An urgent investigation has been launched into the treatment of an asbestos-laden factory, which was also a popular playground for many years.

Weekend newspaper reports have linked the old Wunderlich cement factory in Melbourne to a number of asbestos-related deaths.

Despite this, the Victorian Health Department says it is “unaware of any increase in cancer cases”.

But the reports say lawyers with Slater and Gordon have undertaken settlement cases worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and more claims will be made.

Wunderlich was one of Australia’s central asbestos manufacturers in the decades from the nineteen-fifties to nineteen-seventies, along with James Hardie.

It is alleged that white asbestos from the factory was allowed to gather in large piles, and was never properly contained or disposed.

Locals claim children played for years at the area around the back of the Wunderlich factory.

The News Corp paper says residents from the area during the factory's boom times could see asbestos powder in the air, coating cars and windows.

Victoria’s Health Minister, David Davis, said he only heard about the problem when he saw the story in the newspaper.

“I will seek information from my department,” he told the ABC on Sunday.

“They obviously have access to some of the cancer registries which may be helpful in understanding what has gone on in the area.

“This is part of the ongoing challenge that communities, not just here in Victoria but internationally face with asbestos.

“There are processes that require owners of land to take certain steps.”