Engineered stone, also known as artificial stone or composite stone, has become a popular material in the construction and design industries due to its aesthetic appeal and durability. It’s become the go-to solution for benchtops in particular, with modern kitchens and bathrooms heavily featuring engineered stone in this way.
However, this seemingly innocuous material harbors a dark side, posing significant health risks to workers involved in its manufacturing and installation. The hazards associated with engineered stone have gone unnoticed for some time, but the toll is adding up, and calls for action grow louder. Let’s examine why engineered stone is so harmful, and explore the measures being taken across the world to curtail or even ban its use.
Hidden Dangers
Engineered stone for benchtops is primarily made from quartz, one of the hardest minerals on Earth. The manufacturing process involves grinding quartz into dust and then combining it with resins and pigments. This creates a product that replicates the beauty of natural stone. Finding natural stone in large, uniform, aesthetically-perfect pieces suitable for benchtops is difficult. Thus, if you want a big natural stone benchtop, it comes at a very high price. Engineered stone benchtops can be had far more cheaply, as the material can be fabricated to any size or shape desired. It can also offer enhanced durability and stain resistance thanks to being non-porous, making it an ideal choice for countertops. Many engineered stone countertop products include a very high amount of silica, often up to 95%. It was first developed in the 1960s, and began to gain in popularity in following decades. It’s now highly popular for use in kitchens and bathrooms.
The material doesn’t pose a risk once installed and used as a benchtop. The danger of engineered stone lies in the dust generated during the cutting, grinding, and polishing processes, which are typically undertaken during manufacturing or installation. By virtue of being made from quartz, dust from engineered stone contains high levels of crystalline silica.
When inhaled, silica dust can penetrate deep into the lungs. The most severe health consequence is silicosis, a debilitating and often fatal lung disease. The dust particles itself in the aveolar sacs in the lungs causing irreversible damage. Over time, the dust particles are ingested by macrophages—immune system cells charged with destroying pathogens. They in turn stimulate the production of collagen around the tiny particles, which in time creates fibrotic nodules in the lungs that coalesce together in patients with higher exposure levels, which inhibits lung function. Those with the disease suffer most particularly from shortness of breath, rapid breathing, persistent coughs, and fatigue. Chest pain, weight loss, and loss of appetite are also common. Patients with silicosis are also much more susceptible to tuberculosis infection, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
The rise in the use of engineered stone has been mirrored by an alarming increase in cases of silicosis. This has been particularly evident among young workers in the stonecutting industry, many of whom have developed the advanced stages of the disease after only a few years of exposure. The aggressive form of silicosis seen in these workers is often referred to as “accelerated silicosis,” which can develop much more rapidly than traditional forms of the disease. Due to the similar causative factor of inhaling dust and the symptoms of lung disease, engineered stone has at times been colloquially referred to as “the new asbestos.”
In Australia, a case of silicosis linked to engineered stone was first identified in 2015, in a worker from the engineered stone industry. 570 cases have since been identified. The matter was quite unlike some traditional industrial hazards, which can take decades to reveal their harms. In many cases, silicosis from engineered stone was striking down workers in their prime, with many under 35 years of age.
Australia's young tradies who've been given a death sentence.
Sunday on #60Mins, a renovation catastrophe that's led to a global epidemic. pic.twitter.com/CMGLS66YcT
— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) February 15, 2023
The rapid count of cases, especially among young workers, quickly prompted a nationwide outcry for action. In October this year, the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) voted in favor of a ban on the material. The broader union movement in Australia voted to support the ban, meaning no union workers would allow the importation, manufacturing, or use of the material in the country from the middle of 2024. In turn, major hardware retailers agreed to drop the material by the end of the year, and furniture giant Ikea similarly agreed to phase out the material from its kitchen range.
Australian authorities acted in turn, announcing a world-first prohibition on engineered stone to commence on July 1, 2024. The measures include a customs prohibition on the importation of the material. The ban also prohibits the manufacturing, supply, processing, or installation of engineered stone. Reports from government authorities noted that there was ” no scientific evidence for a safe threshold of crystalline silica content in engineered stone, or that lower silica content engineered stone is safer to work with.” Personal protective equipment has also proven to be inadequate to reduce the risk of harm.
In the interim period before the ban takes place, Australian authorities have mandated safer working procedures to limit the possible harm from the material. Water suppression “wet cutting” systems are required, or alternatively, the use of dust extraction and/or ventilation systems. Workers are also required to use appropriate respiratory protective equipment.
These regulations include mandatory health monitoring for workers, improved ventilation and dust extraction systems, and the requirement for wet cutting methods to reduce dust generation. Additionally, there has been an increase in awareness campaigns aimed at educating workers and employers about the risks of silica dust and the importance of protective measures.
The actions taken by Australia serve as a model for other countries grappling with similar issues. The ban on engineered stone, while a bold move, underscores the seriousness of the health risks associated with silica dust exposure. It also highlights the need for a global reevaluation of the use of materials that pose significant health risks to workers. The material has already made headlines in California, where even workers in their 20s as are struggling with silicosis from cutting engineered stone benchtops. Australia’s ban has proven of great interest to those fighting for emergency rules to be placed on the use of the material.
Of course, a ban in one nation is no guarantee that workers elsewhere will be protected. Indeed, asbestos once again proves a useful example. Countries like Norway, Kuwait, and Australia banned the material for its deleterious health effects. The EU followed, as did most nations of the OECD. And yet, the United States continues to allow its use, as do countries like India, Russia, China. The latter two still mine it, as do Kazahkstan and Brazil. All forms of asbestos are carcinogenic to humans, and yet the mining and production goes on. International industry groups still exist to lobby for the use of the material because where there’s potential to make money, someone will have a go.
While engineered stone offers many desirable qualities, the health risks it poses to workers cannot be ignored. The steps taken by Australia to combat the dangers of silica dust exposure set an important precedent, emphasizing the need for vigilant regulation and a commitment to worker safety in industries worldwide. As we move forward, it is crucial to continue prioritizing the health and well-being of those who labor to bring these products to market.
Featured photo: “Kitchen interior with light furniture” by Max Rahubovskiy
The ban is entirely unnecessary overreaction. Techniques to deal safely with the material have been known for decades.
This problem isn’t new, it just shifted markets, and the market chose to ignore the risks associated with the material because safety inspections are near zero, and workers often think they are immune to the effects because *magic*.
I think the reason was partly compliance. Wet grinding and cutting is much safer but the industry expanded enormously and just random people were doing most of the work, usually at the no training minimum wage level.
This has been a slow moving issue here in Australia, we had evidence of silicosis injuries quite a while ago, and there was a heap of rules and guidelines put out by government. But years later the problem was worse, much much worse, so the decision to ban the product.
Absolutely this shouldn’t have been the necessary, it is a shitty outcome. But it will probably save some people from a nasty way to die.
How many business owners did they jail?
How many managers, supervisors or leads they did jail?
A couple of weeks ago a worker fell off one of the buildings in my apartment complex. Turns out 14-16 stories is virtually unsurvivable when you aren’t wearing any safety gear or following procedures. Guess we’ll have to ban buildings over 3 stories.
Plainly obvious false equivalencies weaken your point rather than strengthen it.
