At your site where you are the WHS coordinator; the production manager calls you and says he has a problem with one of his employees who is refusing to use an insulation product. The product has been...

At your site where you are the WHS coordinator; the production manager calls you and says he has a problem with one of his employees who is refusing to use an insulation product. The product has been used for years without previous complaints, yet this one employee, Fred, is now complaining.

Fred has read the info on the side of the recently delivered box of insulation material and reckons that the product causes cancer. He has told all of his mates not to use it and wants to make sure they are not all going to die of cancer.

The production manager wants you to check out the product and make sure it is ok, so Fred (and others) can use the product and production can continue.

Facts about the issue:

•    The product is comprised of refractory ceramic fibre and is in a blanket type form
•    The insulation blanket is used to protect electronic test equipment as it passes through a furnace which gets up to 900 degrees Celsius
•    The test equipment is used once a week to check temperatures in the furnace as a QC measure for the product

•    Layers of the insulation blanket are repeatedly used to cover the electronic equipment which is situated within a metal canister within a lining made of the insulation blanket
•    Pieces of the used blankets are strewn around the furnace area and usually thrown in the rubbish bin next to the work station
•    The SDS which looks a bit old also concerns the workers.
You have been asked to put together a report suitable for the OHS Committee; making sure you reference appropriately.