Engineered stone: Tradies take ‘killer stone’ ban into own hands

Australia has an obsession with one deadly building product and the nation’s peak trade body is planning a bombshell move.

A legion of Australian tradies say they will ban a deadly item from worksites in a move to pile pressure on governments to take action.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions, the nation’s peak tradie body, resolved to ban engineered stone, hugely popular in renovations and new builds, by mid-next year if government bans are not in place by then.

The stone products have been firmly linked to a devastating health epidemic. They have been linked to silicosis — an incurable workplace-related disease caused by inhaling silica dust.

Engineered stone is commonly used in kitchen and bathroom renovations and new builds, but it is gaining a reputation as the “new asbestos”.

Irreversible symptoms, including a persistent cough, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing, can appear from a few weeks to many years after exposure to silica dust.

As a result, engineered stone, a commonly sought-after material used in kitchen and bathroom benchtops, is slowly gaining an undesirable label in the industry as the “new asbestos”.

The Royal Australian College of GPs states those diagnosed with silicosis “lose an average 11.6 years of life”.

According to a recent study, engineered stone has already been worked with by a quarter of a million Australian tradies.

Engineered stone is common in new Australian kitchens and bathrooms

Studies estimate that over a quarter of a million Australian tradespeople have been exposed to this dangerous dust.

Curtin University estimated that more than 275,000 workers, primarily tradies, were exposed to high levels of the carcinogenic dust.

The study predicted that up to 103,000 labourers would be diagnosed with silicosis.

The material is safe for those living in a home where it’s been installed. However, to be considered safe in the workplace, the stone must be cut wet by workers in full protective gear.

Silicosis has become increasingly prevalent in recent years.

For months, there have been widespread calls for Australia to strictly regulate or ban engineered stone.

But on Tuesday, the ACTU took a radical step toward the latter.

ACTU Assistant Secretary Liam O’Brien claimed manufacturers and importers of engineered stone have “known about the risk”, but have failed to take necessary steps or warn and protect Australian workers.

“Even today, we continue to see dust-filled factories exposing workers to the risk of silicosis,” he said.

“Today, the ACTU executive sends a clear message that governments should ban this harmful fashion product.”

The ACTU is calling for government bans on engineered stone, national health monitoring, and support for affected workers.

The ACTU’s proposed self-regulation in lieu of any government ban will mean union members will block engineered stone from being transported to or used on building sites across Australia.

Safe Work Australia was commissioned in February by Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke, along with state and territory ministers, to investigate the implications of a ban.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with silicosis survivors in 2021 to discuss the crisis and promised to address the issue if elected.

Along with demanding government bans, the ACTU is advocating for national health monitoring and screening for workers exposed to crystalline silica and support for those affected.

“We welcome the decision earlier this year of WHS Ministers to introduce stronger silica rules covering all work, but we must do more to ban deadly fashion products,” Mr O’Brien said.

“We must also ensure that those that suffer from this disease are supported with improved medical treatment and compensation”.

CFMEU National Secretary Zach Smith has been campaigning to have engineered stone banned. Picture: Gary Ramage. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

In a news.com.au report last week, CFMEU National Secretary Zach Smith detailed the magnitude of the epidemic.

“Stonemasons are on the front lines of this workplace safety crisis. But the problems don’t stop in that trade,” he told news.com.au.

“There are other construction workers exposed to engineered stone when it’s cut on building sites.

“We have members that should be planning families but are instead planning funerals in their 30s. It’s hard to fathom the amount of lives this killer stone will destroy.”

Studies suggest that as many as one in four stonemasons who work with engineered stone have been diagnosed with silicosis.

Mr Smith feared the worst was yet to come, forecasting a “sharp increase in deaths” in coming years given the prevalence of engineered stone in Australia’s kitchens and bathrooms.

“Engineered stone is the asbestos of the 2020s,” he said. “Anyone who stands in the way of a ban will have blood on their hands.”

Concerns about the health and safety of workers exposed to engineered stone have grown.

Silicosis sufferers on the coal face of the epidemic have spoken to news.com.au in recent months. They described the disease as a “death sentence”.

Last week, Andrew Osborn, a former stone factory worker from Reservoir in Melbourne, picked up the disease afterwhile cutting engineered stone in a workshop between 2010 and 2020.

According to Mr Osborne, awareness, warnings, and protective gear regarding the stone were almost non-existent for years while he breathed in the dust, eventually making him gravely ill.

“It’s like being handed a death sentence; you just don’t know how it’s going to play out, even if things are okay at the moment,” he told news.com.au.

“Having a young family, the mental struggle with wondering if you’re going to see them grow up, that aspect can’t be understated.”

Andrew Osborn from Reservoir worked with the stone in a workshop for almost a decade between 2010 and 2020 where he contracted silicosis. Picture: Supplied

Nathan Donnelly, 32, was diagnosed with silicosis.

Another Victorian dad suffering silicosis, 32-year-old Nathan Donnelly, this year told news.com.au he too was hardly warned of the dangers.

He received his diagnosis after a 15-year career installing kitchen benchtops.

Sharing a series of troubling images with news.com.au of young tradies on worksites unknowingly working with the deadly products without PPE, he stated a “hazmat suit and quarantine” would be the only way to deal with the products safely.

“As soon as you remove the mask, the dust is all over your face,” he told this publication.

“I was going home at night covered in dust. It was in my car, in my clothes. I was bringing it home to my kids.”

Other industry-adjacent advocates impacted by the rise in silicosis cases joined the council’s calls for a ban.

Kathryn Townsend, a dust diseases litigation expert at Shine Lawyers, said workers shouldn’t be forced to take matters into their own hands.

“The federal government has all the evidence it needs to justify a ban on engineered stone,” she said.

“We know exposure to toxic silica dust causes silicosis and debilitating auto-immune diseases like scleroderma.

“If the federal government continues to do nothing, more workers will get sick, and their lives will be pointlessly cut short.”