X-rays show the effects of silicosis on victims’ lungs.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
How big is the problem?
There is no centralised registry for silicosis cases in Australia,so it is difficult to know how widespread the problem is. Carey co-authoredresearch released by Curtin University in 2022 that estimated 584,000 people had been exposed to crystalline silica in 2016. She believes this is an underestimate.
“It was a really simple estimate of how many stonemasons we thought there’d be,based on past research,but we didn’t include people like tunnellers who we know are exposed to silica,” she says. “Pretty much anyone who works in mining or construction,they’re going to be exposed in some way.”
Workers in the stone benchtop industry in Queensland have been regularly screened for silicosis since 2019. Of the 1054 workers monitored so far,204 have silicosis – a rate of one in five.
In NSW,the Dust Disease Register shows that10 people died,and 64 people were diagnosed with silicosis in the 12 months to June 2022.
The federal government set up a National Dust Disease Taskforce in 2019 after the death of a 36-year-old stonemason in Queensland. The taskforce (consisting of 10 members including Ryan Hoy)published its final report in June 2021,recommending urgent reforms for the prevention and treatment of silicosis.
It said that if the recommended measures did not improve regulatory compliance rates by 2024 then “immediate action must be taken to ban the product”.
Governments and industry overseas are starting to grapple with silicosis in the worst-offending industries. The Indian government,for example,has acompensation scheme dedicated to paying social security benefits to the families of stone quarry workers who die with silicosis.
And workers have sought redress. In 2019,South African gold miners who contracted the disease won alandmark $US332-million class action settlement.
In February,the owner of Spanish kitchen benchtop manufacturer Cosentino accepted a six-month suspended prison sentence for five counts of serious injury due to gross negligence. He also agreed to pay 1.1 million euros ($1.7 million) in compensation to five stonemasons who had sued him for failing to warn of the risk of silicosis linked to cutting and polishing counter-tops manufactured by the company.
Is silica really the new asbestos?
Hoy doesn’t like the reference to silica being the new asbestos for two reasons. First,there is nothing new about silicosis. Secondly,while silicosis and asbestosis share some similarities,inhaling asbestos can also cause mesothelioma — a cancer affecting the mesothelial cells,which cover most internal organs. The dose of exposure causing mesothelioma is far lower than the dose of silica causing lung cancer. “This is why asbestos that is degrading in buildings around Australia is a far bigger problem than silica in place in building materials such as the benchtop in my kitchen,” he says.
Unless you decide to take an angle grinder to your sleek kitchen bench,the undisturbed silica inside will remain harmless,and doesn’t pose the same disposal problems as asbestos. Even so,Carey says she often encourages people to reconsider their use of artificial stone in the kitchen because of the harm it can cause to workers handling the product.
“There are alternatives – we can go back to laminate or natural stone,or wood. We don’t have to be using engineered stone.”
Caesarstone,a major manufacturer of artificial stone,says its products come with clear warning labels for use and that regulators – not manufacturers – are responsible for ensuring workplace health and safety measures are followed.
“Almost all substitute materials – except wood – and all stone encountered in construction and tunnelling contain some level of silica,which means they must be handled with exactly the same safety procedures and equipment as engineered stone.”
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