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I don't think that this is about "work ethic". I think this is about "business ethics". Big difference there since we're talking about whether or not the company is morally right or your friend is lazy.
Given that the company knows there is a health hazard and that your friend wasn't given the proper safety equipment (innoculations) to work on the used gear, then I have to say that it's pretty clear cut. I'll also go so far as to say that it's a potential OSHA violation. There's clearly some danger to disease involved here, and if this company wants to consolidate the two departments (and I don't see any problem with that if their business is changing), then they need to do it the right way.
Here's my suggestion - your friend needs to go back to work today. He needs to tell his supervisor that he (your friend) is not going to work on used equipment until he's given all the proper safety equipment, including the innoculations. I imagine that that assemblers and customer service folks wear very different outfits while working, with the CS guys having eye guards, gloves, etc. that assemblers might not have. If the supervisor has a problem with that, then the friend needs to tell the supervisor that it's going up the chain. If the folks closer to the top don't correct the problem, the next phone call is to OSHA, etc.
If there's a union involved here, this should be even easier, but I get the feeling that there's not.
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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo
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