Over 90% of engineered stone businesses put bench top workers at risk of fatal lung disease
Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Homeowners ordering new kitchens probably don’t consider the possibility that workers could die as a result of cutting and polishing their gleaming new engineered stone bench tops.
Yet, more than 90% of 126 engineered stone fabricator businesses checked by WorkSafe over the past three years failed to properly protect workers from toxic silica dust that causes silicosis, an incurable and potentially fatal lung disease.
ACC has received 140 claims for assessment of accelerated silicosis since 2019, but it is estimated as many as 600 past and present stone masons may require health monitoring.
Pressure is growing to regulate the industry in line with moves in Australia where workplace health and safety ministers will be asked to fast-track a ban on the domestic use of silica.
**READ MORE:
* Australian ministers asked to fast-track ban on silica products
* Engineered stone bench top makers shun a safety scheme to stop workers inhaling silica deadly dust
**
To ban or regulate?
Australian unions, together with health organisations like the Cancer Council and Lung Foundation, have campaigned for a ban on imports of high silica engineered stone from 2024, and demanded a national licensing system in the interim.
New Zealand Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood has refused to be drawn on whether he would go as far as a ban, only saying he will do “whatever is required to keep people safe”.
Such is the level of interest that major Spanish-owned engineered stone manufacturer Cosentino has been actively lobbying Australian politicians over the proposed ban, and this week the company has a senior manager visiting New Zealand for discussions with regulators and industry groups.
We import about 60,000 slabs of engineered stone annually, and kitchen designers say clients focus on price and colour, and its silica content is not an issue, but those advocating for workers want consumers to consider safer alternatives.
“We have ethical clothing now that’s ethically sourced, why don’t we have that for bench tops?” asks occupational health nurse researcher Heidi Börner.
She says the fact that 117 out of 126 engineered stone fabricators copped improvement notices from WorkSafe shows efforts to bring them into line were a “complete failure” and it is time to get tough.
Just 26 operators have been fully audited under a voluntary accreditation scheme launched in 2021 to promote good basic work practices such as wet cutting, monitoring air quality and equipping workers with fit-tested PPE.
Slack standards
WorkSafe first issued a safety alert about engineered stone in late 2019 after the Australians noted an alarming rise in incurable silicosis amongst stone masons, some only in their 20s with months rather than years of exposure to fine respirable crystalline silica (RCS) particles.
WorkSafe general manager health and technical services Catherine Epps, who also co-chairs a Dust Diseases Task Force set up to advise government agencies, says the lack of compliance by fabricators is “highly concerning” given efforts to educate them.
Although no-one has have been prosecuted to date, that option will be pursued where appropriate. “The industry should consider itself on notice.”
At present anyone can import and sell engineered stone, and sheets are offered on TradeMe for as little as $80 each.
That worries industry stalwart Steve Kirk, of Christchurch’s Artisan Stone, who has invested millions in high-tech cutting machinery to substantially reduce dust exposure.
He says although WorkSafe is “more visible”, a rogue element is still out there
“The comments I get from joiners and designers about small operators bringing in their own material, not following the proper processes at all, just cutting dry out in the front the building and in a cloud of dust with paper masks on.”
Kirk is also shocked at how few workers have gone through ACC’s silicosis assessment process.
He strongly encourages all new staff members to do it, and suggests it should be a requirement if mandatory licensing of fabricators becomes a reality.
Mike Arthur shares Epps’ disappointment at the poor response from an industry he is deeply involved in as the general manager of Laminex New Zealand, Fletcher-owned supplier of engineered stone product Caesarstone.
He is also on the board of the National Kitchen and Bathroom Association, and a member of the NZ Engineered Stone Advisory Group, an industry body representing six major suppliers.
The group got legal advice on whether its members could refuse to sell to unaccredited fabricators, and was told this could be construed as cartel-like behaviour.
For similar reasons Arthur says the National Kitchen and Bathroom Association could not insist its 500 members use accredited fabricators.
The Commerce Commission confirmed that individual suppliers could, on genuine safety grounds, refuse to sell to buyers they deemed a risk. However, if they were to agree in a group who to supply to, that could raise competition concerns.
