Managing the risks of respirable crystalline silica from engineered stone in the workplace
Managing the risks of respirable crystalline silica from engineered stone in the workplace
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This Code of Practice (the Code) provides practical information on how to manage health and safety risks associated with respirable crystalline silica from engineered stone in your workplace.
Guidance Resources
Silica dust control plan template
- English (PDF, 554.49 KB)
- Arabic (PDF, 516.18 KB)
- Simplified Chinese (PDF, 383.74 KB)
- Vietnamese (PDF, 295.04 KB)
Working with engineered stone checklist
Chapters
- Introduction
- Role of designers, manufacturers, importers and suppliers
- Specific duties for working with engineered stone
- How to manage and control the risks from working with engineered stone
- Maintaining and reviewing control measures
- Clean-up and disposal of silica dust
- Post-installation
- Appendix A - Glossary
- Appendix B - Silica dust control plan template
1. Introduction
Working with engineered stone can expose workers, and other persons, to the risks of respirable crystalline silica (silica dust). Exposure to silica dust can have serious health effects, including fatal lung disease.
On this page
- 1.1. What is engineered stone?
- 1.2. What is respirable crystalline silica?
- 1.3. Health effects of silica dust
- 1.4. Who has health and safety duties in relation to working with engineered stone?
- 1.5. Other relevant duties
- 1.6. Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS)
1.1. What is engineered stone?
For the purpose of this Code, engineered stone1 is an artificial product that:
- is created by combining and heat curing natural stone materials that contain crystalline silica (such as quartz or stone aggregate) with chemical constituents (such as water, resins or pigments), and
- can be manipulated through mechanical processes to manufacture other products (such as kitchen benchtops).
Engineered stone does not include natural stone that has not been combined with other products or heat cured (for example granite and quartz in their natural state).
Engineered stone is also known as composite stone, manufactured stone, artificial stone, reconstituted stone or quartz conglomerate. The crystalline silica content in engineered stone varies widely but it can contain greater than 90 per cent crystalline silica, which is significantly greater than that found in natural stones.
Table 1 outlines the variation in silica content that can exist in different types of stone.
Type | Amount of silica (%) |
Marble | 2 |
Limestone | 2 |
Slate | 20 to 40 |
Shale | 22 |
Granite | 20 to 45 (typically 30) |
Natural sandstone | 70 to 95 |
Engineered stone | up to 97 |
For the purposes of this Code, the term engineered stone covers the entire product lifecycle, including:
- design and manufacture
- supply to a workplace for fabrication
- fabrication
- installation, and
- post-installation (maintenance, remodelling and removal).
1 Engineered stone does not include concrete, concrete products, cement products, fibre cement, bricks, blocks, pavers, autoclaved aerated concrete, roof tiles, wall and floor tiles that are ceramic or porcelain, grout, mortar, render and plasterboard.
1.2. What is respirable crystalline silica?
Crystalline silica is the crystalline form of silicon dioxide, a naturally occurring mineral that forms a major component of most rocks. It is found in natural stones like granite and sandstone and is used to create artificial products like engineered stone and tiles.
When dust is created through natural or artificial means it comes in a range of sizes, from very small (less than 10 micrometres [µm] in diameter) to larger particles that can be seen with the naked eye. Dust that is less than 10 µm in diameter (Figure 1) is known as respirable dust as, when inhaled, it travels deep into the lungs.
Figure 1: Dust particle sizes (original image from Mining and Quarrying Occupational Health and Safety Committee).
In its solid form, such as the slab supplied to a workplace for fabrication, engineered stone does not have hazardous properties; it is the dust that is generated from engineered stone that has the potential to cause harm when it is breathed in.
The fabrication stage involves using mechanical processes such as cutting, grinding, trimming, drilling, sanding and polishing of the engineered stone to create a specific product ready to be supplied for installation. For example, creating a kitchen benchtop to size and cutting holes for positioning a sink and tap.
Once the fabricated engineered stone product is installed, further mechanical processes may be required, for example, minor cutting to enable a custom fit, or for maintenance purposes.
Cutting, grinding, trimming, drilling, sanding and polishing engineered stone products generates respirable dust containing crystalline silica (silica dust). When breathed in over time, silica dust can cause fatal lung disease. The risks are much greater where the engineered stone contains high levels of crystalline silica.
Workers fabricating, processing, installing, maintaining or removing engineered stone products without appropriate control measures in place may be exposed to high levels of silica dust (for example through dust or mist clouds). Workers can also be exposed to silica dust from poor housekeeping methods that disturb accumulated dust, including dry sweeping, using compressed air or high-pressure water cleaners and general-purpose vacuum cleaners not designed for use with hazardous dusts.
