An Australian first Monash study shows the rapid rise of silicosis linked to artificial stonework.

Australia is the first country to ban artificial stone in January 2025 as cases of silicosis in Victorian workers who fabricated and installed artificial stone benchtops have spiked. Research by Monash University has confirmed the increase in the fatal lung disease, caused by inhaling fine silica dust particles, and is becoming a growing concern for workers in industries working with engineered or manufactured artificial stone.

Since 2019, the Victorian government has given workers access to health screenings in response to silicosis cases in the industry. The researchers say the government-funded screening has been significant in identifying the affected workers and the scale of the outbreak.

“Following the commencement of active health assessment of hundreds of stone benchtop industry workers in Victoria from 2019, the results of our study confirm the alarming scale of the silicosis outbreak,” lead researcher Dr Ryan Hoy says.

The researchers analysed two data sources of workers’ compensation claims for silicosis in Victoria from 1 January 1991 to 21 December 2022, and a clinical registry that recorded new cases of Silicosis diagnosed by respiratory physicians from 1 May 2019 to 31 December 2022.

It was found that 536 workers claimed compensation for silicosis over 32 years and in total, 90% (482) claims were received between 2015 and 2022, a 27-fold increase from the previous eight-year period of 18 claims.

“The incidence rate for silicosis claims in the adult population increased from 0.12 per 100,000 in 1991–1998 to 2.38 per 100,000 in 2015–2022,” Dr Ryan said.

“During the most recent 8-year period, the median age of people with silicosis was younger at 39 years, compared to 50 years for earlier time periods. Most silicosis compensation claims were received following commencement of the government funded stone benchtop industry screening program in 2019.”

There were 210 patients diagnosed with silicosis by respiratory physicians in Victoria between May 2019 and December 2022, 22% of the patients were diagnosed with advanced and complicated silicosis and 89% of workers with silicosis participated in the government-funded screening program. Other key findings of the silicosis clinical registry found that 97% of patients worked in the stone benchtop industry and 95% worked with engineered artificial stone.

“The results should be extremely concerning for other countries where engineered stone is popular but there has been no screening of workers. These results suggest that in those regions, there are highly likely to be a very large number of undiagnosed workers,” Dr Ryan says.

“The ban of engineered stone is a very important step in protecting workers; however, there has been two decades of workers being exposed to highly dangerous conditions due to the use of this material. This will result in workers remaining at risk for decades to come. The stone benchtop industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry, employing hundreds of thousands of workers internationally. Our study has demonstrated an alarmingly rapid increase in cases of silicosis caused by work with artificial stone and provides further justification for Australia’s prohibition of the material.”