Engineered stone ban on the table, as workers and businesses weigh up the cost

I am unsure about the situation in America in relation to use of engineered stone

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-13/federal-state-ministers-to-meet-on-engineered-stone/103212480

The CFMEU (workers union) has been running ads calling for the ban on this material

 

Sounds like they’re between a rock and a hard place

 

It really - we are looking at banning this killer or we will make it so “sue” that they will have to create special factories with special equipment to cut it. It is not worth killing young people over a pretty kitchen. After all we are still making James Hardy pay for mesothelioma from Fibro

 

Why don't you just cut it outdoors and wear a mask like you're supposed to? Even the article notes its a failure to actually follow safety regs.

 

Because that is not enough apparently. We are looking at obverse 700 people affected the majority are men under 35

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12...alia-kitchen-benchtops-alternatives/103218014

 

Having been a sandblaster I know there is such things as PPE. A helmet with an influx of air devoid of silica. Also...of course... safety training. There is equipment to keep the stoneworker safe.

 

Not sure why this was not in use but is suspect it is because these were a lot of owner operator businesses doing things on the cheap. It was the subject of a government enquire through safe work Australia and that was their recommendation
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.a...er 2023, WHS,crystalline silica (silica dust).

 

Sounds over the top. No amount of safety regs are ever going to protect all the idiots. But I guess if people want cut stone to be more expensive, then OK.

Is this just for unions, or for everyone? Like, could I cut my own stone (if I lived in Aus, of course) in my backyard using whatever PPE I deem necessary, or will this require all stone cutting to be done in a sterile, padded laboratory with double shifts of safety observers after a 3 hour daily safety meeting reminder of how to not breathe the dust?

 

We are banning it altogether. Keep in mind we suffered badly with asbestos products causing asbestosis and mesothelioma we do NOT want that again

 

OK that is ridiculous.

Whats the penalty for cutting stone at home?

Is it just countertops, or concrete too?

Does drilling count as cutting?

 

This is ridiculous. There are so many things that can cause lung disease in industry. We have the much hated OSHA. They fine the heck out of business for all kinds of safety violations. If someone dies for a work related injury they are on you like white on rice.

 

Again: Your OP points out the issue is that people don't follow the safety regs and use the proper equipment.
An entire industry should not be punished because a bunch of construction workers are too stupid to follow instructions meant for their safety.

 

Sounds to me like your totalitarian government wants more control.

 

What makes no sense to me is that stone as well as engineered stone have the same health problems when cut. They both produce the fine silica dust causing silicosis.

Might a business just be doing this to get rid of the cheaper competition?

If they were banning both engineered stone AND stone, this would make sense.

 

And mining, tunneling, jackhammer use, etc also farmers lung, coal miners lung, and the other causes of "rocks in the box."

 

Rocks in the box is what Comstock miners called lung disease from mining.

 

The regs are in place and being followed (for the most part) the problem being some workers are still suffering from exposure. And it's impracticable/cost prohibitive to do it outside in urban areas where the factories are located - near the customers. Not only because the production process and cutting to measure is highly mechanized but then you'd be risking the health of people in neighboring blocks.

 

We did all of our sandblasting outdoors. The dust didn't travel that far. But they don't use sand anymore. They use Black Diamond.

 

Apparently not seems the silicosis is waaaay worse with engineered stone

 

Meh! What you have to understand is one of the essential cultural differences between our two countries.

We value life.

you want to puzzle an Aussie - dismiss preventable deaths

 

'They' can't slip one past you can they Bill . That's right the Government has a secret agenda to take control of designer kitchen industry because only then can a true one world government come to fruition.

 

Actually, it sounds like the government wants to hand more power to the trade unions.

 

Australia mate

we use the trade unions as a balance to rampant capitalitalism, sort of. See our two main parties are Liberal (conservative) and Labor and the Labor party has always been pro union and the unions actually largely fund the labor party. I paid into the union for a majority of my life knowing that a proportion of my dues went to the labor party. The liberals have always been “pro- capitalism” nd in particular are supposed to be pro small business.

https://www.alp.org.au/our-history/labor-party-history/
https://www.liberal.org.au/our-beliefs

Also having mandatory voting makes for a very very different political engine. Most people make up thier minds on the day, and often have a tendency to “layer” the political structure I,e, local is a different party to state which may be a different party to federal. Very deep belief in “evening things out”

Although we certainly do have people on one side of the fence or the other it is nowhere near as divided as America. And famously we have had more than one “landslide” election when a party has pissed us off and the majority of the country has voted them out. Conversely we have had elections so close that the government has had to negotiate with independents to form government in the first place and those independents then wield “balance of power” sort of like how the “freedom caucus” is acting at the moment.

Preferential or “ranked” voting leads to more parties, fewer elections but more parties and this is why we can end up with a few holding that precious balance of power.

 

From the OP:
"A Safe Work Australia report released in October found unsafe work practices and safety regulation failures had seen a surge in incurable lung disease among the stonemasons who cut and install it."

Emphasis mine.

You use positive pressure masks, and a wet saw just like you'd use for tile. You can also set up a vacuum tube near the cut line to whisk the dust out of the air.
These are basic safety practices that the people doing the cutting aren't doing.
Have you ever been to a construction site? Worked on one? There is what is safe and required, then there is what is done because the workers think they 'know better' or are lazy or are pushing boundaries to finish the work faster.
You don't kill an entire industry because the guys at the tip of the spear aren't following required safety practices. You enforce the required safety practices.