Deadly benchtops allegedly sold to Victorian businesses
An Aussie company founded on “honesty and integrity” has been charged with supplying deadly engineered stone throughout Victoria. See the list of suburbs.
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A designer bathroom wholesaler supplied stone benchtops – banned for their deadly health risks to workers – to more than 20 Victorian traders, authorities allege.
Australian company Fienza is facing a fine of up to $2.17 million after becoming the first company charged by WorkSafe under Victoria’s new laws banning engineered stone.
The silica dust generated when working on such stone has been linked to hundreds of cases of the incurable lung disease silicosis, prompting a ban on any new production or manufacturing of the material.
But the regulator alleges Fienza allowed or directed a worker to cut holes in the banned benchtops at its Epping warehouse in July last year, after the new laws came into effect.
The company is also facing 21 charges – on top of the Epping warehouse incident charge – for allegedly supplying the banned material to traders in more than a dozen suburbs across Victoria.
The traders were located in Eppings, Bairnsdale, Narre Warren, Mitcham, Bendigo, Warrnambool, Boronia, Warragul, Hastings, Belmont, Lakes Entrance, Richmond, Hamilton, Hoppers Crossing and Ravenhall.
Each charge carries a penalty of up to $98,795, leaving Fienza facing a maximum possible fine of more than $2m if convicted on all 22 counts.
The company describes itself online as a supplier of “beautiful quality bathware” that is “founded upon the biblical principles of honesty, integrity, commitment to excellence and commitment to people – our staff, our customers and our suppliers”.
The manufacture, supply, processing or installation of engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs was banned on July 1 last year, after hundreds of industry workers developed serious and sometimes fatal complications.
WorkSafe has seized 81 stone samples and referred five breaches for investigation since the new laws came into effect.
The latest figures, which measure up until April 30, show they have also issued 130 improvement notices, and conducted more than 400 inspections, in this time.
WorkSafe has received more than 700 claims – including 21 deaths – for silicosis, an incurable, sometimes fatal condition, or another silica related disease since 2018.
Fienza has been scheduled to appear in the Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court next month.
Originally published as Deadly benchtops allegedly sold to Victorian businesses
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