Which one of the following options best describes the main purpose of a Stage 2 third-party audit?

• A. To determine readiness for certification.
• B. To check for legal compliance by the organisation.
• C. To get to know the organisation ' s management system.
• D. To identify nonconformances against a standard.

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. How did you measure it?
• B. Who was responsible for the completion of the plan?
• C. When is its completion date?
• D. Is it consistent with the environmental policy?
• E. How will you evaluate the cost savings?
• F. Was it approved by the Director?
• G. Were actions integrated into the organisation ' s business processes?
• H. How was progress of the plan being monitored?
• I. Did you estimate what resources would you need?
• J. Did you define any method for monitoring progress?

CleanHavenServices is a national dry cleaning and laundry organisation with 50 shops. You are conducting an EMS surveillance audit of the Head Office and are sampling environmental performance measurements. You find that all failures to meet compliance criteria originate from five shops in the same region. Most of these failures relate to the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which exceed regulatory limits. The Environmental Manager tells you that these are the oldest shops in the organisation. He states that the cleaning equipment needs replacing, but the organisation cannot afford it now. He was instructed six months ago by Head Office to stop monitoring the air quality in the five shops.
On raising the matter with senior management, you are told that there are environmental objectives to replace the equipment in these shops over the next five years, which will eventually solve the problem.
After further auditing, you raised four nonconformities against ISO 14001.
Based on the scenario, select the four options which best describe the evidence for raising such nonconformities.

• A. The organisation does not measure Volatile Organic Compound emission levels to determine whether environmental regulatory limits were being met.
• B. The organisation failed to adequately control the laundry operations in five shops and produced greenhouse gases exceeding regulatory limits.
• C. The release of Volatile Organic Compounds exceeding regulatory limits did not align with the organisation ' s environmental policy to protect the environment.
• D. Shop managers were told to ventilate the laundry area and ignore the pungent odour of the Volatile Organic Compounds.
• E. The organisation failed to improve its environmental performance when monitoring of air quality in five shops was terminated.
• F. No action was taken when the earlier sampling of air quality showed regulatory limits being exceeded.
• G. The management failed in planning to replace obsolete equipment which damages the environment.
• H. The senior management was unaware that future regulations will likely ban the use of Volatile Organic Compounds in dry cleaning processes.

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

• A. An organisation ' s financial statement
• B. List of environmental aspects
• C. An internal audit schedule
• D. A management review record
• E. Documented information on the environmental objectives
• F. A list of planned emergency responses

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. Bring the meeting to a close and advise that it will be rescheduled to continue at a later date.
• B. Terminate the meeting to allow you to consult with your line manager in the certification body.
• C. Suggest that a meeting break is taken to allow a separate meeting with the Chief Executive to discuss his concerns.
• D. Request firmly that the Chief Executive holds back his comments until the report is completed.