Posted By Ian Stone I was called by a friend who has been having a difficult time with his bosses, he works in a bakery where they produce pastries etc, one of their ovens is being decommissioned, on a recent visit he noticed on top of the oven a small board that had come away from the oven. The oven is known to contain asbestos. The sheet was from the same area that the sample had been taken. Looking at the dust gathered on top this sheet had been on top of the oven for some time. Also where a pipe had been removed a large amount of fibrous material was showing. As H&S officer for the company he advised that the room be closed to staff (due to the work it was being used for a restroom until completed) and sealed the top of the oven with plasic sheeting and has arranged for contarcators to come in and remove the sheet etc. His bosses have said he has gone over the top and the sheet has been their for years and also theres no proof that it is asbestos sheeting. They have been quite agressive towards him. I advised that if he feels it to be asbestos, as its come from a known area of tested asbestos then he has done the right thing and to wait for the contractors to test and remove and clean the area. Any thoughts would be great Ian

Posted By Stuart Nagle Ian. Asbestos dusts are the exactly the problem. If as stated above this is a known area of asbestos, then fibres and dusts resembling such along with bits of suspect sheet materials should be treated with suspicion, especially when they are open to the atmosphere and in areas that are frequented by employees. The right action would have been to isolate the area and prevent access, notify a competent person and get sampling/analysis done. based on results of this take the appropriate action.... So it appears you have done th correct thing and carried out these actions. I can understand the reaction of the employer, and this can be overcome by advising and extolling the virtues of the action in ensuring their legal compliance and acting to prevent both harm to employees and of course themselves through the courts.... I am sure a reasonable explaination of this will result in an acepatnce of the situation and realisation that this was the right and proper action to take...