A photo taken on January 26, 2023, by Paul Beattie, landlord of AGB Stone (Central Otago), showing material on the ground nearby a skip bin. The material was cleaned up and never posed any health and safety risk, the company says.
An engineered stone workshop run by a major fabricator has been issued with improvement notices by regulators after an inspector found problems that included workers not wearing respirator masks properly.
Engineered or artificial stone dominates the kitchen and bathroom benchtop industry, but will soon be banned outright in Australia, to protect stonemasons from exposure to respirable crystalline silica (silica dust), which can be generated when workers cut, shape or polish the material.
Dust from engineered stone is considered more dangerous, because the man-made products have traditionally contained up to 95 per cent silica, compared to 2 to 50 per cent in natural stones.
Repeated, occupational inhalation of even very small amounts of dust has been linked to the lung disease silicosis, and a number of tradies in Australia have died horrible, early deaths. Others are debilitated from symptoms including shortness of breath.
The number of confirmed silicosis cases in New Zealand is far smaller, and there have been no confirmed deaths.
Fabricators are phasing in lower-silica products, and say strict safety measures - including top-line masks, ventilation and cutting stone only when it is wet, to avoid dust - protects workers.
AGB Group, which is New Zealand’s biggest engineered stone fabricator, has more than 130 people working across six factories. (All engineered stone is manufactured overseas and imported as slabs.)
Three improvement notices were issued to one of its related companies, AGB Stone (Central Otago), located in Cromwell, after a WorkSafe inspection on November 29.
WorkSafe said the notices “cover risk management for respirable crystalline silica dust, and implementing a system for improved engagement between workers and management”.
The breaches are “very, very minor” and are being quickly addressed, the company says, and there’s never been any risk to worker health and safety.
A WorkSafe spokesperson said its inspector “observed an inconsistent approach to controlling the risks of respirable crystalline silica” at AGB Stone (Central Otago).
“This includes adjacent storage of clean and dirty workwear (which risks cross-contamination), dirty workwear and footwear being worn outside the workshop, and inconsistent site cleaning at the start and end of the day.
“Although respiratory protective equipment (RPE) had been fit tested and provided, workers were not clean shaven and were observed not wearing their RPE correctly.
“There also needs to be a focus on workers washing their hands and faces after removing overalls and personal protective equipment.”
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AGB Group general manager and co-owner Cam Paranthoiene told the Herald the improvement notices mostly covered documentation, with WorkSafe wanting to see more detailing of processes, to know they were consistent and sustainable.
The company welcomed them as a chance to improve, and had rectified all the issues raised by WorkSafe.
“There were no activities identified that were causing an exposure to silica dust ... conditions are extremely safe.”
However, the landlord of the business, Paul Beattie, who works in another building on the same industrial property, has alleged repeated safety issues.
One alleged incident occurred when he was out of town on June 8, 2022, when his other tenant on the site told him an AGB worker was dry-cutting.
A video taken by the tenant at the time, shared with the Herald, shows that person working on material by an open roller door, with dust floating upwards.
“When I brought it to the attention of [Paranthoiene] he thanked me very much for dobbing him into WorkSafe,” Beattie told the Herald. “I said, ‘Someone else must be concerned because I never dobbed you in’.”
Paranthoiene strongly denied Beattie raised the incident with him, and said it was unfair to only be shown the seconds-long footage now, which meant it was impossible to investigate.
Such an incident would be disappointing, he said, but did not present any health and safety risk if the worker was wearing proper, fitted RPE, which always happens at the business and is documented.
“I agree - it’s not what I want to see. And if anyone had told me I would have made sure it was shut down immediately. And that is certainly not happening now, and there’s no evidence of it happening since.”
Another alleged issue concerned an open-top skip bin near the road. Beattie provided the Herald with photos of material on the ground near the bin, taken on January 26, January 31 and February 8 this year.
“It was just ongoing around that time. They just kept putting more off-cuts and sludge in the skip, and dust would be left on the ground,” said Beattie, who also sent the photos to WorkSafe in February.
“That would dry out and blow in to our workshop. And we would breathe it. The manager at the time said, ‘We’ll clean it up next time we move the skip’.”
In response, Paranthoiene said a bin was moved which exposed a build-up of “sludge” material underneath, which was cleaned up once identified.
“This is not dust and will never become dust unless disturbed. It presents no risk to health and safety.”
Paranthoiene said it seemed Beattie had been trying to disturb the material.
“I mean, if you pick it up and bash it, jump on it, scuff it or whatever, then you can make it airborne. But, just remember, this is an outside air environment.”
Another Cromwell resident, who asked not to be identified, supplied a photograph to the Herald, taken on November 29 and showing water run-off from the workshop to the curbside.
They had seen this happen before, the person claimed: “They recently put gravel down to try to cover up all the silica dust that dries on the gravel.”
Beattie alerted WorkSafe when there was a run-off of grey water on December 19.
The agency contacted the business and was assured only porcelain - not engineered stone - was being fabricated at the time a pump malfunctioned, which was promptly fixed and upgraded, with a new bunding system to prevent any future spillage.
That meant there was virtually no silica in the small amount of water spilled, Paranthoiene told the Herald, and there was likewise no health and safety risk on November 29.
Gravel was put down because it was wearing thin from vehicle movements, he said.
Paranthoiene supplied his own photos of the site to show it was in good order and condition. He blamed the fractured relationship with Beattie on a dispute over rent.
“This AGB site has always met all health and safety obligations, and has always been a safe work environment.
“AGB has purchased land and is developing a purpose-built factory that will be state of the art in terms of dealing with waste water used in the fabrication processes.”
Otago Regional Council inspectors have done several site visits in response to Beattie’s complaints, but didn’t find discharges or contaminants to the stormwater system that contravened regulations.
WorkSafe will make unannounced visits in the coming weeks and months, “to ensure sustained compliance with our enforcement notices”.
Companies like AGB are transitioning to using only lower-silica engineered stones, with about 30 per cent silica. Product with 15 per cent and even 0 per cent silica were in the pipeline, Paranthoiene said.
Australia opted to ban even lower-silica engineered stone, after Safe Work Australia concluded, “there is no toxicological evidence of a ‘safe’ threshold of crystalline silica content”.
Paranthoiene said a major reason for the Australian ban was because safety compliance there is generally much worse, he said, but that wasn’t reflected in media coverage that had fuelled “hysteria”.
“People think they are in danger because there’s some water run-off. They are not. People think they are in danger because there’s a dry cake of it sitting on the ground. They are not.”
New Zealand officials here are preparing advice on regulatory options for engineered stone for the new Workplace Safety Minister Brooke van Velden.
Nicholas Jones is an investigative reporter at the Herald. He won the best individual investigation and best social issues reporter categories at the 2023 Voyager Media Awards.
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