1.3. Health effects of silica dust
Silica dust is a significant health hazard for workers. Very small particles of silica dust cannot be seen under normal lighting or with the naked eye and stay airborne for long periods of time. When airborne, workers can easily inhale the small silica dust particles deep into their lungs where it can lead to a range of respiratory diseases, including:
- silicosis
- progressive massive fibrosis
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- chronic bronchitis, and
- lung cancer.
Silica dust also increases the risk of developing chronic kidney disease, autoimmune disorders (such as scleroderma and systemic lupus erythematosus) and other adverse health effects, including an increased risk of activating latent tuberculosis, eye irritation and eye damage.
Silicosis
Silicosis is a serious, irreversible lung disease that causes permanent disability and can be fatal. Silica dust can be breathed deep into the lungs and, when silica dust comes into prolonged contact with the lung tissue, it causes inflammation and scarring and reduces the lungs’ ability to take in oxygen. Silicosis may continue to progress even after a worker is removed from exposure to silica dust. As the disease progresses, a worker may experience shortness of breath, a severe cough or general weakness. There are three types of silicosis (Table 2).
Table 2. Types of silicosis.
Silicosis type | Exposure type | Respiratory impact of exposure |
Acute | Can develop after short-term and very high levels of silica dust (for example less than one year, and after a few weeks). | Causes severe inflammation and protein in the lung. |
Accelerated | Results from short term exposure to large amounts of silica dust (1 to 10 years of exposure). | Causes inflammation, and protein and scarring in the lung (fibrotic nodules). |
Chronic | Results from long term exposure (over 10 years of exposure) to low levels of silica dust. | Causes scarring of the lung and shortness of breath. |
Damage to the lungs from silica dust and symptoms of disease (such as lung cancer, silicosis and progressive massive fibrosis) may not appear for many years. Workers may not show any symptoms, even at the point of initial diagnosis, which is why prevention and health monitoring are critical. Health monitoring requirements for workers who work with engineered stone are detailed in Part 3.3 of this Code.
There is no cure for silicosis. However, all silica dust-related diseases are preventable through using effective controls throughout the lifecycle of the product to eliminate or minimise exposure to silica dust at the workplace.
1.4. Who has health and safety duties in relation to working with engineered stone?
Duty holders with a role in managing the risks of silica dust when working with engineered stone include:
- persons conducting businesses or undertakings (PCBUs)
- officers
- designers, manufacturers, importers, suppliers
- workers, and
- other persons in the workplace.
A person can have more than one duty and more than one person can have the same duty at the same time.
Person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU)
- WHS Act section 19 - Primary duty of care
When working with engineered stone, a PCBU must eliminate risks arising from exposure to silica dust or, if that is not reasonably practicable, minimise the risks so far as is reasonably practicable to workers and other persons at their workplace.
The WHS Regulation includes specific requirements for a PCBU to manage the risks associated with hazardous chemicals, including air monitoring and health monitoring (see Part 3 of this Code).
- Respirable crystalline silica is classified as a hazardous chemical according to the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) and has a workplace exposure standard.
More information about the classification of respirable crystalline silica can be found in the Hazardous Chemicals Information System (HCIS) on Safe Work Australia’s website.
Further duties of persons conducting businesses or undertakings
- WHS Act section 20 - Duty of persons conducting businesses or undertakings involving management or control of workplaces
The person with management or control of a workplace must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the workplace, the means of entering and exiting the workplace and anything arising from the workplace are without risks to the health and safety of any person.
- WHS Act section 21 - Duty of persons conducting businesses or undertakings involving management or control of fixtures, fittings or plant at workplaces
The person with management or control of fixtures, fittings or plant at a workplace, must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the fixtures, fittings and plant are without risks to the health and safety of any person.
Officers
- WHS Act section 27 - Duty of officers
Officers, for example company directors, have a duty to exercise due diligence to ensure the PCBU complies with the WHS Act and WHS Regulation. This includes taking reasonable steps to ensure that the PCBU has and uses appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks that arise from working with engineered stone; namely exposure to silica dust. More information on who is an officer and their duties is in the Interpretive Guideline: The health and safety duty of an officer under section 27 on Safe Work Australia’s website.
Designers, manufacturers, importers and suppliers of plant, substances or structures
- WHS Act Part 2 Division 3 - Further duties of persons conducting businesses or undertakings
- WHS Act section 22 - Duties of persons conducting businesses or undertakings that design plant, substances or structures
- WHS Act section 23 - Duties of persons conducting businesses or undertakings that manufacture plant, substances or structures
- WHS Act section 24 - Duties of persons conducting businesses or undertakings that import plant, substances or structures
- WHS Act section 25 - Duties of persons conducting businesses or undertakings that supply plant, substances or structures
Designers, manufacturers, importers and suppliers of engineered stone used at the workplace must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the engineered stone they design, manufacture, import or supply is without risks to health and safety.
