Total ban on killer kitchen-worktop stone ‘under consideration’

Safety bosses will keep an outright ban on a kitchen worktop stone blamed for rising cases of deadly lung disease silicosis under consideration, following a crackdown on the unsafe cutting of the material.

Last week, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) unveiled its first regulatory guidance specifically for quartz – also known as engineered stone – to stop “dry cutting”, which exposes workers to deadly dust.

The new guidance tells firms that water-suppression tools to dampen lung-shredding dust are a legal requirement, with HSE now carrying out 1,000 inspections across Britain to ensure the rules are being followed.

Currently, the HSE believes that, rather than an Australia-style ban on quartz, the most “effective and proportionate” approach is to ensure safe cutting practices are enforced.

But speaking at a trade exhibition in London, Mike Calcutt, a deputy director at HSE, did not rule out a future ban.

“Australia famously banned engineered stone, and I think we just need to really think about what that means and how that’s put into practice,” he said.

“We’ve decided that that’s not the right thing to do right now. But we will keep a ban open for consideration, especially as we go through what we’re planning now.

“But right now that’s not the right thing. That’s because we think we can take the action, with your cooperation, that needs to be taken to get this problem under control.”

He described rising cases of silicosis among younger quartz stonemasons, many in their 20s and 30s, as “unacceptable”.

The HSE has found that dry cutting exposes workers to lethal silica dust – known as respirable crystalline silica (RCS) – at levels five to 10 times higher than wet cutting.

Regulations – Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) – are already in place governing workplace exposure to harmful substances such as RCS dust.

But HSE’s new guidance is the first under COSHH specifically for engineered stone.

“What it means is there’s going to be no more dry cutting,” said Calcutt of HSE’s new guidance, describing ending the practice as “non-negotiable”.

Unions demand quartz is banned

Unite, the UK’s lead union, described the new HSE guidance on safer working with engineered stone as “inadequate”.

Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said: “The UK needs to follow Australia’s example and ban this deadly material outright.”

Sian Elliot, director of organising at the Trades Union Congress, said every time workers cut engineered stone, “they put their lives at risk”.

“Steps to strengthen protections and reduce exposure are welcome, but the most effective way to prevent deaths and diseases is to remove the hazard altogether,” she said.

“Britain should follow Australia’s lead, where the supply and cutting of engineered stone has been banned. This decision could save lives – that’s why the TUC has raised this directly with government and the Health and Safety Executive.”

She also called for any action to be backed by robust enforcement.

“That means properly funding the Health and Safety Executive, so it has the capacity to clamp down on employers who continue to expose workers to lethal risks,” she said.

HSE is also telling firms to switch to engineered stone with a low silica content, provide appropriate respiratory protective equipment (RPE) and ensure health surveillance of their workforce.

Sir Stephen Timms, Minister for Social Security and Disability, said in a recorded message for exhibition: “We’ve not decided to ban engineered stone. Science makes it clear that it is not needed to protect workers.

“Removing engineered stone from the market would be very difficult in practice, and would, in any case, not move the risk.”

The way to protect workers was to cut exposure to the dust, he said, which was “entirely achievable”.

Businesses now had “clear, unambiguous instructions on what the law requires” and the controls needed to protect workers – wet processing, mist suppression, respiratory and protective equipment and health surveillance, Timms said.

“These are not optional – they are legal requirements.”

Ryan Fenton, 50, who is one of dozens of UK workers diagnosed with silicosis after cutting quartz worktops, has said an Australia-style ban is the only way to stop more people developing the deadly condition.

He told The i Paper this week: “You can have all the water-fed tools in the world. You can have all the dust extractors, all the masks, all the PPE, all the best stuff. There’s still going to be dust in the air and on your clothes.

“Just ban it. Find an alternative.”