How the F is it a false equivalence? The moral of the story is: use your fucking PPE, it exists for a reason and will save your life. Maybe think the next time you comment?
Since people can’t understand why it’s an obvious false equivalence and decided personal attacks are the same as reasoned arguments… So I’ll explain further.
There is no an epidemic of workers falling off buildings. There is an epidemic of silicosis. It’s sad watching an impassioned defense of this asbestos 2.0 material especially when it’s nowhere near as useful and has tons of alternatives.
The industry had their chance and they weren’t responsible enough… the same as the asbestos industry.
It’s sad watching younger generations make the same specious arguments that were used in favor of asbestos.
I don’t believe the premise of this article. I believe silica is dangerous, but I don’t believe the motivation was to protect workers, but economic interests in the stone industry. The government action could have been put into occupational health and safety — you grind quartz, you got to have efficient dust control! Or robots. Who could be against safety? So it’s used as a cover for job protectionism.
Absolutely this. Grinding on natural stone isn’t any better, and the environmental impacts from transportation of natural stone from quarries in far away countries are quite significant.
Oh, good old pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis!
In Australia the politics is different. There aren’t thousands of obscure loby groups throwing money at Congress. The is no Big Rock Industry lobying for this. This change has been driven by doctors and unions who had a problem. They have even recognized that the young guy doing the work isn’t in much of a position to question his boss who makes the real money. So they took action the boss can’t ignore.
If that was the case then bosses would go to jail when they ignore safety. Banning one material makes no sense. The same problem has cement! Now stop building everything that uses cement.
That sounds like sheer, naive nonsense. If you don’t have lobbyists, good old-fashioned corruption and bribery will take their place.
Cutting any natural stone carries the same risks, considering that almost ALL natural stone is high in silicates. Banning one and allowing the other is absolute hypocrisy… but then again, those parliamentarians need their luxury countertops, I guess.
Different rabbit hole…I quite dislike granite/quartz/concrete counter tops. I cringe every time I put a glass or a plate on them thinking the glass or plate will break. Wood is far more inviting and comfortable.
So…I guess if I was the King of The World…or Justin Trudeau…I’d would impose on all silica based products a silica tax at 8% in the first year with automatic increases of 2% each subsequent year. Oh…and I’d tax the blades used to cut it and impose a silica tax fee and silica surcharge tax on the trucks that transport it…and create the Ministry of Dust and Partculate Administration to police it with fines of up to $100,000 paid to the MDPA Christmas In The Caribbean Fund for Justin and his boyfriends.
There. THAT is how we look after workers in Canada.
Workers are not to blame for the choices of management regarding their expandability.
Correct; workers are to blame for their own dumb choices, including the choice to knowingly accept work which violates existing regulations.
As an ex construction union leader, we know of the hazard of silica since at least 30 years. Same a Asbestos (I live in Quebec Canada where the shit was mostly mined ) and we are still having problem with kids not understanding the danger of those killing dust. They do think they are immune to this. We train them before entering the construction business about those safety concern. but for a keeping a 30$ an hour with benefit they will accept anything thrown away at them if the boss ask for it. Glass grinding is as dangerous as counter top cutting. While wet cutting will make it safer, try to explain that to the lady customer that you will make a sludge that will drop from the counter top while you cut it in her brand new kitchen. That will be a no go. She will say to cut it dry and want you to deal with the dust later on. And don’t hope to cut it wet outside then bring it back inside. This will mostly break the counter top in half of the case of a simple straight counter, But if it is in a L shape it will break 75% of the time.
Why not wear a p3 filter, sure they cost a whopping 8 bucks, but thats less than a pack of cigs daily.
@Antti: What are you talking about? The cheapest P100 filter mask is $60 pre-tax at home depot, and the replacement filters are the same price for a pair. There are plenty of reasons workers don’t have access to or the knowledge of safety equipment. Don’t pretend like it’s the simplest thing in the world for a minimum wage worker to get their hands on high-level PPE and know how to use it properly.
That’s the point of enforceable regulation. I largely agree with what you said, friend. Your premise that customers will complain and worker’s will quickly sacrifice personal health and safety for job security is unimpeachable. However, it isn’t an option for a pilot to fly an aircraft without proper clearance. You also can’t find anyone who will legally sell you hair products containing PCB’s. There’s a reason for this. I agree that it is likely an overreaction. A more prudent measure would have focused on compliance and enforcement.
You make the assumption they actually know – some of them may have done, though I doubt all of them did. As in nations with well developed worker safety rules that everyone even jokes about how often they get in the way of doing a simple and safe job the assumption that this job must be safe would be easy to make.
You make the assumption that someone too dumb to understand that breathing a cloud of dust is bad would actually be able to work. Seems unlikely.
Backcountry, people are going to evaluate the harm based on how much it makes them cough or sneeze at the moment they breathe it, unless informed otherwise. Especially if they perceive it as inert rock, knowing it’s not asbestos or anything.
Every person who observed the unsafe condition and could have stopped it, but continued working anyway is to blame. The individual worker absolutely is responsible for his own safety. The manager is responsible for enabling the employee to work safely, and not incentivizing him to do otherwise. You can also argue that the manager also has a moral imperative to stop workers from making unsafe choices when he’s aware of it.
If everything was so controlled that you literally could not hurt yourself no matter how careless you were, how free would you be? Is that a state you would really want to live in?
There is merit in your argument, however, it is a very simplistic view. I humbly urge you to do some critical thinking, and re-evaluate this subject from further angles to see if you arrive at the same opinion.⁰
Are these the “stone” countertops that you nevertheless can’t place a hot pot or pan on without ruining it or else using a tea towel? Yeah no loss. Those things are awful, even linoleum would be preferable.
I miss having a nice old farmhouse wooden countertop/spare workbench.
I’ve never seen an engineered stone cooktop fail under those conditions – it’s a composite material and extremely tough. I reckon it’s mostly people being overly cautious with an expensive purchase. Also, the material is a very good heatsink, so people put down a teatowel not to protect the bench, but to stop it making the food cold!
I think you are thinking of Corian which is like an acrylic material, in fact you can etch it with a CO2 Laser
No
Why can’t you install a wooden countertop if that’s what you want?
I believe you’re thinking of something else. Manufactured stone (AKA quartz) is far more durable and easier to maintain and clean than real stone. You can’t ruin it by placing a hot pot or dish onto it. The only potential things real stone has over manufactured are the real stone look and the belief by some that it’s better just because it’s real.
I sell Granite and Quartz. You can’t put heat on quartz. It will scorch, burn, melt… it is made with resin. Non porous but can still stain. Granite and marble and other ‘natural’ stones take heat from a hot pan or pot. NOT Quartz. Do your research!
“The ban is entirely unnecessary overreaction.”
An excuse to ship jobs to China. One of the same reasons China grew to totally dominate the production of NOT RARE rare earths – excessive environmental regulations. I know that in the US, (slightly) radioactive thorium that coexists in the ores is the issue, potentially highly useful for energy production, something that China has just opened a reactor using whereas, as thorium advocate Kirk Sorenson has pointed out, US reactors work on the razor/razor blade model where the profits are made from the highly specialized fuel elements and there is nothing special or difficult to make about containers of thorium salts used to fuel a LFTR. China doesn’t have that lobbyist faction against following the best path, one of the few advantages of their governmental system.