More information specifically for designers, manufacturers, importers and suppliers is in Part 2 of this Code.
Workers
- WHS Act section 28 - Duties of workers
As defined in the WHS Act, workers include employees, contractors and subcontractors and their employees, labour hire workers, outworkers, apprentices, trainees, work experience students and volunteers. Workers have a duty to take reasonable care for their own health and safety and they must take reasonable care that their acts or omissions do not adversely affect the health and safety of other persons. Workers must:
- comply with reasonable instructions, as far as they are reasonably able, and
- cooperate with reasonable health and safety policies that have been notified to workers, including health monitoring, if they have been told about it beforehand.
Other persons in the workplace
- WHS Act section 29 - Duties of other persons at the workplace
Other persons at the workplace, like visitors, must take reasonable care for their own health and safety and must take care not to adversely affect other people’s health and safety. They must comply, so far as they are reasonably able, with reasonable instructions given by the PCBU to allow that person to comply with the WHS Act. For example, if engineered stone is being installed at a customer’s home by a PCBU, that home becomes a workplace. The homeowner and other people who enter the home while it is a workplace are other persons for the purposes of the WHS Act.
1.5. Other relevant duties
Consultation
- WHS Act section 47 - Duty to consult workers
- WHS Act section 48 - Nature of consultation
A PCBU must consult, so far as is reasonably practicable, with workers who carry out work for the business or undertaking and the HSR (if any), who are (or are likely to be) directly affected by a work health and safety matter. Worker input and participation improves decision-making about health and safety matters and assists in reducing work-related injuries and disease.
Workers are entitled to be represented in consultations by a HSR who has been elected to represent their work group.
Workers who work with engineered stone and the HSR (if any) must be consulted on health and safety matters, including, but not limited to:
- identifying the tasks and processes that may result in exposure to silica dust
- developing a silica dust control plan
- making changes to processes or procedures that generate silica dust
- making changes to controls to protect workers from silica dust
- proposing changes that may affect worker health and safety
- for example, positioning of work spaces, non-fabrication areas and ventilation systems
- monitoring the health of workers exposed to silica dust, including deciding on the medical practitioner to carry out health monitoring
- monitoring the conditions at the workplace
- resolving health and safety issues, and
- providing information and training for workers.
When discussing health and safety matters with workers, workers must be provided with reasonable opportunity to express views before any decisions are made.
Consulting, cooperating and coordinating activities with other duty holders
- WHS Act section 46 - Duty to consult with other duty holders
A PCBU must consult, cooperate and coordinate activities with all other persons who have a work health or safety duty in relation to the same matter, so far as is reasonably practicable.
Where there is more than one PCBU involved in work being carried out at the same location, each duty holder should exchange information to find out who is doing what task and work together in a cooperative and coordinated way, so risks are eliminated or minimised so far as is reasonably practicable.
An example of when multiple duty holders may need to consult, cooperate and coordinate is during installation of an engineered stone kitchen bench top in a home. During the installation, multiple PCBUs may carry out activities on the same site, such as electricians, plumbers, or cabinetmakers. They each have a duty to protect the health and safety of workers and other persons at the workplace and must therefore consult, cooperate and coordinate activities to ensure each person is made aware of what the others are doing, to identify the hazards and risks and decide who is best placed to take action to control the risks.
Duty holders’ work activities may overlap and interact at times. When they share a duty, for example a duty in relation to the health and safety of the same worker or workers, or are involved in the same work, they will be required to consult, cooperate and coordinate activities with each other so far as is reasonably practicable.
See the Code of Practice: Work health and safety consultation, cooperation and coordination for guidance on consultation.
Providing information, training, instruction and supervision
- WHS Act section 19 - Primary duty of care
- WHS Regulation clause 39 - Provision of information, training and instruction
The WHS Act requires that a PCBU ensures, so far as is reasonably practicable, the provision of any information, training, instruction and supervision that is necessary to protect all persons from risks to their health and safety arising from work with engineered stone that is carried out as part of the conduct of the business or undertaking.
A PCBU must ensure that information, training and instruction provided to a worker are suitable and adequate and have regard to:
- the nature of the work carried out by the worker
- the nature of the risks associated with the work at the time the information, training and instruction is provided, and
- the control measures implemented.
A PCBU must also ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that information, training and instruction are provided in a way that is readily understandable by any person to whom it is provided. A PCBU should consider any special requirements of the workers, for example, information, training and instruction may need to be provided in a language other than English. Other considerations include the specific skills or experience, disability, literacy or age of the worker.
Workers must be trained and have the appropriate skills to carry out tasks safely. Training should be provided to workers by a competent person. A competent person is a person who has acquired through training, qualification or experience the knowledge and skills to carry out the task.
