Wayne Scott, chief executive of MinEx – the national Health and Safety Council for New Zealand’s extractive sector - wants engineered benchtops banned, as they are in Australia, because of the danger posed by respirable crystalline silica.
Popular engineered stone benchtops are a hotly debated issue in New Zealand because of the risk posed by progressive lung disease silicosis.
Wayne Scott, chief executive of MinEx – the national Health and Safety Council for New Zealand’s extractive sector - is repeating his call of 12 months ago when last in Gisborne that engineered stone benchtops, which can comprise between 50% and 90% silica, should be banned because workers could be exposed to high concentrations of respirable crystalline silica (RCS).
Scott, in Gisborne to speak to the local quarry sector, said silica was a greater threat than asbestos, and he called for the Government to follow the example of the Australian Government, which banned the product on July 1.
Cam Paranthoiene, co-owner of the country’s largest stone fabricator AGB, said, it was important for the sector “to drive industry safety”.
His company had spent more than 15 years instigating safer processes to mitigate the risk of silicosis, and announced in July 2023 that it would be the first fabricator to ban engineered stone that contained more than 40% silica.
“Last year we became the first in the country to supply a zero-silica engineered stone alternative, the safest option,” Paranthoiene said. “But it’s more than that. It’s about their mental health and knowing they are not at risk when they go to work. We are keeping our families safe.”
AGB opened a purpose-built zero silica factory in Nelson last week.
Paranthoiene said the factory was the way of the future and gave peace of mind to staff and their families.
Previously his company had invested millions of dollars in state-of-the-art machinery and was an early adopter of wet-cutting and air monitoring.
Scott said there was no danger in quarries, or at the benchtop-manufacturing stage, as companies had suppression techniques such as using water and dust extractor systems.
That was not the case when the benchtops were being installed in homes.
“When the guys are cutting a hole to put a tap in, you can’t use water because you’re in someone’s kitchen or bathroom. The guys have a very high exposure – it’s about 100 times the exposure someone would get in a quarry.”
Paranthoiene said AGB used wet techniques when drilling holes on site.
“If cutting is required, we bring it back to the factory to wet cut here. But how do you police that and ensure everyone does it 24-7?
“If you are using a zero silica product, with sensible precautions, we can cut anywhere.
“Corporate New Zealand is the segment that could make the biggest difference – aged care, apartment builders, group home builders. That probably takes up 50% of the market. If they all came on board there would not be enough volume for importers to justify bringing in any high-silica products."
Scott said the Council of Trade Unions and The Employers and Manufacturers’ Association supported an Australian-type ban.
More than 100 people had died from silicosis lung cancer in Australia and about 700 compensation claims had been made against employers.
Paranthoiene said the Australian Government banned engineered stone with any silica level, but kept natural stone, ceramics, concrete and others that contained RCS.
“You can see why, but in theory if it’s safe for a tile cutter to cut ceramic tiles, then you could argue that logic should be applied to low-silica engineered stone products.
“If the belief is that there is no safe threshold for RCS, then logically all products should be banned.”
Scott also wants New Zealand to follow Australia in establishing a register that mandates the reporting of silicosis.
The data identifies high-risk industries, occupations and workplaces, and allows for targeted early intervention and preventive measures.
“We don’t have any data in this country so ... people think there’s no problem through the lack of information.”
Paranthoiene said reporting did exist.
“ACC should know everyone that’s registered with silicosis or with symptoms – have they or WorkSafe done full investigations into what industry they were in, how it happened, what the standards that the people have been subjected to have silicosis were, what monitoring was done?
“It’s not about having a register in isolation. You actually have to act on the data you have.”
Scott said New Zealand was one of the last countries to “take positive action on asbestos”.
“It took a long time.”
There had been other issues such as hazardous materials and chemicals being used in agriculture.
“We’re a bit slow to react. We almost try to convince ourselves that we don’t have a problem. The lack of data (from a registry) leads people to think there’s not a problem. People could be dying from lung cancer from their work, but it’s not identified.”
Scott said there were about 10,000 active cases of silicosis in Australia, but no available data in New Zealand.
The Government is reviewing options concerning engineered stone.
Scott recently wrote to Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden asking for an update.
New Zealand Governments “did a fair bit of talking, but not a great deal of action sometimes”, he said.
“The current Government had consulted on health and safety, they’re made announcements, but once again, nothing has actually happened.”
“I must admit, I am getting a little impatient.”
Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden says an evidence-based approach “in a New Zealand context” will be used when making decisions around engineered stone.
MBIE’s public consultation earlier this year received 68 submissions from diverse Kiwi businesses and organisations, she told the Gisborne Herald in a statement.
“I am now considering MBIE’s advice and will report back to Cabinet on themes and proposed policy direction in due course.”
WorkSafe led a range of education and enforcement activity to ensure businesses controlled the risks from working with engineered stone, the statement said.
Several initiatives had been established to encourage businesses to improve their risk management practices.
WorkSafe had conducted inspections in workplaces fabricating engineered stone since 2019, published information for businesses and workers on respirable crystalline silica (RSC) and silicosis, and reduced the workplace exposure standard for RCS in 2019 and again in 2023.
“WorkSafe has observed that businesses are now more aware of the risks of exposure to RCS and, overall, are managing RCS risks more effectively than when inspectors first visited in 2019,” van Velden said.