Changing the recipe
The vast majority of engineered stone sold here has silica levels topping 80%, but products with 10% or less are available.
Like other major manufacturers, Cosentino has faced legal action from stone masons claiming the company did not warn them about the dangers of silica in its products, and it has spent €3.7m (NZ$6.3m) developing engineered stone with silica levels ranging from less than 10% to about 50%.
Vice president for Cosentino Oceania Itay Shimony is keen to increase sales in New Zealand, and there have been promotional visits by the company’s brand ambassador, Australian architect and Grand Designs TV show host Peter Maddison.
Shimony is coy about exactly who he will meet with during his current visit, preferring to talk about the company’s commitment to health and safety.
He says Cosentino regularly visits the New Zealand fabricators it supplies to ensure they follow safety guidelines to the letter, and has in the past blacklisted those who don’t meet its exacting standards.
In Australia, the state of Victoria was the first to introduce a mandatory licensing system for fabrication of engineered stone products combining resin with a crystalline silica content of 40% or more.
Shimony says safety improved as a result, and he believes a ban on importing 40%-plus silica engineered stone could be done without disrupting the building industry here.
General manager of major residential kitchen maker Mastercraft Group Kevin Belz says a change of this nature would require a transition period, and he expects customer awareness of low silica products would grow as the colour range expanded
Arthur, however, believes a ban a move would be very disruptive, especially with so many flood-damaged homes requiring new kitchens and bathrooms in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle.
“And the key point here is regardless of whether the silica content is 10%, 40% or 80%, you still need to take the same precautions as a fabricator.”
Börner agrees it is a mistake to focus solely on silica because anydust tiny enough to enter deep into the lungs is problematic.
“There are other minerals that are used in the production of engineered stone … they all have different ways of affecting the body, none of them are beneficial.
“The thing to focus on is keeping the dust and people separate.”
The face of silicosis
Former stonemason Nicholas Boreham is a good example of how dusty work places can wreak havoc on workers’ lives.
Combined with asthma, a diagnosis of accelerated silicosis from cutting engineered stone in poorly ventilated Australian factories clouded in dust has seen his health steadily decline.
The Lower Hutt man in his mid-30s can't even make it around the block walking the family dog, and can only manage five or six laps car racing.
”I used to go full-on until they told me to get off the track, but now it’s far too tiring.”
Boreham also cut engineered stone in New Zealand, where he says safety standards were much higher, and he understands local workers’ reluctance to be assessed, even if they have no symptoms of the disease, which is often the case.
“It took me a long time to do it … people might think they have it, or know they have it and don’t want to face it … they’re scared.”
Boreham is grateful to have a job truck driving, and an understanding boss who knows his limits, including the need to remain well away from things like dusty sacks.
Because the genesis of his condition lay in Australia, Boreham is not eligible for ACC payments, and has spent three years in a “mentally crippling” battle for compensation to try and provide some financial security for his family.
He has so far received $850,000 in “terminal benefits” from the Queensland government, and his Brisbane lawyer Roger Singh is now suing engineered stone manufacturers and former employers on his behalf.
“I’d love it to be finished, and when it is, it will be a weight off my shoulders. It’s like I’ve got PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), you almost feel like someone who has been to war.”
Singh says a handful of his 40 or 50 silicosis compensation cases involve New Zealanders, and he says settlements run from several hundred thousand dollars into six digits.
But getting there is a long and tortuous process because of differing state laws and terminal benefit entitlements.
Singh says he has been raising hell about the dangers of engineered stone since 2018, and he does not regard mandatory licensing as anything more than a “band-aid” until an outright ban is enforced.
With several clients on double lung transplant lists, he says it is time for politicians to stop talking and start doing.
“I dread to think how many lives have been destroyed pending ongoing debate, deliberations and investigations … it’s a nonsense.”
Singh also hopes consumers will play their part by considering the long term impact of their choice of bench top.
“I’d like to think that most individuals with a sense of humanity, if they are aware that a product they are purchasing is basically killing those on the front line, conscience should come into play.”