ISO 14001 ISO-14001-Lead-Auditor Release Date

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.

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.

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 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 six statements would represent output audit evidence for the management review?

A multi-level shopping centre is open every day to the public from 09:00–21:00 hours. During an external audit of the centre to ISO 14001, you establish that there are 40 vending machines that are permanently switched on. Thirty of them do not sell perishable foodstuffs. You also note that there are eight escalators in the complex that run constantly during public access. When asked about environmental performance improvement objectives, the Centre Manager says that there are plans to increase the natural daylight by installing more skylights thus saving on lighting costs, but the estimated budget for this has not yet been approved by the board.

You: I note that energy consumption is a significant environmental aspect in the centre. How do you mitigate the impacts of this?

EMS Manager: We try to reduce our energy costs by negotiating a better deal from the energy company. We are considering changing to one that only supplies electricity from renewable sources.

You: What steps have you taken to reduce overall consumption?

EMS Manager: We conducted awareness training for staff. For example, turning off lights in staff areas not being used.

You: I see that the escalators account for the highest usage of energy. Are there any objectives to try and reduce this?

EMS Manager: No, it would be too costly to change them.

You: How do you measure electricity consumption?

EMS Manager: We have meters installed in each floor of the centre. We take readings every hour and we plot the consumption graph for every staff shift.

You continue the interview and find that energy consumption has increased steadily over the past five years. Select the two statements that are true.