The Royal Australasian College of Physicians is calling on the Government to follow Australia’s lead in banning engineered stone, over its links to the incurable lung disease silicosis .
A spokesperson says inhaling even small amounts of the dust, has been linked with silicosis and other conditions including cancer and heart disease.
This is the problem though ,it would take a book to cover all the practical difficulties on how to safely handle any hazardous material on site.
There are fabrication shops these days where humans play no part in the manufacturing process apart from the programming of the machines and pushing a button ,all the cutting is carried out using various methods in sealed units .(Although these yards produce their own serious environmental issues )
What computerised machines in sealed units can not do though is take the prefabricated piece of whatever and install it into it’s intended home ,you need Homo sapiens for this purpose and unfortunately this is where dust becomes airborne.
And that is just on new build or installation projects ,once you enter into the big outside world of restoration,renovation,alterations,conservation, demolition,tunneling,mining,crushing ,hydraulic fracturing …etc etc ,you enter a world where dust has to be created no matter how you handle whatever material has to be removed or altered.
There are thousands of expensive dust reducing safety products out there everything from surfactants to vacuums,not all are practical and none are 100% efficient.
The answer is making sure the workforce is aware of the dangers through training and education,regular health monitoring, and it would also be beneficial to have a functioning safety regulator!