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

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.

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.

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....

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.

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.

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 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

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 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

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?

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.