Australia will officially lead the world in banning the importation of engineered stone in the move to protect workers from silicosis.
The engineered stone importation ban is a positive step forward, however, recent research has shown there is more work that needs to be done to protect the health of workers.
“Many Australian workers still face serious health risks, even with the much-welcomed banning of engineered stone,” CEO of Trolex, Glyn Pierce-Jones said.
“Even with engineered stone out of the picture and strong workplace safety regulations – as strong as any in the world – Australian worksites still carry risks that can only be reduced if real-time dust monitoring is introduced.”
The engineered stone and health of workers study
A recent US study should raise alarm bells in Australia about whether more needs to be done following bans to protect workers and others from RCS, even where mandated safety measures have been put in place by employers.
The study, published in the Annals of Work Exposures and Health, examined the levels of background RCS on a construction site in Colorado.
Personal worker and area background silica samples were taken over 13 days and involved workers working on dried concrete/mortar.
The site followed Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines designed to protect workers from RCS exposure above the permissible exposure limit of 50 μg m−3. The same exposure limit applies across Australian workplaces.
The OSHA guidelines include dust control measures such as dust suppression with water, HEPA filtration vacuum collection systems and drill shrouds.
The results suggest that dust controls were inadequate for a number of construction activities, including a walk-behind saw (126 μg m−3), dowel drilling (99.9 μg m−3), and grinding (172 μg m−3).
The study’s authors concluded that “managers and employees may assume that they will not be over-exposed to silica while employing the mandated dust controls”.
As in Australia, real-time air monitoring is not required of employers complying with OSHA dust controls.
However, the results of the US study suggest that real-time air monitoring may still be warranted to identify employees who are at an increased risk of silica exposure.
The side affects of using engineered stone
Countries around the world, particularly the UK, are on a fast track to replicate the ban on engineered stone that Australia is implementing as a guard against the scourge of silicosis.
Engineered stone was the cause of an unprecedented spike in cases of silicosis from the inhalation of respirable crystalline silica (RCS).
Work safety agencies in Australia were alerted to the dangers of manufactured stone not because of improved monitoring but by the dramatic increase in cases of silicosis.
Studies such as one conducted in 2023 by Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, found one quarter of people who had worked with engineered stone bench tops developed silicosis.
With engineered stone out of the picture in Australia, attention needs to turn towards the risk of natural stone, concrete, tiles and bricks pose on health.