Scope of benchtop ban under review to guard against loopholes

The scope of a nationwide ban on engineered stone is being reviewed to guard against manufacturers finding loopholes as they switch to other products also containing potentially harmful crystalline silica.

Safe Work Australia, whose report on the dangers of engineered stone last year spurred ministers to prohibit its use, supply and manufacture, has been charged with drawing up the regulations to be adopted after a national meeting in March.

Engineered stone, widely used in kitchen benchtops, can cause silicosis.Credit: Eddie Jim

Engineered stone slabs contain up to 95 per cent crystalline silica, which can cause irreversible lung conditions such as silicosis when the dust produced by cutting it is inhaled.

Experts say the way the product is bonded with resins and other chemicals, then later fabricated for installation in homes, more often by less skilled workers, makes it riskier than other stone products containing silica.

State and federal ministers agreed in December to define engineered stone as containing crystalline silica, having been created by combining natural stone with other chemicals, and being hardened. They excluded a range of products including porcelain, concrete and cement, and those containing less than 1 per cent crystalline silica.

A Safe Work spokesperson said the watchdog was drafting regulatory changes based on the agreed definition, which would include frameworks for exempting products where evidence demonstrated they could be safely used.

They said the refined definition was expected to be agreed in March.

“Safe Work Australia is unable to provide further information on what is in or out of scope of the prohibition until WHS [work health and safety] ministers have agreed the amendments to the model WHS regulations,” the spokesperson said.

Zach Smith, the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union national secretary, who led a campaign to ban the product commonly used in kitchen benchtops, said the ultimate definition “must not allow for workarounds”.

“The success of the union’s campaign should be a warning to any manufacturer looking for loopholes that we won’t take a backwards step when it comes to workers’ lives,” Smith said.

Dr Graeme Edwards, a member of the former dust diseases taskforce who helped raise the alarm on a rise in silicosis cases among stonemasons working with engineered stone in 2018, said the current definition was insufficient.

“It basically relies on a whole lot of exclusions that create complexity and challenges which only time will reveal,” he said.

“Having a ban on one product and not another means that those products that are similar but sufficiently different to be excluded by the definition of engineered stone ... will get through the cracks in the system and, unless handled in a safe manner, can cause harm.”

Manufacturers have already begun promoting benchtop alternatives such as porcelain, which can contain up to 25 per cent crystalline silica.

A spokesperson for manufacturer Cosentino said the definition of engineered stone benchtops “must only capture the products ministers intended, specifically high-silica content and high-risk products, and not overreach to commonly used products like porcelain benchtops”. The spokesperson said such products “are different to engineered stone because they have no resins, contain inorganic materials and have an average of 5 to 6 per cent silica content, significantly lower than engineered stone”.

Master Builders Australia chief executive Denita Wawn said ministers needed to consider the impact and implementation of any changes before they came into effect.

“Consideration must factor in contractual obligations, the availability of alternative products, impacts on businesses that have existing engineered stone in stock [and] getting the definition of engineered stone right so as to not capture other substitute products unintentionally,” she said.

NSW Work Health and Safety Minister Sophie Cotsis said the NSW government awaited Safe Work’s findings “and look forward to discussing the details in March”.

The Victorian government was contacted for comment.

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