The DAMAS team require an auditor to cover the southeast and London region of the UK.  The role requires the candidate to be flexible as the number of audits varies from month to month and you will be managing your own dairy based on your availability. This position is for a self-employed sub-contractor who will be inspecting dental laboratories against the requirements of the DAMAS System. The ideal candidate must have experience of working in a dental laboratory.

Main Purpose of Role

To plan and conduct professional DAMAS audits in accordance with the DAMAS Management System Specification to enable delivery of assessment and certification services that meet customer requirements.

Key Accountabilities

Conduct audits at dental laboratory premises in accordance with established procedures, maintaining a high standard of service delivery that ensures effective customer relationships.

Ensure completion of all assigned work and relevant documentation in accordance with required procedures to fulfil customer expectations.

Provide accurate and timely reporting as required by management to assist the planning and management of operations.

Manage personal schedule to work efficiently and to meet requirements as defined by the DAMAS office.

To manage chargeable expenditure required to fulfil the role in order that customer relations are not compromised.

At all times, adopt a safe behaviour by exercising due regard for the health and safety of yourself, colleagues and clients, in line with the Company’s policies and procedures.

Skills & Knowledge

• Working knowledge of the DAMAS systems (full training will be given).
• Experience of working within a dental laboratory.
• Effective interpersonal skills; able to develop good working relationships with people at all levels.
• Good communication skills with the ability to give clear instructions.
• Effective at report writing and to be IT literate.

As a sub-contractor auditor, you will be self-employed and will supply auditing services to DAMAS International Ltd.  You will be required to travel to audits and therefore you will need to have your own transport and be willing to travel outside of your local area. You will also need to have access to a laptop to enable you to produce audit reports.

Fees payable to DAMAS Auditor sub-contractors – You will be paid a daily audit rate, and all expenses and mileage incurred whilst undertaking DAMAS audits. You will submit a monthly invoice to DAMAS.

Full training will be given on the DAMAS auditing processes.

Important Information – To be considered as a sub-contractor auditor for DAMAS you must not be currently working in or have connection to any dental laboratory in the UK. An important part of the inspection process is the need for confidentially, impartially and trust and as such this is why all auditors must not be already employed within a dental laboratory.

Recording of complaints is a necessary task, it can however sometimes be difficult for laboratories to decide how best to do this and even what they should class as a complaint. Ultimately labs should use their own judgement, helped by following the appropriate guidelines to make these decisions. The process helps laboratories to highlight trends, whether these be reoccurring issues with specific clients, problems with materials, or training needs of staff members for example.

The purpose of the Complaints Procedure:

The complaints procedure exists to ensure that laboratories record any adverse communication between themselves and clients or prescribers and that any such communications are followed up, analysed and resolved using a step by step process (as discussed in more detail below). Recording these steps as they occur, provides a means of preventing the reoccurrence of the same issues, and provides written evidence of your efforts to resolve them.

Recording your Complaints:

There are specific steps to be followed when recording a complaint in your Complaints Log:

The Customer details and nature of complaint

Whether the complaint is justified or not

What the action is (for unjustified complaints)

What the action is (for unjustified complaints)

The cause of the complaint

The corrective action taken / to be taken to resolve complaint

Any follow up action needed to verify that complaint has been resolved

A signature and date to confirm the closure of the complaint.

It is important to remember that all laboratories should maintain thorough records of complaints. As a DAMAS laboratory you will have been provided with a Complaints Log format as part of the system to make this process much easier. You can enter the information onto the log using your computerised version or handwrite onto a printed hardcopy, whichever you prefer.

Laboratories with computerised booking in systems:

Some laboratories may be choosing to record some aspects of their complaints, on their booking in systems (Labtrac for example). If you have a system such as Labtrac in place, you can choose to record your ‘remakes’ on that system, by checking a box at the point of booking in the job. If this is the case you can then choose to use the DAMAS provided Complaints Log for any complaints that are not classed as remakes. This would mean it would run well in conjunction with the Labtrac remakes record, but you must make sure that the same information is inputted into Labtrac as is entered into the DAMAS Complaints Log to ensure compliance.

For DAMAS labs that don’t have a system like Labtrac, or that just prefer to record all types of complaints in one place, can do this for quick, easy reference, using the provided DAMAS format.

If you would like any more information on the complaints procedures or any other aspect of the DAMAS system, please don’t hesitate to contact the DLA office by phone on 0115 925 4888 or by email on info@damas.co.uk.

Congratulations go to the following dental laboratories that achieved DAMAS registration during November 2013:

Southern Dental Laboratories – Portsmouth

Castledale Ceramics – Manchester

Carter House Dental Laboratory – Enfield

Congratulations go to the following dental laboratories that have been re-inspected against the DAMAS Specification during October 2013:

Congratulations go to the following dental laboratories that achieved DAMAS registration during October 2013:

JMS Dental Laboratory Ltd – Somerset

Cedar Dental Laboratory Ltd – Surrey

Maxim Studio Ltd – Hants

S G Dentures & Repairs Ltd – Harrogate

Priory Chromes & Prosthetic Studio – Cleveland

Gardiner & Coates – London

As the DAMAS name continues to spread across the UK, the benefits of the scheme become ever more clear, and the number of new laboratories registering continues to grow. November sees us visiting around 20 laboratories so far, with around a third of these being for new registrations.