Agreed, we have the technology to safeguard the worker’s lungs but if they choose not to use it then the ones is on them. Similarly the industry needs to enforce the use of the technology. If they won’t, then governments should.
What are you talking about? “The industry” will never do anything that costs more or gives less profit.
The only way there is a good deed done by industry is when it’s profitable, ergo customers won’t buy it if you don’t, or if forced by law.
To believe anything else is naive, and companys acting otherwise is (sadly) most likely breaking the law by doing so.
I just had some builders tearing down ceilings in my 60 year old house on a main road. No gloves, no mask, no long sleeves. Coughing violently and blinking.
The enormous amount of fine dust permeated everything. I had to stop them, go out and buy PPE and insist they used it.
There’s definitely a problem with trades in Australia not taking safety seriously, even when their employer mandates it. It is at a point where some employers threaten to fire noncompliant workers. As a country with stronger worker rights (than the US), firing is a very serious threat.
We saw a house being built down the street where a worker dropped a hammer, narrowly missing another worker’s head. No hard hats and they laughed about it.
Another site, working on a multi-storey roof construction. Harnesses attached to nothing..
The industry heavily monitors union construction jobs. We have multiple safety guys that have a whole career that revolves around safety. Cut without a mask and you’re out. Cut without safety glasses and you’re out. We have all kind of safety classes, safety meetings, safety lunches. The list is never ending. These guys will always walk in a room at the worst time and bust you. So no if you are in union trades you have hours on hours of safety training even at the beginning stages of your career.
I’m so glad to see this as the first comment. It’s absolutely been known that silica dust is BAD for a long time.
The mentality of certain demographics is typically the ban first ask questions later, which is almost ALWAYS driven by some competing corporation that exploits people’s emotions to push for the cancel. The same corporate entity is normally the same one that helped bring such issues to the mainstream light and simultaneously pushes for a “safer” product through the commercial and political sides as well.
I promise, it’ll come soon where the cries for banning grow, more expose is done and a prime replacement product will be pushed to the limelight.
This recipe has been used for decades by political and corporate interests.
Some call this “conspiracy theory”, but there is a lot of proof out there that this is part of the standard corporate playbook. Heck, I’ve got a video clip of a certain politician that essentially outlines this as the way to get people or businesses cancelled/destroyed.
Workers in a modern industrial society should have a reasonable expectation of well-regulated, safe working conditions. Blaming hazardous working conditions on the workers themselves smacks of capitalist propaganda, just like blaming immigrants and poor people for economic downturns. Maybe the people with the least agency aren’t the ones to blame?
If my boss asks me to do unsafe work, I’ll say no. This isn’t the same as blaming poor people for the state of the economy, are you drunk? You are responsible for your own personal safety, we’re not fucking babies here. Come on
Serious over reaction. There’s these things called n95 masks that if properly and actually worn, would protect the idiotic workers from the dust.
No they wouldn’t. They are too leaky on the sides. But there is proper PPE (silicone face mask with valves and detacheable filters) that would work. It is a bit expensive and even when mandated by employer it wouldn’t be used because it is not manly to protect yourself. And also not convenient.
The problem is this industry employs mostly uneducated, poor (and in case of California young/immigrant/Latino) workers. These companies do not care about them, and the workers do not know better or do not care (initially) either. The reckoning is only few years down the line.
The solution is to introduce serious regulation and enforce it for real.
Engineered stone is a very good material and the techniques exist to process it safely. They are just more expensive and inconvenient.
The employers might care more about them if there were not a steady stream of thousands of eager, if not desperate workers arriving every day in the US as immigrants to replace them. But that’s our government’s policy.
Come on…I can’t be the only person to think….”why not just have machines do all the work away from humans?” yes, ban humans from working on it…but allow robotic machines to do all the work. We have it in our home, looks great.
See guys, asbestos ain’t that bad. It was just an overreaction
Asbestos is unsafe even AFTER being processed. If it chips or cracks, the dust is highly carcinogenic. This is not the same with engineered stone, you doofus.
Sounds like Big Stone at work.
I agree, the manufacturing companies and their executives should be responsible for implementing polices and procedures for the safe tooling of the material. Strict government oversight needs to be in place to ensure that those companies are following the rules, protecting their workforce. executives of those companies should be personally liable for all infractions and face ( mandatory minimum)lengthy prison time if , when found guilty for encouraging or not supporting measures to protect workers. Furthermore the industry should be forced to employ robotics in all manufacturing processes where health risks to humans are a concern. The raw material is not hazardous (like asbestos) and is needed however, the manufacturing process needs oversight.
I remember hearing this exact argument made in defense of asbestos lol.
Except asbestos isn’t safe after processing, while engineering stone is. THINK before you type
engineered*
When I saw this headline, my first thought was to wonder if engineered stone products were somehow taking less labor to install, thereby cutting into workers’ pay. When I discovered that it was because the product is *killing them* it turned into a whole other thing.
What’s killing them is the misuse of PPE when processing the material, which is *completely* different
Why is this any more dangerous than regular old sand and dust flying around outdoors?
Particle size and shape.
Natural sand and dirt has typically been out there for a long time.
The really fine stuff would have ended up blowing into the atmosphere where it ends up in rain droplets and ultimately in the bottom of the ocean.
Also particles of all sizes would have experienced weathering and grinding up against one another polishing down all those pointy bits and sharp edges that help them puncture a cellular membrane.
Fresh stuff off the saw on the other hand would include lots of really small bits and lots of sharp edges.
Did I get that right?
Somewhat.
Next question: how is it different from using natural quartz or other rock? Presumably the same sort of dust would happen, so why is this a problem now and not always when it comes to stone cutting?
The stone is crushed to begin with, so it’s likely that is produces more dust when cut.
But it’s still the same sort of dust, so I’m puzzled for why respirators etc. won’t solve the problem here, when these other industries deal with the problem successfully.
Or is this yet again a case of double standards, like how you can take a banana into a nuclear facility, but you can’t take it out because the relevant regulations would classify it as low level nuclear waste.
But it is bound together with epoxy and not just in a crystalline state.
Using a water saw and a good respirator should take care of the risk. The issue really is that it is very difficult to regulate home construction sites. As a rule construction workers don’t like being told what to do.
I wounder if just putting the dust into a tumbler and smooth the edges to be closer to the natural state wouldn’t be a good mitigation plan along with wet saws and respirators.
I guess you could go with concrete but it also has some issues.
@Dude Responding to your question, yes respirators and other forms of PPE are effective at keeping the workers safe. The problem is the workers themselves just don’t use it, whether from lack of training, lack of PPE, lack of time to do it properly, or just plain laziness not wanting to wear the stuff.. It’s really an issue that should be dealt with and dealt with harshly by the authorities, and not by banning the product.
This literally makes no sense.
Again probably particle size. Probably some differences in work conditions too. With stone cutting you have to move slabs and boulders around so your work area is going to be more open, maybe even outside.
For engineered slabs you start off with dust that’s going to be pretty consistently sized. Then it gets cast with a binder.
I’m guessing the mixing and casting phases are the major differences. Since you can’t use oil or water to keep dust down like you can when polishing and cutting.
