Australia could become the first country in the world to impose a ban on engineered stone products. Sean Carroll finds out more.

At the end of February, a unanimous decision was reached among Australian states and territories to seek definitive action on potentially harmful engineered stone products.

The decision, revealed by Federal Minister of Employment, Tony Burke, will expedite the process, bringing forward planning by six months with a final decision on the matter is expected in the latter half of 2023. A ban will come into effect 12 months later.

“If you’re talking about kitchen and bathroom benchtops, some of them go up to 95% silica. Others can be as low as 40%, lower than ordinary stone,” the minister said on Radio National before the decision.

“Safe Work Australia has the expertise to work through exactly where the line should be drawn. But wherever that line is drawn, it must be drawn on the side of people being able to go to work and come home without a terminal illness.”

One estimate from Curtin University says the number of silicosis cases is between 80,000 and 100,000 annually with about 600,000 workers exposed to the potentially deadly dust each year.

Research by Monash University associate professor Jane Bourke, head of respiratory pharmacology, says the fine silica dust, which is 100 times smaller than a grain of sand, can travel deep into the lung and cause permanent damage.

“Silicosis is not only affecting stonemasons but also workers in construction industries including quarrying and tunnelling of sandstone,” she says.

“Silicosis is a preventable disease but it’s currently incurable and can lead to other fatal diseases including lung cancer. There is no evidence that engineered stone can be used safely – the only way to protect workers in stonecutting industries is to ban the use of this high-risk product.”

Workers in engineered stone benchtop manufacturing, finishing and installation are at particular risk. This comparatively new material contains up to 95% crystalline silica, distinct from natural stone’s crystalline silica composition of 5% to 50%.

In 2021, WorkSafe Australia accepted 73 claims from workers who had developed a silica-related disease as a result of workplace exposure and, sadly, five people lost their lives. Additionally, it’s estimated that 230 Australians a year develop lung cancer due to past exposure according to data from Artibus.

Some have likened the dangers of working with this dust-borne disease to asbestos which took 70 years to be fully banned after the risks were known, killing tens of thousands of workers.

The Australian Workers’ Union national secretary, Daniel Walton, says that the decision to bring forward the ban is a historic step forward for everyone who has campaigned for tougher laws on silica exposure.

“So many brave workers have stepped forward to tell their story, despite many facing incredibly challenging circumstances in their personal lives. Their courage and their generosity have helped drive this outcome,” he says.

“For far too long, major construction companies have been able to get away with a shoddy, inadequate and frankly unethical approach to silica dust management on site. They have blocked union officials from bringing dust monitors underground and they’ve regularly sent workers into tunnels with poor ventilation and dangerous levels of dust.”

Potential new rules for high-risk silica workplaces would include regular air monitoring for unsafe working conditions and mandatory reporting of breaches to the work health and safety regulators. It would also require all workers to undertake silica awareness training.

Stone benchtop suppliers and manufacturers are calling for tighter regulations on the industry but not a full ban if it can be helped. Their argument is that there are safe ways to cut stone when done appropriately and on a low-silica product, as long as industry cowboys are dealt with.

Cosentino, an Australian manufacturer of luxury stone surfaces, addressed these concerns in a statement: “[Our] market-leading Silestone Q10 and Q40 products contain less than 10% and 40% crystalline silica respectively, which have been independently verified by a Perth-based laboratory, SGS.

“Utilising a sustainable manufacturing process that uses 99% reused water, 100% renewable energy and zero wastewater, our HybriQ Technology is employed across the entire Silestone range. The Silestone low silica range is available in Australia now, reassuring the Australian value chain of the continued safe supply of their products.”

Cosentino Oceania vice president, Itay Shimony, says that the company supports the development of a nationally coordinated approach focussed on the elimination of health and safety risk associated with high-risk crystalline silica work, so far as reasonably practicable.

To do this, he encourages a federal adoption of the Victorian definition of ‘engineered stone’ in the Occupational Health and Safety Amendment (Crystalline Silica) Regulations 2021: “manufactured composite material that contains resins and 40% or more crystalline silica”.

Master Builders Australia (MBA) strongly supports additional work being undertaken on silica-related exposure risks and acknowledges the concerning rates of preventable lung disease caused by uncontrolled dust exposure, particularly those working with engineered stone.

However, following Safe Work Australia’s decision to undertake further analysis of the use of engineered stone, MBA notes that the government must factor in the impacts on stone manufacturers.

“Manufacturers have invested significant funds into developing new, innovative products with low silica content in response to concerns about the high percentage of silica in current engineered stone,” MBA says in a statement.

“A blanket ban is not risk proportionate and would send the wrong message to businesses that are innovating and investing to continuously improve products and processes to minimise risk.”

The CFMEU has reaffirmed its commitment to banning engineered stone altogether, saying that the recent decision by Safe Work Australia is a step in the right direction but it won’t stop campaigning until there’s a total ban. Additionally, the union would also like to see a licensing system implemented for engineered stone already in Australia.

“The CFMEU’s position is unmoved. If governments don’t carry through on banning engineered stone, the union will. July 2024 remains our deadline,” CFMEU national secretary Zachary Smith says.

“Alongside the ban, we think it’s a sensible step for ministers to commit to a licensing scheme for products already out there, similar to the way asbestos is dealt with. You can’t have one without the other. That’s why it’s absolutely critical this commitment becomes an enforceable ban as soon as possible.”

Australia has taken meaningful steps toward the ban but Tony Burke acknowledges that a ban like this will take “a good 12 months or more”, prompting the move to get this done as soon as possible.

The health ministers and Safe Work Australia will plan out what a ban looks like while considering the concerns of the manufacturers and suppliers in the industry.

“If you’re wanting to make sure that we’ve got a situation where we’re not putting workers’ lives at risk, then you do have to consider, across the whole lifecycle of those products, whether or not they’re safe enough that a regulatory regime will do the job,” Tony says.

“Certainly, at the moment, the number of Australians with silicosis keeps rising. This is part of the cause. If we could easily regulate it, then you wouldn’t be considering a ban at all.”