The largest and most comprehensive study to date of workers in the stone benchtop industry has found an “alarmingly high” prevalence of silicosis and that the mandated screening tests are failing to diagnose those with the disease, meaning that current estimates of the incidence of silicosis are likely wide of the mark.
The Monash University led study found that more than one quarter of people who had worked with artificial stone benchtops developed the preventable and potentially deadly disease, silicosis.
Because of the rising rates of silicosis, all state and territories are currently working with the federal government to investigate the feasibility of banning or licensing artificial stone, which can contain up to 95 per cent silica, and is widely used to make kitchen and bathroom benchtops.The first Australian case of silicosis associated with artificial (engineered or reconstituted) stone in the benchtop fabrication industry was reported in 2015. By last year 579 cases were identified in Australia and there have been increasingly frequent reports of silicosis in the stone benchtop industry internationally.
https://www.monash.edu/medicine/news/latest/2023-articles/worlds-most-comprehensive-study-of-stone-benchtop-workers-reveals-an-alarming-high-prevalance-of-silicosis