I am a bit confused why they say there’s no effective PPE. That doesn’t seem true. But I could see there not being any PPE that people want to use or that people can use and still make their quota. Similar to how even though we know the hazards of coal mining its exceedingly hard to mine in a respirator so people didn’t / don’t use them.
Even if you need to wear a full hazmat suit to cut it, that should be the case instead of banning the material entirely.
This is not like asbestos that flakes off and sheds fibers whenever you handle it in any way – you need to cut it with abrasive tools to generate the dust.
Replying to @Dude, Yes it completely possible to cut this product safely, in a controlled factory setting with wet grinding and dust management facilities.
The issue is it’s often cut and adjusted on-site, inside people’s homes. Wet cutting is not an option in these areas, and evidence shows tradies simply aren’t being protected well enough – whether by negligence or accident. Not to mention the dust that gets left behind.
Well, it is a problem there, too. Just guessing, but I believe that with the increased popularity of stone products in interior finishing (bathrooms, kitchens, poolside, etc), there is more stone cutting going on, by more trades, and by others who aren’t always taking precautions.
A friend of ours became a stonemason in midlife. He died a couple of years back in his early 60s from a lung cancer of the sort triggered by mineral particulates.
Imported cast slabs that only require a few cut to size operations at the factory of the local distributor, as opposed to locally sourced natural stone that require a lot more local labour.
Granite is around 30% silica where as engineered stone is up to 97%, but manufacturers are producing lower silica versions. The actual safety solution would be to require all stone or concrete bench tops and tiles to be cut to size on a CNC stone cutting and milling machine in a factory in air tight assembly line with dust extractors, with all operations such as drilling holes for taps and cutouts for sinks to be done in factory.
But then what do your unionized stone masons do other than placing the bench top on top of the bench?
Granite is closer to 70-77% silica:
https://nature.berkeley.edu/classes/eps2/wisc/granite.html
…functionally the same as the ~90% for engineered stone.
What I worry about this sort of ban is the false idea that natural stone is significantly better, therefore people make exactly the same lack-of-appropriate-countermeasures mistake as they make with engineered stone.
In both cases, you should be taking the same exact type of precautions (wet cutting, dust control with vacuum/ventilation, PPE with high quality masks, etc). A ban on engineered stone sounds more like a protection for natural stone producers than a real safety measure.
As all that you need to protect yourself from this is a PP3 filter mask, this is totally a non issue. If the workers are so bloody macho that they refuse to use safety equipment, they deserve the Darwin awards they buy the lottery tickets for.
It is _always_ a problem when cutting any kind of high-silica stone. The popularity of this particular product at this point in time is likely what is leading to this attention. Like the third paragraph says, natural stone in this use case is more difficult to source, much more expensive, and therefore much less common. And natural stone isn’t used as much in modern construction period.
The combination of popularity equaling a large number of exposed workers, and the relative newness of this specific industry meaning the companies don’t have as well-established lobbying organs, means this could happen.
Listen to the Behind the Bastards ep about the Hawks Nest Tunnel to learn what happens if this occurs in a less progressive time with in a more entrenched industry.
Wet cutting has been mentioned several times; doesn’t that also increase the life expectancy of the tools by dissipating heat and washing the dust away?
For reference, a typical granite counter contains about 40-50% silica, while engineered stone contains up 95%
Granite is closer to 70-80% silica:
https://nature.berkeley.edu/classes/eps2/wisc/granite.html#:~:text=The%20chemical%20composition%20of%20granite,and%20mineralogy%20is%20called%20rhyolite.
…functionally the same as the 90% for engineered stone. And it’s not like the other mineral solids are actually good for you to inhale, either.
Silicosis was known in the past as the coal workers sickness. It doesn’t need to be silica (silicon dioxide, quartz). It started in the coal mines, but actually, any worker exposed to extremely fine dust of inorganic origin will be affected. Any cut stone will damage your lungs. And we have more than proper procedures and PPE for that. No one has had silicosis in the mining industry in a decent country in several decades. This is just a case of incompetent Australian building contractors getting themselves sick, and authorities just going for the popular option.
The only difference is the cost. Uncle Jim Bob’s Discount Countertops isn’t installing any type of natural stone. The people who do can afford to do it safely.
Sounds about right to me, bro. Have worked with engineered stone here in the States and paperwork from the manufacturer states that masks should b worn when cutting, but that is true of most material. They don’t tell of the specific risks involved with engineered stone because they are not required to. So, out of laziness or apathy, a large amount of labor forgoes the use of PPG. And die very young as a result…
Wouldn’t taking a few steps completely eliminate the problem without having to eliminate the material entirely?
• Cut outside
• Wear the correct mask
• Spray everything down with water before removing the mask and/or carrying the pieces inside
I mean… I get it that there are shitty employers who might insist on cutting corners but why not make that illegal, and punishable rather than giving up on the material entirely?
Or are those steps actually not good enough? I’m not arguing for endangering workers health, just saving the baby come time to dispose of the bath water.
“Cut Outside”- thereby endangering the general public rather than specific workers.
“wear the correct mask”- The particles are so small that masks that provide sufficient protection restrict air flow, powered respirators must be used.
“Spray everything down”- The problem is atmospheric dust, wet cutting does help with preventing dust formation but systems are expensive and the slurry is considered hazardous waste because when it dries it’s back to it’s original state.
The problem is that the dust is hyper fine, produced in large amounts, and harmful in very small doses.
Sounds like a better way of generating the core material is needed. Any reason it needs to be so fine?
It’s the action of the cutting tools that make it so fine. Cutting solid quartz would be just as bad, the attention is on engineered stone because it’s so widespread.
Not at all. Raw stone causes dust particles and flakes of many different and larger sizes, also it’s a single material and can be cleaved using the right tools and techniques with little to no dust produced.
Engineered stone is a concrete composite of rock dust and resin, it will not cleave cleanly and any cut requires a grinding disc that liberates the dust from the resin in significant quantities and of uniform tiny sizes.
>>>“Cut Outside”- thereby endangering the general public rather than specific workers.
We are talking about the final fitting happening at the home right? A one time thing, not the factory site. You are telling me that a handful of powder generated when cutting someone’s new countertop, spread in the grass and sprayed with a garden hose is once dry going to make it back up into the air and be sucked into some passerby’s nose in sufficient quantities to cause damage?
I realize that statistically these dust particles tend to be smaller and sharper than natural sand but to that degree? I still think that even natural dust blowing in the wind is going to contribute more to lifetime exposure (for the general public, not the worker) than what we are talking about here.
Of course I am picturing a suburban or rural setting where people have grassy backyard lawns to do such things. I suppose for example redoing all the counters in an apartment complex where the only outside that is available is a busy paved sidewalk would be a very different thing and rightfully should be subject to a different set of rules.
During installations the filter is only needed while the cutting dust is present, it really isnt an issue. Sure, a clogged up filter will become heavy to breathe through, thats why you bring along many filters. At 7 dollares a pop, its not the end of the world. Hell, if you got a decent employer, they´ll provide the filters for ya.
Then cut inside with a respirator and a water saw? Bruh
Regulating what is a hazardous process or material can and absolutely should be done.
