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.
In the case of ISO 14001 EMS audits that follow the recommendations of ISO 19011, which two of the following statements are true?
An organisation (ABC) plans to carry out a second-party audit of the environmental management system of a supplier (XYZ). Both, ABC and XYZ, have a certified Environmental Management System (EMS) to ISO 14001 by the same certification body.
Which one of these statements is correct?
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.
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.
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?
Which two of the following phrases would apply to "audit criteria"?
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 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.
Which two audit characteristics are features of a Stage 1 initial certification audit?
TESTED 16 Oct 2025