An internal auditor of a manufacturer of aluminium products for the car industry raised a nonconformity against section 6.2.2 of ISO 14001 in Report IA202. The nonconformity (NC3) stated:
"Top management has not analysed why none of the environmental objectives set for the last year have been met."
A third-party auditor reviewing the internal audit process came across the nonconformity and found that no corrective action was documented. The EMS Manager confirmed no action had been taken, but added he expected a number of objectives to be achieved in the next three months so there was no need for further action. He explained in confidence that the organisation was fighting a takeover bid and resources for environmental projects had been cut.
From the information, select three non-conformities options that the auditor could raise to ISO 14001.
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?
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 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.
Sparkle is an organisation that provides mobile car cleaning services at customers' premises. It has been certified to ISO 14001 for some time and has appointed a full-time Environmental Management System Manager. The audit plan during a surveillance audit includes continual improvement and the auditor asks to see the most recent management review meeting minutes.
The minutes indicate that the Environmental Management System Manager reported that the last review of the organisation's environmental legislation register was made three years ago instead of annually as planned in the Environmental Management System. At that time, he asked for finances to employ a legislation expert to update the register but was denied the request by top management on the basis that it was unlikely that many changes to legislation had occurred. No related improvement actions were documented in the minutes.
Based on the scenario, select the two options which best describe the evidence for raising such a non-conformity.
Which two audit characteristics are features of a Stage 1 initial certification audit?
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.
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 one of the following conclusions in the audit report is not required by the certification body when deciding to grant certification?
TESTED 17 Jun 2025