Problem is most of those individuals actually doing this type of work are “undocumented” labor and that’s is a very legally gray area, to say the least. In US at least. Similar to the logical paradox how can Area 51 workers claim an on the job injury if they work at a place that doesn’t exist?
Regulating that (illegal labor market) is a very touchy subject and will never be resolved.
USUALLY all the cutting is done before it’s delivered to a home. That includes cut outside for the sink and holes for additional accessories such as a faucet and hot and cold water handle.. The design begins with a tracing paper over the counter area and measuring the length, width and where an oval shape or square shape for the sink etc.. I know this to be true because we just renovated the bathroom including a man made quart countertop also known as quartzine.
If you check the linked article you’ll see that some of these workers were cutting as many as 40 benchtops a day. They’re not working at a job site, they’re working in a factory.
A single event of mask malfunction results in severe lung problems (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38095547/). This differs greatly from asbestos, which while similarly tragic, generally only occurs in those workers that dealt with it daily over a career’s worth of time, and mesothelioma takes ~40 years to come to fruition. Silicosis happens quickly and is killing young people (every country has sad case studies, here is one example: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37486642/ ). They are ALREADY required by OSHA to wear PPE, and yet…? Where PPE is actually being used, it’s observed to be removed too early, before the dust has settled (literally).
Silicosis is currently the world’s most prevalent chronic occupational disease (not just from this) and though preventable it’s sadly not treatable. It’s killing a vulnerable part of society, the safety regulations aren’t effective, the disease is fast-acting, etc. — all that, for fake stone countertops, whose only purpose is to imitate an expensive kitchen appearance?! RIP
But if silicosis is the problem, then a whole lot of other materials would need to be banned, not just this.
Like, natural stone countertops.
I think it would apply to natural stone, but because more skill is required for working with stone it poses much less risk. Because mostly they know how to work safely.
Random people with a tile saw and grinders became the industry of engineered stone. Often dry cutting and relying on at most poorly fitted masks.
I dislike this reasoning. Some idiots drive 100+mph…. Does that mean we should ban cars?
It’s not possible to regulate away intentional stupidity.
This actually a reply to [Sword] below (Sorry [Daniel]!)
Hell yes, if cars were invented today, they would be banned. Two tonnes of metal to move (at most) a few hundred kg of human? Internal combustion engine with an efficiency of (at most) 30%? Huge infrastructure needs? Huge waste output – used oil, used tyres etc… what do you mean, “shred the tyres and put them in kids’ playground”? Untrained operators fuelling tanks with flammable hydrocarbons… On paper, cars are pretty stupid. We’ve just spent the last century externalising the societal costs.
To all the people exasperated by this, who can’t understand how dangerous the stuff is…
I’m normally under another name. But recently I left employ with a company that did ceramics machining from powder. OSHA supposedly did air quality testing, but it seemed like every time I walked through the plant there was a cloud of what would have been fine glass or alumina dust in the air. People simply pretended like it was no big deal..
I read the MSDS sheets. On everything. Employer tried to downplay things by saying the components were inert…while completely ignoring silicosis is caused by an inert compound. And for the record, respirator masks don’t keep every particle out when you work in it everyday. In fact they do very little. Air still gets past the mask, especially if like most people in industry you have some kind of facial hair.
Quite frankly unless you’re wearing a full suit or a full head piece with independent air supply, you’re going to be exposed. I don’t care what the particulate is. But this is what industry is like. I’ve seen it in another place dealing with another particulate that is a known carcinogen- and that employer had that dust blowing around with shop fans. Phenolic resin dust. American employers don’t take any of this stuff seriously. I’ve literally seen it. Occasional bursts of dust, it just happens and they don’t give a damn. There’s no effort to actually keep dust down. And the place I left had a fine layer of dust on everything.
I’ve literally made my living working alongside some very toxic stuff. I’m glad I no longer work there even if it was for a layoff. Worker safety is the same as American healthcare- a joke we pretend where everything is okay when it’s not at all.
” Worker safety is the same as American healthcare- a joke we pretend where everything is okay when it’s not at all.”
White, middle class males don’t understand that.(or don’t care?!)
You know…..the “Jim Crow is a myth” crowd.
If what you are working with requires a respirator then you should have one sufficient to the task, and if that means no facial hair as it messes with the seal enough to matter in this case or actively ventilated face masks so the leaks are all outward bound. Making your living in a toxic cloud of some sort isn’t exactly unusual.
Failure to use the PPE correctly or use the correct PPE at all shouldn’t negate the value of materials that are really useful and perfectly safe in deployment – we are not talking asbestos here, where its safe out in the world till you poke it lightly. And if an employer really is taking so little care report them to the relevant authorities (at least for most folks reading this it should be against the law so reportable) and stop working there – you health is worth way more than a paycheck.
Orthopedic surgeons have been using a hood with a forced air from battery powered HEPA filters for years to prevent breathing bone dust. The hood eliminates the facial hair problem.
If you are required to use a respirator and have facial hair, you should be kicked out of the job site. That’s why the mining guys here are all shaved. It’s the employers and the country’s occupational hazards agency responsibility to force people to… well… just follow the damn instructions in the respirators package!
If an individual is required to wear PPE with a good seal and their facial hair gets in the way send them home without pay or fire them.
I have the same objections as the others who bring up natural stone and natural dust. Silicosis is problem everywhere there are deserts. In the USA States like Nevada and Arizona and New Mexico included silica in the air quality reports and warnings.
This smacks of a typical Australia over-reaction. (See Covid-19, drop-bears, firearms, dingo fence, rabbit fence, shark fence, peanut butter, etc….)
The companies involved were told to sort their shit out years ago. They didn’t. This has been a long time coming.
Same as black lung & coal mines, the owners don’t care and the workers don’t much either, and even if they do the gear is unwieldy or uncomfortable. Coal mines owners have lots of money, so….
When will they ban opal mining and gem cutting? Brick and tile cutting? Concrete cutting and drilling? Playing on a sandy beach? If not, why not?
This. This has been a known problem for years with something that’s not a complete solution but would mitigate most of it, by simply making it a wet operation. They hadn’t done that. This is an example of pure averice through laziness, the industry there has nothing to complain about.
Gina Rinehart’s family still haven’t paid for their role in asbestos mining in Australia.
So since the people handling it are too stupid to care for their own health, we should give up on a cheap, durable alternative to natural stone countertops. Yeah, that makes PERFECT sense
Yes. Employers can do all of these things. The problem is that they don’t, and they hire migrant workers so that they won’t complain about the working conditions until after the diagnosis–when it’s already too late.
Migrant workers? In Australia?
You think it’s always the employer who wants to cut corners?? If you don’t have the first clue, how have you managed to form an opinion??
Can the dangerous part of the process be automated, or at least done in an “isolation area” where the air-exchange with the outside world is adequately filtered?
Exactly my thought, too. Having seen the precision which my countertop was made to, It’s very hard to believe it was not CNC cut. I would guess there are still some humans involved in the process and the areas are not sufficiently sealed. But it may just be that if it were all automated, there would be fewer jobs and that is not good for unions any more than dust is.
