The building and construction sector has compared so-called legacy stone benchtops to lead paint and asbestos as tradies risk exposure to silica dust for decades to come. 

Australia's world-first ban on engineered stone products has prevented new benchtops from being installed but workers were still allowed to do renovation or demolition work on existing material.

The benchtops are considered safe if left untouched and there is no requirement to remove existing products.

Federation TAFE acting program manager for building and construction, Damien Coats, said safety risks began once people had to work with the material.

"It's not hazardous when it's in place, it's only when it's disturbed when we have that airborne dust that it's going to be an issue," he said.

"It's not something our students deal with directly but certainly I can see down the track as people's kitchens start to age a bit they'll be wanting to renovate, and our students will definitely be coming across those materials."

'Along the lines of asbestos'

Engineered stone surged in popularity for its low cost compared with other natural stone products.

The ban has left the building sector scrambling to arrange alternatives on a similar budget.

Master Builders Victoria acting chief executive Tristan Moseley said he recognised the importance of ensuring workers were safe but said disputes would arise between builders and customers who had planned to use engineered stone.

"The builder obviously can't give the engineered stone so we're now at an impasse of what can be agreed," Mr Moseley said.

"We would have hoped that, as part of this ban, the government would have provided a little bit of guidance particularly to consumers about how are we going to handle this.

State, federal, and territory ministers unanimously agreed to a nationwide ban in December 2023 and it commenced on July 1, 2024.

'The start of the end'

CFMEU Victoria Tasmania branch occupational health and safety manager Gerry Ayers said the popularity of the building material would mean workers had to be aware of its risks for decades to come.

"With the amount of apartments that have been built over the past 25 to 30 years, the amount of new houses going up or renovated kitchens and bathrooms, I think the legacy stone will be around for at least another 30, 40, 50 years," Dr Ayers said.

A surge in silicosis cases among workers inhaling fine silica dust led to medical experts and unions uniting to call for the ban.

Dr Ayers said previous efforts to manage risks failed.

"Even with wet cutting, the evidence was saying that people were still being exposed to much higher levels of crystalline silica dust than they should have been," he said.

Safety requirements for cutting engineered stone were still in place for repairs or demolition works, however, there were no restrictions on its disposal and was treated the same as any other construction waste.

Dr Ayers said a whole range of dust control and personal protective equipment measures could allow workers to safely work with legacy stone.

"If they do it slowly and methodically and really take a lot of care and planning, and part of that is to use correct tools which captures the dust," he said.

"There are special dust-class vacuums, you need an integrated water delivery system that delivers a continuous supply of water and not just having the old coke bottle with a hole punched through the lid," he said.