Posted By Ken Urquhart
Ashley.
I just tried typing in on the Browser Bar:
Man made mineral fibre and came up with over 1000 possible sites.
One of the early indexed entries was an extract from The Lancet and extremely interesting reading it made, have a look.
Also go to
www.rockwool.co.uk and that will take you to the rockwool company, one of the largest manufacturers and developers of mmmf and Rockwool, which is also their brand/trade name.
They do not give any specific Health and Safety information as a user/handler installer or remover on the pages as far as I can see from my quick scan, but they have a technical helpline that you can e-mail.
Why not ask them.
After all they are legally obliged to provide user Health & safety advice and information for their products.
They do make a big play on Environmental issues, more allied to the benefit there material/product gives in its insulative properties if installed in structures etc., in that it mitigates the emissions of harmful heat etc., to atmosphere.
They also expound the good Environmental benefits of their manufacturing process, minimal use of energy, control of packaging, etc.,
Not much help to you when you are looking for Health Advice for users.
Also go to
www.alltheweb.com another good search engine and again type in man made minral fibre and look at what you get.
(You should get the reference to The Lancet article again on this page)
Entry 32 on that list should be a note from the Tasmanian Governments Healh & Safety Directorate and gives information on their research into use and risks associated with mmmf/rockwool used in industry etc., and their concerns about Health risk. It refers to their Code of Practice and to related Austrailian Standards.
In the UK try British Standards for mmmf information.
Probably in the UK there is "an Insulation Contractors or Installers Trade Federation" Try typing thatin the Browser Bar, you never know.
For additional Health information look at the TUC web site and The GMB web site.
Hope all this helps and in a way I hope I am encouraging you and others who might read this to try a little more exploration of the help the web can find you as well as using the IOSH Forum.
Typing entries in the Browser Bar and setting of on searches can bring all sorts of helpful information, try it. (Or maybe you have).
But beware with the web B Bar.
SOMETIMES you type in the most innocuous information and you get the most unexpected back.
As Peter Gotch said in his response mmmf/rockwool is possibly another future major Health issue material despite it's benefits.
Hope this helps.
Regards.
Ken Urquhart