From my perspective as an internal medicine physician Silicosis is untreatable and basically a subscription for a slow and painful death. CNC machining with minimal human interaction seems like a interesting solution for manufacturing these materials. But the problems come with the installation of these silica dust composite materials at the home of the consumer, where automated solutions like CNC machining are not feasible.
So I vote for a ban on these silica dust containing composite materials.
You grind your countertops into dust at home?
Adjusting fit, making cutouts for appliances, faucets, etc.
It’s easy to cut the stone in advance exactly to size. The problem is houses and cabinets aren’t straight or 90 degrees. This often leads to adjustment on site, under poorly controlled conditions.
3d laser scanning did the trick before I got my kitchen.
It’s not engineered stone like here, but made from ceramics.
Anyway, they did scan, and just laid it on top. Finished. No cutting, no grinding. All they did was sealing the gap to the wall. And this was a U-shape, with many cutouts due to load bearing walls.
This isn’t science fiction – just using the tools of the time.
I like the idea but not every counter installer will spend the $20k for a 3D laser construction scanner.
Templates were often made for countertops of difficult to work material and given to fabricators.
I engineer hospitality case goods for hotels and resorts and have not once ever had to physically see a piece of furniture in order to create an accurate CNC template for a vanity or through hole in a piece of stone. Some people are talking about 3D scanners but even ones that are 5-10k are +/- up to half an inch depending on the settings. Honestly the best is to just use a tape and field verify the cabinet dims, review the manufacturer specs for the sink or whatever item you are installing to make sure you are cutting the correct size hole and clip locations and CNC that bi**h in isolation!
Engineered stone was banned because it didn’t have the proper license to call itself Engineered. Hahahahhahaha. Haha.
heh.
You win the internet today. :)
On NPR today was a report about this in California. What needs to be said is that workers cutting stone (or doing other labor jobs) are often “undocumented” young men getting paid under the table because you both cannot legally employ them not pay legal employees enough of a living wage. The NPR story had the worker’s native language translated to English. I’m not implying that particular person was undocumented and am speaking in generalizations so there will of course be exceptions. My mother who worked in construction management for the last 50 or so years has many front-line stories of the types of “migrant workers” or “undocumented” laborers.
.
Banning engineered counter tops will not fix the illegal labor market in the US at least, nor did the lack of OSHA oversight and employer exploitation of hard working young (predominantly) men.
.
Oh yeah and silicosis had been known forever just like coal miners lung and all the other exposure related pathologies except, maybe, asbestosis. No one ever thought breathing in fine dust all day long was good for you. Even hobbyist woodworkers are starting to consider breathing in wood dust.
Are they going to ban road construction next? There are plenty of occupations that require exposure to silica dust, and all of them mitigate exposure using standard industry practices. What makes ‘engineered stone” any different?
It’s an issue of scale. Large roadworks employ (often) union workers employed by major companies that cannot and will not employ undocumented workers and thus heavily enforce industry standard safety practices. Same for, say, high rise construction.
Now if you hire a couple of dudes to repave your driveway for cash, or build you a shed on the cheap, I guarantee they are not having mandatory morning safety meetings and briefings nor adhering to even the barest minimum of safety procedures.
Counter tops are still small scale shops doing mostly one-off work for residential houses – and unless you are building an office building with orders of several $M (or equivalent) the shop is going to be more of a “lowest possible cost for labor” because joeAverage doesn’t want to pay twice the cost of a new bathroom counter of the place had all that safety stuff in place.
Source: I’m a home owner and my wife worked in high end real estate development for about 15 years.
So banning this product has nothing to do with it’s inherent safety.
“Engineered Stone” is simply a casualty of completely unrelated issues in OH&S enforcement and undocumented labour.
If something is inherently safe there’s no need for safety regulations on it.
Water is inherently safe till you try to breath it…
I didn’t claim it’s inherently safe. I claimed it’s NOT inherently unsafe.
Silica exposure is common in all stone and concrete working, especially in roadwork which has the highest occupational exposure rate.
There were already safety regulations in place. Personal protective equipment mitigates or eliminates exposure in either case.
What occurred here was a step further, completely banning a product because it mitigates OH&S and undocumented labor problems, and is an easy target.
Wet-cutting techniques and respirators are not doubling the cost of any labor. Wet saws for tile work don’t cost a fortune and respirators, even if you’ve got half a dozen people using three a day, only costs at most like 50USD per day.
>”Personal protective equipment has also proven to be inadequate to reduce the risk of harm.”
One explanation is that the specific dust generated is much finer and smaller, making it harder to filter with basic masks. This could be because the rock was crushed before being turned into the raw slab, which might also cause it to generate more dust when cutting than other materials.
This is just my speculation based on the known difference between it and other products like cement board.
People painting cars now pretty much all use the full head hoods with an outside air source piped in.
Having used such devices during pandemic myself as well as it being standard of care for joint replacement surgeons I can attest they they are perfectly comfortable for long term wear. The ones we used have a belt pack HEPA unit but there is no reason it can’t be a hose from the ceiling or whatever.
>making it harder to filter with basic masks
Needing to use a motor mask should just mean you need to use better PPE. The material shouldn’t be banned for that alone – only the health and safety rules should be updated.
The issue isn’t the particle size or the filtering performance. Even if 3M had a superior mask that would have worked with X or Y. Only a single exposure is enough to get sick.
The issue is that the medical cost of handling the patient and their family is too high for Australian society compared to the actual benefit of this: having nice countertop. The ban should have been “conditional” to the method, that is: unless stone crushing / dustification and polymerisation is done without human intervention and in a filtered place, then it’s forbidden. This would have pushed for creating of robot machinery to process the stone in to stone out, a very valuable tool to have in space exploration for example.
If a single exposure is enough to make someone violently ill, then the correct protocol is indeed application of a multi layer hierarchy of controls like, either PAPRs or fit tested P100s, but *ALSO* the use of dust collecting/extracting tools for cutting. Those should already be the standard for construction and renovation, and it’s honestly scandalous that it’s not. I say that as someone who’s had to spend many dozens of hours cleaning up after contractors left dust everywhere – it’s definitely easier to capture the dust than clean it up.
> Only a single exposure is enough to get sick.
I doubt that, since silica dust is literally blowing around in the wind everywhere. Of course if you directly inhale a handful, that’s a different matter, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. The human biology isn’t totally helpless against dust particles.
They were updated.
They still were not followed.
Then ban the company that fails to follow the rules, not the material.
There’s a lot of industry that requires workers to wear protective gear to preserve their health. The gear is not expensive but you have to wear it for it to be effective. Typically the employer is responsible for the cost of the gear and it gets replaced on regular intervals. If the employer can’t make a profit and provide the gear, they need to be in another business. If the employee doesn’t use the gear or uses it improperly, then poor health will be the outcome.
Regardless, it’s not the material’s fault.
Sure the employer can still make a profit, just not as much. Part of the issue is that a single mask failure can be enough to cause silicosis.
And similarly terrible things happen if the PPE isn’t correct or correctly used in almost every industry that has any really lasting hazards at all! But as the PPE can be excessively overengineered for a huge safety margin, certified, tested, replaced well before failure…
When the material is so useful and so safe once its made it should be used. The industrial processes required to make it are perfectly safe for the workers and surroundings if done properly, so do them properly.
