Australian Regulators Urge Ban on Engineered Stone
By Emerson Schwartzkopf
CANBERRA, Australia – The heads of the country’s workplace-safety bureaus will meet by the end of the year to decide the next action on engineered stone – including a possible ban.
The meeting, as yet unscheduled, follows the release last week of a report by Australia’s worksite-policy agency that recommends outlawing use of the manufactured surface.
Australia’s work health and safety (WHS) ministers agreed Oct. 27 to make the report by Safe Work Australia available to the public, and also decided to meet by year’s end to take a position on the report’s recommendations.
The report – Decision Regulation Impact Statement: Prohibition on the use of engineered stone – makes the agency’s position clear on the surface’s future in Australia.
“On the basis of evidence review, impact analysis and stakeholder feedback,” the report states, “it is recommended that WHS ministers prohibit the use of all engineered stone, and implement a licensing scheme for certain work with engineered stone previously installed.”
The agency eliminated two other options that would allow continued use of engineered stone. One option would allow the material if it contained less than 40% crystalline silica; the other would also permit surfaces with less than 40% crystalline silica, but set up licensing of businesses to fabricate it.
“A lower silica content engineered stone is not expected to result in improvements in compliance,” the report noted. “The features of the sector that have contributed to the current levels of non-compliance remain – the sector is comprised of mostly small businesses with few barriers to entry and a lower understanding of WHS obligations.
“In fact, permitting work with lower silica engineered stone may encourage even greater non-compliance with WHS laws as there may be an incorrect perception that these products are ‘safer.’”
Safe Work Australia also noted that there is no current evidence showing that lower-silica-content materials – including amorphous silica from recycled glass and feldspar – poses less risk to workers.
“Given the increased rates of silicosis diagnosis in engineered stone workers, and a lack of any evidence that a lower silica content engineered stone is safe to work with, it is not possible to support the continued use of any engineered stone products,” the report concluded.
The 107-page report detailed Safe Work Australia’s work since February, when WHS ministers directed the agency to study the impacts of a possible prohibition on engineered stone.
The report noted that since 2018, 4,743 Australian stonemasons and engineered-stone workers have been screened; approximately 11% ended up with a probable or confirmed diagnosis of silicosis due to crystalline-silica exposure.
During its research, the agency received 114 comments on the three options, with the spectrum ranging from businesses, industry groups, labor unions, health organizations, and government officials.
The largest number – 57—of the comments supported the 40%-or-less silica option, and 38 of those also supported the licensing of fabrication. Most of this group included fabrication companies, industry groups, and government.
The option to ban engineered-stone use included 29 comments, mainly from unions, health practitioners and health-related groups, and some workplace-safety professionals.
The report includes an analysis of possible costs to the government and private sector for each of the three options, as well as the current “bench top” (countertop) market in the country.
The report offered a “realistic estimation” that 1,000 businesses work with engineered stone. The AUS $600 million kitchen-countertop market in Australia last year included 4.5 million m² of material; engineered stone accounted for approximately 55% of the market, followed by laminate (29%), porcelain (5%) and granite (4%).
If the ban on engineered-stone use would take effect, Safe Work Australia estimates that 93 businesses would “exit the industry.” (Coincidentally, 93% of that total would be shops employing 10 workers or fewer.) About half of those 93 businesses would likely also stop working with the material if a license was required to use <40% silica-content engineered stone.
The Safe Work Australia report also indicated that the country might not be done assessing the impact of manufactured materials. It mentions sintered stone several times, noting the material’s inorganic ingredients.
“There is however still uncertainty as to whether the additional mechanical energy and different abrasive action required to process sintered engineered stone results in a different toxicity profile for the dust,” the report stated. “The health risks of emissions produced when processing porcelain-based benchtops (which may contain crystalline silica and feldspar) or benchtop materials free from crystalline silica will require further consideration.”
The report’s concluding sentence: “it is imperative that government and industry continue to consider and assess safety risks of new engineered stone-like products as they come to market.”
