Australia will next year ban engineered-stone worktops and kitchen counters nationally because of the health risks they pose to installers, especially in terms of silicosis.
The move follows a long campaign by politicians in the state of Queensland to implement a ban. Commonwealth, state and territory leaders agreed to the national ban at a meeting of industrial relations ministers earlier this week. The ban will take effect from July next year.
The move is believed to have made Australia the first country to announce a complete ban of engineered stone.
The ban was welcomed by Queensland industrial relations minister Grace Grace: “This is a dangerous product that’s known to cause the potentially fatal disease silicosis, and it has no place in our workplaces,” she said.
“All workers have a right to turn up to a safe and healthy workplace and I’m proud to be part of a government which has helped deliver this key measure to protect workers,” she added.
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The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) also welcomed the ban, pointing to research suggesting that in some states as many as one in four stonemasons working with engineered stone had been diagnosed with silicosis.
Scientific and medical evidence has found that even when workers cut and fabricate low silica stone products this generates significant amounts of very fine particles of silica that are able to penetrate deep into the lungs of workers and cause disease, the ACTU argued.
ACTU assistant secretary Liam O’Brien said: “This total ban will save lives and we thank ministers for putting workers lives ahead of corporate profit.
“Engineered stone is a fashion product that is killing the workers who make it. With alternatives readily available, why are we risking the lives of tradies for a fashionable finish in our kitchens?
“There is no such thing as ‘safe’ engineered stone, and no safety measures that can be put in place that would eliminate the risk of this incurable and aggressive lung disease. A total ban is the only sensible option and every day that passes is costing lives,” he added.
A US study published in the summer found silicosis had claimed the lives of several stonemasons, predominantly young Latino men in California, since the first case was detected in Texas in 2015.
Engineered stone, the UC San Francisco and UCLA study argued, was more dangerous than natural stone to stonemasons because of its high concentration of silica as well as the harmful polymer resins and dyes that are normally added.
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