If some company were to set up a robotic cutting facility that captured 100% of the dust and did 100% of the cutting in that facility, wouldn’t that solve it?
I assume they could leverage 3D scanning technology to capture the exact dimensions that it needs to be cut to and then input those into a robot.
The captured dust could possibly be added as filler to the new slabs being created by the manufacturer, thereby solving waste disposal problems.
They already 3d scan kitchens, and the accuracy my counter was made to looks like CNC to me.
It might be cheap companies doing worse jobs, or it might be there’s still humans around the process, but I suspect that full automation is as objectionable to unions as the dust.
Those affected are non union. Read the linked LA times article of you doubt it. Again, at least in the US.
Or they could just regulate the industry. Yes it will make the end product more expensive and yes it will limit where/when people will want to use it but it doesn’t make sense to ban something outright when proper labor law enforcement would get the job done. PPE is available and mitigation is possible, IF the employer is motivated.
Yeah but its communist Australia. Just like Canada they need to make things safe for the dumbest person who can possibly exist. Don’t believe me? Legally I’m required to wear steel toe boots, pants, a long sleeve shirt, a reflective vest, gloves, ear protection, eye protection, a respirator and a hardhat in order to operate a table saw on a jobsite.
1. I don’t think you know what communist means.
2. Most of that is just because you are on a jobsite.
3. You are correct though, the dumbest people wouldn’t wear those if not legally required.
Yeah, the dumb ones skips the gear (no commie is gunna tell me what to do!), then they complain their health is effed 20 years later.
This is the essence of occupation safety engineering. Those rules are written in blood. My grandfather who I never knew was an old timey linotypists union president. My dad tells me stories of how he fought for worker safety (they worked with lead type! Melting it and casting it themselves!) and got some of the first changes in his state.
I believe he is rolling in his grave. Granted there are other things these days he’s rolling in his grave about, but the “commies telling me to wear PPE!” movement has it into the “supersonic, infinitely renewable source of energy” kind of rolling in his grave. It makes me furious.
I am not a tradesman. I have some trade skills that I might have ended up using in another life, but I still care about the health and safety of tradesmen. The lack of safety culture infuriates me.
All of those things, with the possible exception of the gloves, really should be required on a jobsite. Maybe I’m biased though from seeing the professionals at my wife’s jobsites building sky scrapers or the people that work daily on my hospital that is currently undergoing major construction works. Or just ignore it and get chronic health problems, I guess. What could possibly go wrong? (checks headline of article). Oh. Right.
“Legally I’m required to wear steel toe boots, pants, a long sleeve shirt, a reflective vest, gloves, ear protection, eye protection, a respirator and a hardhat in order to operate a table saw on a jobsite.”
Well, your government* pays for your Healthcare, that gives them a say in actions that could effect your health.
*Kanuckistan
long sleeve shirt-more likely to get in way/get caught in blade. Ear protection-likely to make you less aware of your surroundings/safety. Glove-hurt dexterity, get in way, more likely to get caught in blade. Respirator-hurt oxygen levels, awkward. Steel toe boots-wash. Eye protection-a good idea, but if you wear glasses, most eye protection won’t work or is cumbersome to the point of being distracting.
Don’t aussie construction workers love wearing ridiculously short shorts for some reason?
Reading the headline, my instant though was the higher than normal background radiation that is typical for granite (Mostly from venting Radon gas and emitting beta and gamma radiation from the uranium found in most). I never occurred to be that it would be about dust from quartz.
Man it’s a good thing they banned this stuff, Australia is so backwards they don’t have any way to handle hazardous industrial processes other than to ban them.
When it’s a vanity item that is killing people, then it seems reasonable.
The item isn’t killing people, failure to understand the risks of the work you’ve undertaken is.
You still have the same risks with fitting solid stone – but because it’s expensive hardly anyone does it.
So it’s back to only the Rick having a luxury.
I live in. Razil literally shut up m8, well make ur deathly counters here and ship em to every1 else
And not a single mention of the hazards of sawing MDF, tsk tsk. I suspect a lot of the same laborers who hand saw/grind the material cited here, are also involved with MDF and OSB.
Wood is organic and digested by your macrophage so no, you don’t develop silicosis with wood. You can still damage your lungs, but any mask filter will protect you, unlike nanolevel quartz crystal. Just like asbestos in fact.
Except in the case of MDF, during sawing of this material, formaldehyde is aerosolized.
That got sorted years ago, with ALL woods being treated the same. Those industries took heed, the cabinet dudes didn’t.
Wet cutting during installation is perfectly doable. I install tile sometimes and need to cut/grind tiles to fit and I do this with a small portable wet saw I bought at Home Depot for like 50 bucks.
It sounds like the issue isn’t the material but installers not paying attention to the risks of what they are doing.
I got the white lung pa. *cough* *cough*
Yes haha zoolander but also horrible way to die taking down people in their 20s and 30s, so shame on you.
My neighbor was having renovation work done, and the workers cut the engineered stone with a dry saw on the back porch next to my fence. They then used a leaf blower to “clean up”, sending a dense toxic cloud into my yard. I was very upset and complained to my neighbor, who got them to use a vacuum cleaner instead. The workers were completely clueless about the danger they were subjecting themselves to.
I don’t think it’s the same issue here. Once the crystal are inside the epoxy resin, they are too big to cause a damage and are perfectly fine being filtered by a mask. So the dry saw’s dust doesn’t contain the small particle of quartz of the initial stone, it contains agglomerated particles that aren’t dangerous (or less dangerous), IMHO.
Also, even the nano particles aren’t a hazard for long, they are polished very quickly in the atmosphere since their density is high, they fall on the ground. It’s mainly when they are produced that it’s dangerous.
But the epoxy itself s also harmfull, thats why we here in germany replacing epoxy repaired water pipes. Always look to countries with very high healt security standards there are reasons why stuff is forbidden. And if its allowed in your coutry than there must be a lobby behind it, like: “Yes people dying from this stuff but its not ours!”
Again, epoxy is safe when not being sanded etc.
Dumb politics, not bad products.
This is disgraceful and inexcusable. Is it a surprise we mishandled an airborne pandemic?
Where’s the hack?
The hacking cough.
Where are we in terms of plasma or other higher tech cutting tools for this material?
Ceramic countertops are better anyway.
Yes, the best one are uranium glass based because they keep your food warm for centuries.
How awfully convenient that now you’ll only have choices between the often prohibitively expensive natural stone or much less durable materials. Regulations and bans only really hurt the poor and middle classes, the Aussie elite can afford the natural stone.
If only we could invent some sort of Personal Protective Equipment. But as we all know having some sort of Occupational Hazards Safety Administration would be insane. That’s why we haven’t used dusty concrete since the Roman times.
There are too many silly comments on this advocating for this product. It’s not a great product… Some lives will be spared agony and there are so many other options out there that it won’t be significantly missed.
Based on your comment we can tell that your screen name is accurate.
Wait until they realize that natural stone, concrete (!), Hardie siding, and tile backer board are all also made of similar amounts of silica. Are they going to ban those too? This is politics at its worst. They should have required safe handling of it, not freak out and just ban it outright with no understanding of what they’re talking about.
This is unsurprising, but stupid.
