PECB Certified EMS ISO 14001 Lead Auditor Exam Questions and Answers
Which two of the following documents are not required for documentation review by an auditor conducting a Stage 1 certification audit to ISO 14001?
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.
You are a third-party auditor of XM, a logistics organisation located in a European country, that distributes a wide range of products to local customers but also to customers in several neighbouring countries. Close to the distribution warehouse, you see many trucks loading and unloading goods. Almost 50 per cent of the trucks are owned by XM, the remainder are subcontracted from other organisations.
You have the following dialogue with the Warehouse Manager:
You: I see that not all trucks belong to XM.
WM: Sometimes we need additional trucks from other organisations nearby. Obviously, we cannot control their energy consumption since they come with the trucks half full of their own goods.
You: How did you inform them of the EMS?
WM: You know, they are not used to the complicated words in our policy. I have just told them: “Save energy”.
You: What about your trucks?
WM: We measure the fuel they used on each trip, the distance they drove and the weight of goods they distributed. They know the roads and we ask them to choose the shortest route — we rely on them.
You: Did you fix any indicators and objectives related to energy consumption?
WM: No, we know they are careful people, they do their best. We would not be able to improve consumption.
This dialogue is related to several clauses of ISO 14001. Identify which three clauses below are related to this dialogue.
You work for a certification body. In two months, you will have to lead an audit of a pharmaceutical organisation, ABC, that manufactures vaccines to combat a pandemic. When planning the audit team, you select one of the certification body auditors who is professionally qualified in Biochemistry and Pharmacy. However, she is not fully aware of all legal applicable requirements. You recommend the certification body hire a compliance expert to assist the audit team. In which two clauses of ISO 14001:2015 would you consider that auditors ma y need the help of the expert?
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.
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.
You are the audit team leader of a third-party initial certification audit to ISO 14001 for two days of audit. This is the first time you lead an audit, and a second member of the team is a qualified audit team leader who will evaluate your performance as the audit team leader.
During lunch on the second day, you are informed that the second member of the audit team will have to leave the audit due to personal problems but could return the following day.
What would you do? Select the best two options.
Wash-it-up is an organisation that provides window cleaning services for the industrial sector. It has been certified to ISO 14001 for some time and has appointed a new EMS Manager. The audit plan during a surveillance audit includes the improvement actions and the auditor asks to see the most recent management review meeting minutes.
Which two statements would represent an input to the management review process?
You have been nominated as audit team leader for the second recertification to ISO 14001 of ABC, a public transport organisation in a big city. The audit is planned to take place in two months.
The audit program manager asks you to review the answer provided by ABC to a nonconformity raised by another auditor during the last surveillance audit carried out eight months ago.
The nonconformity reads as follows:
*“ABC does not always communicate its relevant environmental requirements to external providers. Evidence: A two-month contract signed with a new external provider of the maintenance for ABC’s buses did not contain any relevant environmental requirements.”*
Which two would you consider to be the best corrective actions from ABC?
You are starting the opening meeting of an unannounced audit of MX, a spare parts supplier of ABC; you are an external consultant who regularly performs second-party audits for ABC.
MX’s Production Manager seems to be quite surprised. He says:
PM: I do not understand what you are doing here. I am fully aware that our contract with ABC includes unannounced audits, but under the condition that ABC keeps placing orders to MX. In the last 12 months, after ABC’s last audit, we did not get any orders. So, what are you planning to see?
You: ABC gave me a list of external providers to audit 10 months ago. I am just following the plan. I think that I can audit the production processes of whatever product you are manufacturing.
PM: Sorry, Sir. You should audit our processes when we are manufacturing products for ABC. So, therefore, I propose to close the meeting right now.
What would you say?
A key audit process is the way auditors gather information and determine the findings ' characteristics. Put the actions in the correct order to complete this process.
A screenshot of a computer AI-generated content may be incorrect.Which one of the following options best describes the main purpose of a Stage 2 third-party audit?
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?
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.
The following statements are related to audit methods. Review each one and select the two that are true:
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?
Which two of the following actions are the exclusive responsibility of an audit team leader during all stages of an initial certification audit?
