ISO 14001 Changed ISO-14001-Lead-Auditor Questions

From ISO 19011:2018:

Clause 5.4.3:

“The audit plan should consider the potential impact on the auditee ' s processes during audit activities to minimize disruption.”

Clause 5.2 and 5.3:

“The audit programme frequency should be based on the significance of the environmental aspects, past audit results, changes, and risks.”

Internal auditors auditing their own work violates auditor impartiality (Clause 4.4.2 - Auditor Independence).

Second-party audits are customer-supplier audits, not certification body audits (Clause 3.7 - Audit Types).

EMS auditors must consider the organization ' s preparedness for emergencies (ISO 14001:2015 Clause 8.2).

The correct answers are A, B, D, F, G and H .

This scenario mainly relates to ISO 14001:2015 Clause 8.2 — Emergency preparedness and response , supported by Clause 7.2 — Competence , Clause 7.3 — Awareness , and Clause 9.3 — Management review .

A. Shops that have tested the plan in the last 10 years — Correct

ISO 14001 expects planned emergency response actions to be tested periodically where practicable. Since the General Manager says the plan is not tested very often, the auditor should check which shops have tested the emergency plan and when.

B. Replacements of supervisors of each shop when they are absent — Correct

The General Manager relies heavily on the 10 supervisors knowing the fire emergency plan. The auditor should verify what happens if a supervisor is absent. Emergency response must remain effective regardless of absence, leave, sickness, or shift changes.

D. General competence records of all 10 supervisors — Correct

If supervisors are relied upon to control emergency response, their competence is relevant evidence. The auditor should verify that they are competent to perform the emergency-related responsibilities assigned to them.

F. Reports of the management reviews — Correct

Management review records may show whether emergency preparedness, incidents, changes, resources, test results, improvement needs, and EMS effectiveness have been reviewed. This is important because the emergency decision appears to have been made 10 years ago and may not have been adequately reviewed since.

G. Records of the specific fire combat training of workers — Correct

Workers must have suitable awareness and training related to emergency preparedness and response. For paint shops, fire is a credible emergency situation, so specific fire response training records are relevant evidence.

H. Results of the inspection of fire extinguishers — Correct

Fire extinguishers are part of the emergency response arrangements. Inspection results help confirm that emergency equipment is available, maintained, and suitable for use.

The two options not selected are:

C. Reports of audits from the certification body — Not selected

Previous certification audit reports may provide background, but they do not replace the auditor’s own audit evidence. The current audit must determine present conformity.

E. Signage related to health and safety in each shop — Not selected

Health and safety signage may be useful, but the question is about ISO 14001 EMS conformity and environmental emergency preparedness. It is not one of the strongest pieces of evidence for this EMS issue unless directly linked to environmental emergency response.

The correct answers are A and D .

This question relates mainly to ISO 14001:2015 Clause 7.3 — Awareness and Clause 5.2 — Environmental policy .

Persons doing work under the organisation’s control, including subcontractor personnel where relevant, need to be aware of the organisation’s environmental policy. In this scenario, the environmental policy specifically includes two clear commitments:

A. Complying with legal requirements — Correct

The policy states that the organisation will “comply with relevant legislation.” Therefore, subcontractor personnel must be aware that their work must comply with applicable legal and environmental requirements. This is especially important because installation work may involve paint, waste, emissions, spill risks, drainage controls, and site environmental rules.

D. Commitment to environmental protection — Correct

The policy states that the organisation will “protect the environment by acting with responsibility at all times.” Therefore, subcontractor personnel should understand their responsibility to protect the environment while carrying out installation activities.

The other options are not the best answers:

B. Continual improvement of the EMS — Incorrect in this context

Continual improvement is an ISO 14001 policy requirement generally, but the policy text given in the question focuses on protecting the environment, complying with legislation, and setting objectives to enhance environmental performance. It is not one of the two clearest issues directly stated in the provided policy wording.

C. Addressing customer complaints — Incorrect

Customer complaints may be relevant to performance evaluation or corrective action, but they are not a stated commitment in the environmental policy.

E. Communicating with trade unions — Incorrect

This is not an environmental policy awareness requirement in the scenario.

F. Conducting environmental risk assessments — Incorrect

Risk assessment may be part of EMS planning, but the question asks what subcontractor personnel should be aware of in relation to the environmental policy, not what technical EMS activities they must conduct.

Therefore, the two correct issues are A. Complying with legal requirements and D. Commitment to environmental protection .

According to ISO 19011:2018 Clause 3.3 (Terms and definitions):

Audit criteria are defined as:

“Set of policies, procedures or requirements used as a reference against which objective evidence is compared.”

ISO 14001 requirements (F) and the organization ' s own management policy (A) are valid audit criteria.

Nonconformity report (C) and audit conclusions (D) are audit outputs, not criteria.

Financial objectives (B) and auditor competence (E) are not used as audit criteria.