Much of the world has TERRIBLE workplace safety enforcement, let alone CULTURE. My parents installed some engineered stone countertops this year. They’re absolutely beautiful and wonderful. They shouldn’t be banned because of poor safety culture and enforcement among installers.
When the guys who installed it did the cutting, they definitely created insane amounts of harmful dust. They refused n95s. This is a fixable problem. We should fix it.
This is such a ridiculous overreaction to an easily solvable problem it makes me wonder if these legislators even understands the concept of risk management. Silicosis is the exact same risk that exists with sand blasting, cement manufacturing, concrete grinding and cutting, and cutting stone tiles of any kind, ideally performed outside but not infrequently performed indoors. For example, it’s impossible to cut open a slab foundation outdoors to repair plumbing in an existing home. And they all have the exact same extremely effective, well-established, and reasonably inexpensive solutions: P-, R- and N95 respirators and/or wet-cutting techniques. Each of those industries adapted to the risk and there is no reason why this one can’t also adapt.
There will always be shops that ignore safety guidelines and regulatory requirements but those can be dealt with as they’re reported, but there is no way to solve people actively choosing not to wear appropriate PPE if it is available.
And as for anyone calling this “the new asbestos” please take a moment to calm down because engineered stone is 100% safe at all times it is not being ground, cut or drilled while asbestos remains dangerous any time it is handled in any way. Asbestos itself is even safe as long as it stays covered by sheetrock or other common wall material but it is just safer not to use it because homeowners and children are very likely to come into contact with it at some point. Most homeowners and children are not going to be busting out the angle grinder and drills to use on their countertops, though.
This is nonsense. Cutting granite poses exactly the same hazard. The mitigations are well-known, and construction companies cutting any type of stone, but especially those containing quartz, need proper PPE and dust control.
I’m actually rather surprised to hear this is being cut on site. In the US, this would typically be done in a specialty shop using a template made onsite.
A number of countertop installers here in southern Minnesota will drill holes on site in pre-cut countertops for faucets and soap dispensers.
This just forces companies to develope safer products. I know some stone companies are already testing silica free engineered stone.
I’m just surprised they havent also banned natural stone since it contains silica too. If there isn’t a safe threshold for silica content, shouldn’t natural stone be banned too? Or am I mistaken?
It comes down to content. Manufactured stone is around 90% silica. Natural stone isn’t as bad. So cutting natural stone doesn’t cause the problem quite as fast.
According to the Federal Govt. in Australia 1,451 people died between 2011 and 2020 of lung diseases caused by exposure to dust. This includes a variety of dusts, not just silica.
However, in 2023, so far 1,253 people have died on the roads. Why do we not ban cars ? Or have better licence testing system?
This whole thing is a typical knee-jerk reaction by a Govt. trying to be seen to be doing something, whilst realistically doing bugger all. If the Govt. was really concerned about people’s safety, they’d ban parents from teaching their children to drive, thus perpetuating poor driving habits that are passed from one generation to the next. They’d also implement regular testing of drivers to ensure they’re still capable of understanding the current road rules.
Instead, we ban stone because 14 people a year die from it.
Australia is basically Communist now anyways with COVID so it doesn’t surprise me.
I see more and more use cases for that humanoid robot Musk is trying to develop.
James Hardie is an Australian company that makes fiber cement siding products. When cutting, workers can be exposed to silica powder, which could lead to later developing silicosis. PPE, including a mask and/or are required for cutting/grinding, just like the engineered quartz counter tops.
But products are durable and affordable and with some safe practices can be safe to work with? Both products are worked with by both DIYers and professional builders.
But hardiplank isn’t being banned here. Why the discrepancy? Is this Australian trade protectionism?
I have researched dangers of silica dust a bit when setting up sandbox for my kid.
You need to look for feldspar sand.
Great article, thankyou
Ummm.
Wear a mask?
Even a rebreather…are we saying that near minimum wagers are too daft to use common sense? We need to protect the stupid?
Don’t ban, require the provision of rebreathers. Don’t feel sad for less-than-aware wage slaves, empower them.
This is not to excuse the ban but it has been my experience that even well-paid employees do not want to take the trouble of wearing PPE unless there are noticeable effects on their health very soon after exposure. The employer has to keep after the employees to ensure their use. I would prefer to see labor unions demand that employers provide and ensure use of proper PPE rather than government regulation. Employees respect their own unions more than they respect the demands of their employers or the rules of the government.
It’s called a mask you morons! Stop passing laws that prevent the stupid from taking themselves out of the gene pool, they are breeding like mad and destroying the world!!!!
I very much disliked this article, first it has nothing to do with usual articles we see here, secondly it seems alarmist and biased opinions. Please revisit postingpolitical or general news pieces especially ones that are with biased opinions / political.
Ceasarstone is an isreali company. Intersting why one out of hundreds is shown here to cast a bad light on the issue. This whole ban is ridiculous. I operated a stone ship over 10 years and have cut, installed stone and quartz. Quartz is a great product. Strong and cheap and does the job perfectly. But….it has to be fabricated using water. That’s it. Natural stone also contains silica as does quartz. If the Autrailians want to be smart…just mandate shops to process quartz wet….drilling a faucet hole with a vaccum onsite is not that messy. But…cutting a sink dry in an enclosed shop with no ventilation is a hazard.
Typical authoritarianism from the land of Oz. How do you people put up with this shit?… Oh I forgot the average Aussie is an authoritarian loving halfwit.
So ban a whole economic building option because some idiots can’t put a respirator on? Lowercase brain politicians.
It’s interesting how the story never addresses the worker risk when PPE is worn properly. The article seems to promote the idea of a full scale ban being the only solution.
Sadly, the above comments are a result of poor information provided regarding this extremely dangerous product line of engineered stone. Originally, the product was well known by its trade name. Easy to work with, cheaper, and beautiful as a finished product, it was discovered by the medical community (I am a doctor), that some of those working with it were dying of horrible lung disease in their twenties. This is far younger than the silicoses known. 5 years ago the overseas manufacturer successfully had their name removed from the articles now describing this threat through the courts. The medical research is conclusive. Note the absence of comments from families of those dead and dying from working with this product. It is too dangerous to be on the market, period. It’s silica content is far higher than other countertop materials. I applaud those (IN THE INDUSTRY), who brought this ban forwards. It’s the product, not masks, or a wet saw. It is too dangerous! Be safe, be profitable, stay healthy, use another material. Merry Christmas!
Ummm…hate to pour pizs on the
drama but…silica is the most common mineral on the planet. Beaches are mainly silica…quartz. Silica is the cement that holds granite together and a lot of other common rocks.
Now boyz and girls…what do you think is in…granite countertops. Or any other wonderfully pure “natural” product we think is safe. Did you know arsenic is a naturally occurring element? Yes children. Mother Nature can be a nasty old bi+c6 if you look close enough.
If you are cutting and grinding granite, you are cutting mainly silica.
Sorry. Next…
great job, Australia. hope the rest of the world follows suit. and thanks for this very informative article.
Imagine being a regulator and instead of coming up with new protocols to handle the material safely, you just ban it outright. This is lazy and idiotic.
imagine not reading the article you’re trying to brigade against. now that’s just lazy and idiotic.