The PECB Certified EMS ISO 14001 Lead Auditor Exam (ISO-14001-Lead-Auditor)

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.

You are leading a recertification audit of XM, a manufacturer of cosmetics products. After the initial certification, XM moved to another site.

After the opening meeting, you are visiting the new site with the production manager (PM). The dialogue is as follows:

You: It seems that you are doing some work in the right-hand corner of the site.

PM: Yes, when we moved to this site, there was a very old, three-stories high building; it was almost empty, and we decided to demolish it and to build a new office for the administrative personnel. DEMO services are doing the job, which is almost over.

You: Do you know what the old building was used for?

PM: I was told that it was a warehouse for chemical storage, including a laboratory and toilets for the personnel. It had also a chimney, I do not know what for.

You: Did you consider it necessary to refer to some parts of the EMS for this work?

PM: No, we were busy moving all equipment and materials to the new site, we did not have time to care about something that was going to disappear.

Which four audit trail issues would you follow?

Whistlekleen is a national dry cleaning and laundry organisation with 50 shops. You are conducting an EMS surveillance audit of Head Office and are sampling environmental performance measurement. You find that 80 per cent of failures to meet performance criteria originate from five shops in the same region. Most of these failures relate to the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that exceeds regulations. The Environmental Manager tells you that these are the oldest shops in the organisation. The cleaning equipment needs replacing but the organisation cannot afford it at the moment.

On raising the matter with senior management, you are told that there are plans to replace the equipment in these shops over the next five years.

Select two options that apply to how you should respond to the information given.

In the case of ISO 14001 EMS audits that follow the recommendations of ISO 19011, which two of the following statements are true?

Whistlekleen is a national dry cleaning and laundry organisation with 50 shops. You are conducting an EMS surveillance audit of Head Office and are sampling environmental performance measurement. You find that 80 per cent of failures to meet performance criteria originate from five shops in the same region. Most of these failures relate to the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that exceeded regulations. The Environmental Manager tells you that these are the oldest shops in the organisation. The cleaning equipment needs replacing but the organisation cannot afford it at the moment.

On raising the matter with senior management, you are told that there are plans to replace the equipment in these shops over the next five years.

When reviewing the nonconformity report files, you find that the organisation is facing a legal dispute with the environmental authority over multiple breaches of environmental legislation.

Select the three best options for how this dispute should be handled by the organisation through its EMS.

Which two audit characteristics are features of a Stage 1 initial certification audit?

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.

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

An organisation has the following environmental policy document displayed in the reception area:

"This organisation is committed to providing electric cables to customers' requirements, in accordance with environmental regulations for their manufacture, use and disposal. The organisation will strive to increase the environmental awareness of its personnel, suppliers, subcontractors and interested parties. Continual environmental improvement is a permanent objective of the organisation. This policy shall be communicated to all employees with the opportunity for them to seek clarification where required. Where required the policy shall be communicated to all interested parties."

Referring to the above policy statement, select three options for which the organisation is meeting ISO 14001 requirements.