Oh noo how will I tell the wife they're banning stone bench tops. Melamine will never be up to her high standards!!

I don't see the benchtops getting banned.
Dry cutting however

The ABC is always trying to shut something else Australian made. If this happens, there is no reason they won't shut surfboard manufacturers too.

The unions are saying they will ban any union member handling the stuff if the government doesn't ban manufactured stone. That stops any imports dead so expect a total ban in the not to distant future.

you lucky ****ty bastards.
Protected in your ****in little bubble cocoons and never having to see or share with someone going through the dying process from this ****ty material.

can someone give me the summary? the ABC style journalism makes the docco too painful to watch (just kidding - I ge the gist from earlier comments )

Plenty of engineered stone been used in Europe, US and other parts of the world and they seem to not have the same problem.

Let me guess....over there they know how to work w this material (wet cutting only), and their trades are a bit more intelligent than our yobbos doing this trade here.

Plenty of silica in cement powder too...raise your hand how many times you had seen a trade working w a concrete mixer using a mask? ZERO

Lets ban the cement/concrete too and build houses again with dung....

Engineered stone is made up of up to 97% silica. As a comparison, natural marble and limestone benchtops are made of about 2% silica.

The issue is the silica content, and cutting high silica content products inside a factory. Some stonemasons factories have suitable extraction systems but regardless it is still a lot riskier to health using engineered stone compared to marble.

The stonemasons working with this stuff are getting ill and dying in high numbers, that's why they want to ban it.

Select to expand quote

raynef2005 said..
Engineered stone is made up of up to 97% silica. As a comparison, natural marble and limestone benchtops are made of about 2% silica.

The issue is the silica content, and cutting high silica content products inside a factory. Some stonemasons factories have suitable extraction systems but regardless it is still a lot riskier to health using engineered stone compared to marble.

The stonemasons working with this stuff are getting ill and dying in high numbers, that's why they want to ban it.

If all manufacturers and installers had instigated wet cutting only protocols when the problem first became apparent then there would be no stamping of feet and wringing of hands. A well designed and built wet cutting system can be almost completely enclosed so no dust extraction systems required. Even onsite adjustments and holes for sinks and tapware can be done utilizing wet cutting and sullage containment.
Another example of ignoring the problem won't make it go away.

The engineered stone industry only has itself to blame, not following guidance to safely work with the product will now shut down businesses like Caesar Stone, or severely limit their operations. It's not like a stone benchtop is a necessity, there are other safer options so easy to bring in a product ban.

Select to expand quote

airsail said..
The engineered stone industry only has itself to blame, not following guidance to safely work with the product will now shut down businesses like Caesar Stone, or severely limit their operations. It's not like a stone benchtop is a necessity, there are other safer options so easy to bring in a product ban.

Shut them down? Do you have any idea of their footprint in the US market?

AU will be put in the too hard basket and left behind.

I wonder how many cases of severe illnesses / death have to happen for it to be banned. Must be a humongous number if the unions are making such drastic demands ??

My experience with unions is a bunch of people that need to keep creating a reason they exist while simultaneously failing on all fronts of the reasons they actually exist
I remember the vote to ban asbestos, it was a very small group of self important people..

Select to expand quote

psychojoe said..
My experience with unions is a bunch of people that need to keep creating a reason they exist while simultaneously failing on all fronts of the reasons they actually exist
I remember the vote to ban asbestos, it was a very small group of self important people..

I'm confused. Are you upset that a very small group of self important people banned asbestos?

www.jto.org/article/S1556-0864(23)00195-8/fulltext

I recently had a bunch of stone benches installed at my place. Whole lot of old Chinese dudes, no masks, dry cutting. Offered them some N95's, weren't interested.

to be fair the way they were chain-smoking there was very little chance of silica making it to their lungs but

Even if unions crack down on this a lot of these workers are still going to be ****ed

great podcast on the hawks nest tunnel disaster on behind the bastards, 750-2000 died of silicosis in the space of a year, worth a listen if you think regulation or oversight will do anything

Interestingly, an expert was saying on the radio that manufacturers utilising wet cut fabrication still have high numbers of affected workers.

Select to expand quote

Buster fin said..
Interestingly, an expert was saying on the radio that manufacturers utilising wet cut fabrication still have high numbers of affected workers.

"Experts"
Maybe is a retired covid expert that got made redundant and specialized in another field.

Select to expand quote

Tequila ! said..

Buster fin said..
Interestingly, an expert was saying on the radio that manufacturers utilising wet cut fabrication still have high numbers of affected workers.

"Experts"
Maybe is a retired covid expert that got made redundant and specialized in another field.

TEQUILA DONT YOU DARE TURN THIS INTO A COVID CONSPIRACY THREAD AGAIN!!

TEQUILA LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO !!
163 cases of silicosis to completely ban and shut down a huge part of industry. Yet another industry is still pushing and making billions off one that's now obviously more dangerous than silicosis

Once again details matter.
Your outdated source states 10,000 people have registered interest.
Whereas, by April this year only 3,500 people had actually registered claims for compensation .
Paid out 126 and knocked back 560.

Pretty good rate, really

Trying to find some sense of proportion to the situation.

Approximately how many people would be working with manufactured stone in Australia?
How long has it been in widespread use?

I had one installed a while back. He cringed about the Four Corners story about it.

He also said the industry is working on replacing it with some sort of glass ingredient instead ( I thought it was all made from silica ).

There is enough money in the industry for them to find a solution. And like all industries, it's better for AU to be an early adopter.

My view is that hard bench tops, tiled and wooden floors are only for the most careful, home slaves. If we had these beautiful looking features we would have lots chipped and broken items.