A PCBU should obtain any information related to the health hazards of engineered stone and any instructions on safe work practices available from the suppliers of engineered stone for use in instruction and training activities.
Training should be practical, and where relevant, include hands-on sessions, for example:
- correctly setting up local exhaust ventilation (LEV), or
- demonstrating to workers how to safely use tools, such as angle grinders, when working with engineered stone.
Information, training and instruction provided to workers who carry out work with engineered stone must include the proper use, wearing, storage and maintenance of personal protective equipment (PPE), and should also include information about, but not limited to:
- the risk management process
- the information provided by the manufacturer or supplier about the type of engineered stone being used in the workplace
- the hazards and risks associated with exposure to silica dust
- the work practices and procedures that must be followed when working with engineered stone
- the control measures implemented, including information on the correct use and maintenance of the controls, working off-site (for example, engineered stone installation), waste collection and disposal
- emergency procedures, including any special decontamination procedures
- first aid and incident reporting procedures in case of injury or illness
- the purpose and results of air monitoring, and
- any health monitoring that may be required.
A PCBU should review training regularly, particularly if there has been a change to the way in which work is performed, or a request is made by the HSR. For example:
- when there is a change to work processes, plant or equipment
- when there is an incident, and
- if new control measures are implemented.
1.6. Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS)
- WHS Regulation Part 6.3 Division 2 - High risk construction work – safe work method statements
High risk construction work
‘Construction work’ is defined in the WHS Regulation as any work carried out in connection with the construction, alteration, conversion, fitting-out, commissioning, renovation, repair, maintenance, refurbishment, demolition, decommissioning or dismantling of a structure.
Clause 291 of the WHS Regulation sets out a list of construction work that is high risk for the purposes of the Regulations, and for which a safe work method statement (SWMS) is required. This includes work ‘carried out in an area that may have a contaminated or flammable atmosphere’.
The on-site installation of engineered stone is considered high risk construction work if the processes used to install, modify or repair the engineered stone such as, cutting, grinding, trimming, drilling, sanding, or polishing generate silica dust and contaminate the work area.
A SWMS must be prepared before carrying out any on-site installation of engineered stone that involves any processing, modification or repair of the engineered stone that may generate silica dust.
A SWMS is required because it helps a PCBU clearly communicate to all workers at the construction site any health and safety risks and how they will be managed. A SWMS is not required for work undertaken during fabrication of the engineered stone at a workshop.
Who is responsible for preparing a SWMS?
A PCBU must prepare a SWMS, or ensure a SWMS has been prepared, before installation of the engineered stone starts. The person responsible for carrying out the on-site installation of the engineered stone is often best placed to prepare the SWMS in consultation with workers who will be directly engaged in the installation of the engineered stone and HSRs, if any.
If more than one PCBU has the duty to ensure a SWMS is or has been prepared, they must consult and cooperate with each other to coordinate who will be responsible for preparing it.
There may be situations when different types of high-risk construction work occur at the same time at the same workplace. In this situation, one SWMS may be prepared to cover any high-risk construction work activities being carried out at the workplace.
Alternatively, a separate SWMS can be prepared for each type of high-risk construction work. If separate SWMS are prepared, consider how the different types of work activities may impact on each other and whether this may lead to inconsistencies between control measures.
The on-site installation of engineered stone will often be carried out in connection with a construction project. In this instance, the SWMS must consider the WHS management plan prepared by the principal contractor of the construction project.
A PCBU must provide the principal contractor with a copy of the SWMS before high risk construction work starts. If not made available, the principal contractor would need to take reasonable steps to obtain a copy of the SWMS before construction work commences.
More information on multiple and shared duties can be found in the Code of Practice: Construction work.
What should a SWMS include?
The content of a SWMS should provide clear direction on the control measures to be implemented. There should be no statements that require a decision to be made by supervisors or workers. For example, the statement ‘use appropriate PPE’ does not detail the control measures. The control measures should be clearly specified.
The SWMS must be accessible and understandable to any individual who needs to use it. It is important that those who need to carry out work in accordance with the SWMS understand the detail of the SWMS and what they are required to do to implement and maintain risk controls. For example, it should consider the literacy needs and the cultural or linguistically diverse backgrounds of the workers.
A SWMS must include the following information:
- identify the high-risk construction work activities to be carried out on-site
- the hazards and risks to health and safety arising from these activities
- the measures to be implemented to control the risks, and
- how the control measures are to be implemented, monitored and reviewed.
Complying with a SWMS
- WHS Regulation clause 300 - Compliance with safe work method statement
If high risk construction work is not carried out in accordance with the SWMS for the work, the PCBU must ensure that the work is:
- stopped immediately or as soon as it is safe to do so, and
- resumed only in accordance with the statement.
More information about a SWMS for high risk construction work and a SWMS template can be found in the Code of Practice: Construction work.