A coalition of unions and public health and safety experts is calling on the Government to follow Australia’s lead and ban engineered stone over its links to the lung disease silicosis, warning “a fashionable kitchen should not come at the cost of lives”. 

Australia’s ban on the popular kitchen and bathroom benchtop material came into effect on Monday, in response to tradies developing the sometimes fatal disease silicosis, after breathing in dust particles created when the artificial material was cut and shaped. 

There is no danger to homeowners once engineered stone benchtops are installed. 

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New Zealand officials have sent advice to Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden on regulating engineered stone. 

Eighteen organisations have now released an open letter calling on the Act Party deputy leader to introduce a strict ban on engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs. 

The alliance includes the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, Nurses Organisation, Professional Firefighters Union, Construction Health and Safety New Zealand, the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation and the Australian and New Zealand Society of Occupational Medicine. 

“Engineered stone is a very harmful product. The dust from cutting, grinding or drilling engineered stone can lead to the occupational disease silicosis, a scarring of the lungs. There is no safe exposure to this silica dust,” the letter states. 

“Silicosis is a debilitating disease for which there is no cure. It can be fatal. Unions, public health experts and health and safety specialists have continued to warn you about the harm caused by this product, and that a ban is necessary. 

“Everyone in New Zealand has the right to expect a safe workplace and to be able to come home safely to their family at the end of the day. You can give working people and their whānau, as well as businesses, consumers and the wider public, the certainty that working people’s health is the priority. 

“A ban will save lives... engineered stone is a fashion product. And alternatives to engineered stone are readily available. A fashionable kitchen should not come at the cost of lives.” 

Safety measures should be in place to counteract dust from the cutting of engineered stone, including wet-cutting and extraction systems. This photograph was taken by WorkSafe inspectors in October 2020, of an unidentified business where a pile of dusty off-cuts was also discovered. 

The Australian ban came after high-quality consultation, economic analysis and the best available science, the letter states, and New Zealand can use this to quickly ban engineered stone here. 

Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU) president Richard Wagstaff said the evidence of harm from engineered stone, “dubbed the modern-day asbestos”, is overwhelming. 

“There is simply no need for engineered stone. It is a fashion product and there are safe alternatives on the market. The minister seems to be asleep at the wheel.” 

* Read the Herald’s investigation into engineered stone by clicking HERE 

The open letter follows a similar call for action from groups including the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP), which estimates up to 1000 former and current workers could be at risk. 

The number of confirmed cases here is relatively small, but a fraction of workers have been assessed, and the college says the real toll won’t be known for decades. 

Van Velden is considering her officials’ advice on regulation, and has said a decision will be made later this year. She has indicated opposition to a total ban. 

“There’s currently a range of education and enforcement activities that is being led by WorkSafe to ensure businesses control the risks from working with engineered stone, but at this stage I am following the evolving approach in Australia,” van Velden recently said. 

“But it’s very important that we use an evidence-based approach in a New Zealand context rather than simply replicating what’s happening by our neighbours.” 

New Zealand officials have sent advice to Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden on regulating engineered stone. Photo / Mark Mitchell 

Engineered or artificial stone dominates the kitchen and bathroom benchtop industry. Dust from engineered stone is considered more dangerous, because the manmade products have traditionally contained up to 95% silica, compared to 2% to 50% in natural stones. 

Repeated, occupational inhalation of even very small amounts of dust has been linked to the lung disease silicosis and other serious conditions including cancer and heart disease. 

Industry groups have lobbied van Velden to resist a ban, saying low-silica engineered stone will soon be standard, some with less than 15% silica content. 

Banning products with higher silica content and making a current voluntary industry accreditation scheme – which requires safety measures including ventilation and wet-cutting of stone to avoid dust – compulsory with proper monitoring would protect workers, they argue. 

Australia opted to ban even lower-silica engineered stone, after the government agency Safe Work Australia concluded “there is no toxicological evidence of a ‘safe’ threshold of crystalline silica content”. 

Itay Shimony is vice-president for Oceania for Cosentino, a Spanish-headquartered manufacturer of benchtop material including engineered stone, with annual turnover of over $3 billion and operating in more than 100 countries, including New Zealand. 

In New Zealand, WorkSafe investigations have found widespread safety failures at workshops where imported slabs of stone are cut, polished and shaped, and an ongoing Herald investigation has found gaps in oversight of the industry.  

In April, Itay Shimony, the vice-president for Oceania for Cosentino, one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of engineered stone, visited its operations in Auckland and told the Herald tougher enforcement action was needed.  

However, he said the Australian ban had caused a chaotic influx of cheap benchtop material with 0% silica, made with ingredients including recycled glass (instead of quartz), resin and pigments.  

“Australia will be the first and only market in the world to introduce this product on a volume level... there is zero knowledge about the toxicity of this product. Zero research.” 

Nicholas Jones is an investigative reporter at the Herald. He was a finalist for Reporter of the Year at the 2024 Voyager Media Awards, and has won numerous national media awards for his reporting and feature writing.