Australia backs July 1 ban on engineered stone but gives builders grace period

Builders will be given a grace period beyond the July 1 deadline for a world-first ban on engineered stone if they have already signed contracts to use the product linked to the deadly lung disease silicosis.

Most of the nation’s workplace health and safety ministers agreed on Wednesday to prohibit the use, supply and manufacture of engineered stone from July 2024 while Canberra vowed to ban imports from an unspecified date, in a deal celebrated by unions and health experts.

A Safe Work Australia report delivered to ministers found there was no safe level of the dust emitted when engineered stone slabs are cut.Credit: Eddie Jim

But not all ministers agreed to the deadline, with sources suggesting Tasmania was the hold-out.

Australian Council of Trade Unions assistant secretary Liam O’Brien declared the ban would save lives.

“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?” he said.

The agreement comes four months after a Safe Work Australia report delivered to ministers found there was no safe level of the dust emitted when engineered stone slabs are cut, and called for an all-out ban.

The watchdog’s report was commissioned after an investigation by this masthead and 60 Minutes this year revealed a growing number of workers were being diagnosed with silicosis.

A study into silicosis by Curtin University estimates more than 275,000 workers – including miners, contractors, construction workers, stonemasons and tunnellers – are being exposed to high levels of crystalline silica, which is carcinogenic, and predicts up to 103,000 workers will be diagnosed with silicosis.

A joint communique following the meeting also foreshadowed a meeting in March to discuss safety protocols for tradies working on renovations or demolitions involving engineered stone.

NSW Industrial Relations Minister Sophie Cotsis congratulated crusading workers and health groups before taking aim at the industry.

“My message to business and consumers is this: it’s time for you to stop buying this stuff. Don’t enter into any further contracts,” she said.

Victorian Worksafe Minister Danny Pearson also hailed the outcome. “No one should be exposed to fatal risks simply by going to work. It’s just unacceptable,” he said.

But the transition period for the industry has enraged medical experts, with thoracic physician Dr Deborah Yates describing any further delay as inexcusable.

“It will result in further deaths, and I’m surprised the Labor government would not be more protective of workers’ health,” she said.

“It’s reminiscent of the problems with asbestos when the Australian government was very late in banning it and that resulted in many deaths directly due to that.”

Dr Graeme Edwards, a former member of the national dust disease taskforce who helped raise the alarm over a spike in silicosis cases in 2018, said the system was not protecting Australian workers as it should.

“More delays means more workers will be exposed, and more people will suffer from a preventable disease,” he said.

Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union national secretary Zach Smith has previously vowed his members will boycott the product if it is not banned by July.

“The grace period started when we announced our campaign, when we said over a year ago that we would ban this product if governments don’t – that’s when industry’s grace period started,” he said.

The states are understood to have different views on the length of time businesses should be given to adapt. A decision is expected at the next meeting in March.

Caesarstone, a global manufacturer of engineered stone, said it was “deeply disappointed” by the ban and accused ministers of singling out one type of product containing silica over others.

A spokesperson said governments’ “piecemeal approach” meant workers would continue to be exposed to the risks of silicosis.

“Most importantly, it fails to address the real cause of rising silicosis rates – poor compliance with and enforcement of safety standards,” they said.

They said a transition period of six months was “insufficient to avoid significant disruption to construction and home building, with a longer period needed to ensure industry can meet the anticipated demand for substitute products, and that fabricators with the necessary financial resources can retool and retrain employees to work on other products”.

In a statement, lobby group Master Builders Australia said there were still many unanswered questions and legal uncertainty around transition arrangements that should have been settled on Wednesday.

This week’s meeting comes nearly 10 months after Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke urged his state and territory counterparts to bring forward a decision on whether to prohibit the material, declaring “I’m not willing to wait”, after the former national dust disease taskforce recommended a ban be considered by July 2024 if the industry hadn’t made measurable safety improvements by then.

Developers Lendlease and Mirvac have already announced they will not use engineered stone in new projects while major retailers such as Bunnings and Ikea have said they will stop selling it.

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