Have a look at this table:

Analysing this table, what would be your decision related to raising nonconformities to clause 10.3? Select two.

Showitoff is an organisation specialising in the design and production of wall decorating materials for the domestic market. During an ISO 14001 certification audit of the site, the auditor comes across an open, walled area just outside the maintenance department. It contains various scraps of wood and metal as well as several rusty components. They are lying on an oily floor. When asked about it, the EMS Manager states that he presumes that the materials come from maintenance work.

The auditor interviews the Maintenance Manager in his department. He notes that shelves containing various spares are well labelled and neatly stacked. He asked about the "dump" outside and is told that it contains some excess materials that the Manager likes to keep in case they come in handy at some stage. The auditor points out that the "dump" might be classed under regulations as a landfill site, which requires an operating licence. The Maintenance Manager is not aware of such a licence.

Which three statements represent good audit practice?