Which two of the following do not participate in a second-party audit to ISO 14001?

• A. An auditor certified by an auditor certification body
• B. An auditor employed by an external consultancy organisation
• C. An auditor from a customer
• D. An auditor trained in the CQI and IRCA scheme
• E. A certification body auditor
• F. An auditor from an accreditation body

You work for a certification body. In two months, you will have to lead an audit of a pharmaceutical organisation, ABC, that manufactures vaccines to combat a pandemic. When planning the audit team, you select one of the certification body auditors who is professionally qualified in Biochemistry and Pharmacy.
However, she is not fully aware of all legal applicable requirements. You recommend the certification body hire a compliance expert to assist the audit team. In which two clauses of ISO 14001:2015 would you consider that auditors may need the help of the expert?

• A. 5.1 Leadership
• B. 9.2 Internal audits
• C. 9.1.2 Compliance obligations
• D. 4.2 Understanding needs and expectations of interested parties
• E. 5.2 Environmental Policy
• F. 7.1 Resources

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.

• A. Advise the authority that timely corrective action will be taken.
• B. Offer to compensate employees for possible health implications.
• C. Monitor VOC emissions to ensure compliance with legal requirements.
• D. Conduct an internal enquiry to establish who is to blame.
• E. Investigate changing the cleaning process to use chemicals with lower VOC content.
• F. Advise the authority that the faulty equipment will be maintained more often.
• G. Ask to settle the court case by negotiation with the authority.
• H. Give an explanation to the authority of what went wrong.

A small services organisation has been contracted to handle the disposal of waste for a local hospital. You are an auditor conducting a Stage 2 audit of the care home to ISO 14001. You are reviewing the contract with the Service Manager (SM). An addendum to the contract only requires that biological waste is disposed of in the most environmentally friendly way, without reference to any regulatory requirements.
You: How was the waste disposal plan for the contract developed?
SM: We have a basic template that covers the materials, labour requirements and methods to be employed.
Some of that is specified by the contractor.
You: How does the plan deal with specific items like biological waste, which are included in the contract and can pose biological hazards to the environment?
SM: The basic plan covers general waste, but we have an addendum that covers biological waste.
You: Are you aware of the regulatory requirements for waste disposal standards in hospitals?
SM: Yes but we depend on the contractor to look after that side of things.
You raise a nonconformity against section 8.1.d of ISO 14001.
At the Stage 2 closing meeting of the audit, the EMS Manager objects to the nonconformity raised and asks for it to be withdrawn. He insists that they meet all the regulations.
Choose one of the options that the audit team leader should take in response to the request.

• A. Confirm that it is a valid nonconformity supported by a lack of evidence for meeting the requirement.
• B. Advise that the nonconformity will be reconsidered after the meeting.
• C. Consult with the auditor who raised the nonconformity and ask whether he will agree to withdraw it.
• D. Offer to downgrade the nonconformity to an opportunity for improvement if the organisation can prove its compliance with regulations.

Which one of the following options is the definition of an interested party in an EMS?

• A. A person or organisation that can affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision or activity.
• B. A group or organisation that can interfere in or perceive itself to be interfered with by a management decision.
• C. A third party that can appeal to an organisation when it perceives itself to be affected by a decision or activity.
• D. An individual or organisation that can influence, be influenced by, or perceive itself to be influenced by a decision or activity.