Safe Work to investigate banning engineered stone in Australia

A dangerous product often used to make kitchen benchtops but linked to fatal lung diseases in young tradies could be outlawed in Australia, but it will take “months” until the decision is made.

The states and territories unanimously agreed to consider prohibiting the domestic use of engineered stone at a meeting led by Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke on Tuesday.

But they will wait to receive a report from Safe Work Australia before making a final decision, meaning a ban still isn’t guaranteed despite pleas from unions and health experts to act.

The federal workplace safety agency has been tasked with investigating what a potential ban on engineered stone would look like, as well as what additional regulations are required to protect workers dealing with silica dust.

Silica dust has been linked to a wave of diagnoses of cancer and the potentially terminal lung disease silicosis in stonemasons and tradespeople.

Modelling by Curtin University estimates that up to 103,000 Australians across a range of sectors, including tunnelling, quarrying, cement work, mining, and construction, will be diagnosed with silicosis as a result of exposure to silica dust at work and more than 10,000 will develop lung cancer.

The deadly dust is released by different building products, but it is most potent in engineered stone, which is more durable than marble and granite but can contain up to 95 per cent silica.

Mr Burke said not all engineered stone contained such a high percentage of silica which meant it was difficult to make an immediate decision on whether or not to ban the product outright.

“What we’ve asked Safe Work Australia to do is scope out – if there were to be a prohibition – where that line will be drawn,” he told reporters at Parliament House after meeting with his state counterparts.

“And then to also scope out how you can have a nationally consistent licensing system for whatever remains that has been viewed as safe to be on the market.”

Mr Burke said it would be “presumptuous” of him to say that every Australian jurisdiction had locked in banning engineered stone before they had received the report from Safe Work, which he conceded could take “quite some months”.

Because of the way Australia’s work health and safety laws operate, any new restrictions made under these laws need to be developed by Safe Work Australia.

The changes would need to be agreed to by two-thirds of the nation’s ministers who are in charge of work health and safety and then legislated separately in each jurisdiction.

The previous Coalition government set up a national dust diseases taskforce to investigate ways to limit exposure to silica, as an increasing number of young, otherwise healthy people were diagnosed with silicosis.

The taskforce said engineered stone products should be banned from July next year if significant safety improvements had not been made.

Mr Burke had urged the states to bring forward the decision on whether to ban engineered stone, saying he didn’t want to repeat the mistake that was made waiting 70 years to prohibit asbestos.

He said on Tuesday he was hopeful there would be a unanimous decision once Safe Work returned its report.

Asked if the commonwealth would consider overriding the states to ensure uniform regulations were in place, Mr Burke said his starting point was always to try to reach a consensus.

Victoria, which is the only state not to follow the national WHS laws, adopted a licensing scheme to regulate engineered stone in late 2021.

The powerful construction union welcomed the ministers’ meeting on Tuesday as a “major step forward” but said it would continue its fight to ban engineered stone after having vowed to outlaw the product by July next year if the government failed to act.

Incoming CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith said the union’s position was unmoved.

“Alongside a ban, we think it’s a sensible step for ministers commit to a licensing scheme for products already out there, similar to the way asbestos is dealt with,” he said.

“But 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.”

Originally published as Safe Work to investigate banning engineered stone in Australia

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