Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 213; Flight Crew Total 8040; Flight Crew Type 5998
Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Hazardous Material Violation; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General Maintenance Action; General Work Refused
Human Factors; Procedure
FOM (Flight Operations Manual) ACARS message at initialization says no DG (Dangerous Goods) planned. Service Info Summary says DG IS planned. Confirmed with station DG is in-fact on board. I then request Planned DG Summary be sent to aircraft. ZZZ Operations says they can't do that as everything is now automated and they can't send manually. A few minutes later a representative from the [Operations Control] arrives in the cockpit. He tries to explain that this is a known anomaly and that we are OK to continue. He explains our DG falls under the 'exemption' referenced in the FOM. I ask him for a documentation that shows the DG on board is exempt. He cannot produce one. He talks over me and tries to appeal to the rest of my crew to take the aircraft over my concerns. I inform [the Operations Control] Representative we will need a reference or the DG will need to be removed. He leaves the cockpit. I then call Ramp and ask the status on the DG Summary form. They say to call Operations. I call Operations; they say to call the Ramp. I then decide we are getting nowhere; we have a line of thunderstorms bearing down on us; and a [Out of Duty] time to monitor; and the quickest solution is to have the DG removed from the aircraft. I call Operations again and tell them I am refusing the DG and to remove it. Operations tells me they are 'not doing that today'. I then notice I have a missed call on my cell phone from my Chief Pilot. I try to call him back and that goes to his voice mail. I then call the [Duty Manager] and that call goes to voice mail. A short time later I get a return call from the [Duty Manager] who is already aware of the situation. She explains she understands the issue and supports my decision to remove the DG 100%. Finally Ramp unloads the pallet of DG and we get underway.
B767 Captain reported refusing Hazmat cargo due to a communications breakdown between flight crew and Dispatch; Load Planning regarding erroneousness Dangerous Goods Hazmat documents.