Pass the PECB ISO 14001 ISO-14001-Lead-Auditor Questions and answers with ExamsMirror

C:\Users\Intellectual Works\Pictures\Screenshots\Screenshot 2025-06-12 143525.png

Determine environmental aspects

Determine environmental impacts

Establish criteria to determine the significance of impacts

Determine which impacts are significant

Determine which aspects are significant

Plan actions to be taken

Determine how to evaluate the effectiveness of the actions taken

According to ISO 14001:2015 clause 6.1.2 (Environmental Aspects), an organization must determine the environmental aspects of its activities, products, and services that it can control and influence, and their associated environmental impacts.

Once identified, the organization shall:

Determine the aspects that can have significant impact on the environment using established criteria for evaluating significance. (Reference: ISO 14001:2015, clause 6.1.2)

Then, as per clause 6.1.4 (Planning action), the organization needs to:

Plan actions to address significant environmental aspects, legal requirements, and risks/opportunities.

Determine how to evaluate the effectiveness of these actions to ensure continual improvement.

This logical sequence ensures a structured and risk-based approach to identifying and managing environmental impacts.

The correct answers are C and D .

C. The audit team leader is responsible for creating the audit plan — Correct

For a Stage 2 certification audit, the audit team leader prepares or is responsible for ensuring the audit plan is developed. The plan identifies how the audit will be conducted, including areas, processes, timings, responsibilities, locations, and audit activities.

D. The audit plan is shared with the auditee in advance of the audit — Correct

The audit plan must be communicated to the auditee before the audit so that arrangements can be confirmed. This allows the auditee to ensure relevant personnel, processes, records, and site areas are available.

The other options are incorrect:

A. Previous audit findings are detailed in the audit plan — Incorrect

Previous findings may be considered when planning the audit, especially for surveillance or recertification audits, but they are not normally “detailed” in the audit plan.

B. The questions to be asked during the audit are detailed in the audit plan — Incorrect

Audit plans do not list every audit question. They define the structure and arrangements of the audit, not the exact interview questions.

E. A significant portion of the audit must be allocated to evaluating legal compliance processes — Incorrect

Legal compliance is important in ISO 14001 and must be evaluated, but the audit plan is not required to allocate a “significant portion” specifically to legal compliance. Audit time is allocated according to scope, risks, processes, environmental aspects, compliance obligations, and audit objectives.

F. All site processes to be audited must be addressed in the audit programme — Incorrect for this question

This statement refers to the audit programme , not specifically the Stage 2 audit plan . The audit programme covers the broader cycle of audits, while the audit plan covers one specific audit.

Therefore, the two statements that apply to a Stage 2 certification audit plan are C and D .

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 .

The correct answers are A and E .

A. Advise that the audit team make-up is a decision for the Certification Body — Correct

For a certification audit, the Certification Body is responsible for determining the audit team composition. This includes deciding the number of auditors, required competence, audit duration, technical expertise, impartiality, and ability to cover the full audit scope. The client may express a preference or raise a concern, but the client cannot dictate the audit team structure simply to reduce costs.

E. Suggest asking the Certification Body management to consider the request — Correct

The request may be passed to appropriate Certification Body management for review. The Certification Body can consider whether the request is possible without compromising audit duration, competence, impartiality, coverage of the audit scope, or certification requirements. However, any change must remain under the Certification Body’s control.

The other options are not appropriate:

B. Advise the EMS Manager that his request can be considered for future audits — Incorrect

This avoids the current request rather than addressing it properly. The Certification Body may consider the request now, but only through its own competent review process.

C. Suggest that the EMS Manager choose another Certification Body — Incorrect

This is unprofessional and unnecessary. The correct approach is to explain the Certification Body’s responsibility and review the request appropriately.

D. Advise that the contract has already been signed and cannot be revised — Incorrect

A signed contract does not automatically prevent changes. Changes may be possible if reviewed and approved by the Certification Body, provided audit integrity is maintained.

F. Advise that a remote audit could be conducted instead of an on-site audit — Incorrect

Remote auditing cannot simply be substituted to reduce travel expenses. The use of remote audit methods must be justified and must still allow the Certification Body to achieve the audit objectives. For many certification audit activities, especially where operational controls and site conditions must be verified, on-site evaluation may be necessary.

Therefore, the best two responses are A and E .

As per ISO 14001:2015 Clause 10 (Improvement) and Clause 9 (Performance Evaluation):

The ' Check ' phase includes activities that evaluate performance, such as:

Clause 9.1:

“The organization shall monitor, measure, analyze and evaluate its environmental performance.”

Clause 10.2:

“When a nonconformity occurs, the organization shall react to the nonconformity, evaluate the need for corrective action.”

Management review is part of the ' Act ' phase (Clause 9.3), and Environmental Policy (Clause 5.2) belongs to ' Plan ' .

The correct answer is A .

This finding relates to ISO 14001:2015 Clause 8.1 — Operational planning and control . Clause 8.1 requires the organisation to control or influence outsourced processes and to communicate relevant environmental requirements to external providers, including contractors.

In this case, the installation work was subcontracted, but the environmental impact still occurred as part of the organisation’s activities and contracted work. The disposal of excess paint into site drains created a legal breach and showed that the organisation had not effectively controlled or influenced the outsourced installation activity.

A is correct because a contract is a key way to communicate operational controls and environmental requirements to a subcontractor. If the installation contract did not require the subcontractor to comply with the organisation’s EMS policy or environmental requirements, this supports a nonconformity against Clause 8.1 .

The other options are linked to different ISO 14001 clauses:

B relates more closely to Clause 7.3 — Awareness .

C relates more closely to Clause 7.1 — Resources .

D relates more closely to Clause 7.2 — Competence .

Therefore, the statement that best supports a nonconformity against ISO 14001 Clause 8.1 is A .

According to ISO 19011:2018 Clause 3.11 (Audit findings) and Clause 6.4.10:

Audit findings can be conformity, nonconformity, or opportunity for improvement.

A conformity simply confirms that the requirements have been met no further action is required from the auditee.

Nonconformities require corrective actions.

Opportunities for improvement may trigger voluntary action but not mandatory response.

Diverging opinions are handled during the audit but don ' t require post-audit response unless linked to nonconformity.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract ISO 14001 Compliance Auditor:

The correct answer is D. How to raise a nonconformity report .

A technical expert provides specialist knowledge to support the audit team, but does not act as an auditor. ISO 19011 defines a technical expert as a person who provides specific knowledge or expertise to the audit team and states that a technical expert does not act as an auditor. ( cdn.standards.iteh.ai )

Because the technical expert is not acting as an auditor, raising a formal nonconformity report is not their responsibility. Nonconformities are audit findings made from evaluating audit evidence against audit criteria; this is the responsibility of auditors in the audit team. ISO 19011 defines audit findings as the result of evaluating collected audit evidence against audit criteria. ( cdn.standards.iteh.ai )

Options A, B, and C are relevant because a technical expert should understand the certification and audit context well enough to support the audit properly and know when to provide advice . However, they should not independently raise nonconformities.

Therefore, the option that is not part of the required knowledge of a technical expert is D .