Secret report warns there is no safe level for killer stone

Australia’s workplace safety watchdog is warning that no level of silica is safe for tradies in engineered stone products used to make kitchen benchtops, as NSW Premier Chris Minns flagged the state was prepared to go it alone on an all-out ban.

Leaked excerpts of a confidential report call for a blanket ban on engineered stone as there is no evidence lower levels of cancer-causing crystalline silica will be any safer for stonemasons cutting the popular stone slabs, and such levels could even give them a false sense of security.

Unionists outside Parliament House in Sydney on Thursday demand a ban on engineered stone.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Minns said he had not read the Safe Work Australia report commissioned by state and federal workplace ministers in February but had been briefed on its key recommendation, indicating his government would be prepared to lead the way on a ban if a national meeting of workplace ministers in Canberra on Friday was unable to reach consensus.

“Major changes are coming,” Minns said on Thursday. “I want to see the national report, and then we’ll have more to say if we can’t get a national agreement.

“It’s always better to do it via a national agreement primarily because that engineered stone is generally imported into the country, and if there’s difference between the jurisdictions, particularly on the borders, that could be a problem,” he said.

In the lead-up to the ministerial meeting, hundreds of Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union members rallied outside NSW Parliament on Thursday to warn that a failure to bring in a complete ban would leave blood on politicians’ hands.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has indicated the state could go it alone on a ban.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Ministers have had the report since August but have refused to discuss its contents ahead of Friday’s meeting, when they will vote on releasing it.

South Australian Industrial Relations Minister Kyam Maher said that “if decisive national action is not taken on the issue of engineered stone by the end of the year, we reserve our right to pursue a ban at a state level if it is supported by the evidence”.

Federal Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke’s office declined to comment before the meeting. Comment has been sought from other states.

Dubbed “the new asbestos” by Burke, engineered stone can contain up to 95 per cent crystalline silica and is responsible for a surge in irreversible lung disease in stonemasons and other tradespeople.

Workplace exposure to silica dust can lead to debilitating, irreversible lung conditions.Credit: Steven Siewert

An investigation by this masthead and 60 Minutes earlier this year revealed a growing number of workers were battling the debilitating symptoms of the lung disease silicosis while state-based regulators failed to effectively police workplaces to guard against the dangers associated with inhaling crystalline silica dust.

The Safe Work report says “it is tolerably clear” that, historically, there has been insufficient compliance in the industry for the level of risk involved.

The report’s authors have rejected the claim that any form of engineered stone could be safe to handle, finding that manufacturers have not scientifically established that “these products are without risks to the health and safety of workers and others in the workplace”.

“There is no toxicological evidence of a ‘safe’ threshold of crystalline silica content, or that the other components of lower-silica engineered stone products (e.g. amorphous silica including recycled glass, feldspar) do not pose additional risks to worker health.”

The Safe Work report presents several options, including banning engineered stone containing more than 40 per cent crystalline silica, and licensing businesses to ensure safe handling of products with less than 40 per cent silica. However, it ultimately recommends a complete ban.

Its authors warn that permitting reduced silica content would not improve safety compliance.

“The features of the sector that have contributed to the current levels of non-compliance remain. In fact, permitting work with lower-silica engineered stone may encourage even greater non-compliance with WHS [work health and safety] laws as there may be an incorrect perception that these products are ‘safer’,” it says.

Two key manufacturers are lobbying the federal government about the threshold that should be imposed for the amount of crystalline silica in engineered stone products.

Caesarstone wants a ban on manufactured stone with a crystalline silica concentration above 40 per cent, while Cosentino says a 10 per cent threshold could be achieved.

Unions and health experts say there is no safe level.

Occupational hygienist Kate Cole, who has repeatedly warned of the risks of silica dust, said politicians must now prohibit the import and use of engineered stone.

“I can’t see how we can’t now ban it as a nation,” she said.

Hundreds of tradies, draped in flags and clad in high-vis clothing blocked off Macquarie Street in central Sydney on Thursday morning, chanting “killer stone”.

CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith said: “The fact we’re still arguing for this, the fact that we have to do this, the fact that we have to hit the streets is a disgrace in itself. It’s a moral failure.”

Controversial CFMEU leader John Setka addressed the crowd, and called for the immediate ban of silica engineered stone. “We will keep going until this death stone is banned. Politicians, if they fail to ban this, they will have blood on their hands,” he said.

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