PECB ISO-14001-Lead-Auditor - PECB Certified EMS ISO 14001 Lead Auditor Exam

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?

You are auditing the ISO 14001 management system of a primary school (School 21st Century) located in downtown Lima, Peru. There are 400 students, attending classes from 9 am until 5.30 pm.

You have presented a nonconformity at the closing meeting:

Non-conformity - No environmental aspect has been identified related to the impact of the education provided by the school on students' awareness (as future adults) related to generic environmental issues.

Select the three best acceptable corrections that the school may take.

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At the Stage 2 closing meeting of the audit, the EMS Manager objects to the nonconformity raised and asks for it to be withdrawn.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.

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.

Which two of the following documents are not required for documentation review by an auditor conducting a Stage 1 certification audit to ISO 14001?

An oil organisation has a natural gas treatment plant on land crossed by several small rivers. On one particular day, after heavy rainfall for 48 hours, some of those rivers burst their banks and flooded the water treatment facilities of the plant. The oil-contaminated water reached some scarcely populated areas nearby.

Soon after, an internal audit was carried out to particularly analyse this event that was considered a nonconformity. There were no records of such heavy rainfall in the past 200 years.

Which three of the following actions are 'corrections'?

A huge 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 to 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 were the environmental objectives 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 in four categories: paper, plastics, metals, food — before, we had only three (plastic and paper were disposed together). We developed an Action Plan to achieve this objective.

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

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.

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