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Federal Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke says he and his state and territory counterparts have asked Safe Work Australia to consider what a future ban on engineered stone would look like and that the group will make a decision on prohibiting it at a later stage.
Key points:
- The group of ministers will make a decision about banning the material at a later stage
- Safe Work Australia will also consider how a ban would affect benches that are already installed
- The union says it will move to ban engineered stone by July 2024 if no national ban is in place
The group of workplace health and safety ministers met on Tuesday to discuss whether to ban the stone because of the risk to people who work with it of developing silicosis.
Silicosis is an incurable lung disease caused by breathing in tiny particles of silica, or crystalline silica, which is a particular risk for workers to cut or file engineered stone.
Engineered stone is a popular material used for benchtops in kitchens and bathrooms and can contain high levels of silica.
Mr Burke said ministers unanimously agreed to begin the steps toward implementing a national ban but admitted the process to change workplace health and safety laws "doesn't move quickly".
"We have now tasked Safe Work Australia to do the work to scope out what regulation is required for workplaces that deal with silica dust and to scope out, specifically, with respect to engineered stone and engineered stone benchtops to do the work starting now, on what a ban would look like," he said.
"People would be aware that not all engineered stone is at 97, 98 per cent silica; there are some forms that are at much lower levels of percentages and therefore present a much lower risk; some where the risk is no different to natural stone.
"So what we've asked Safe Work Australia to do is scope out if there were to be a prohibition, where that line would be drawn.
"And then to also scope out how you can have a nationally consistent licensing system for whatever remains as being viewed as safe to be on the market.
"In order for there to be a ban, this work from Safe Work Australia needs to be done."
Mr Burke said the group agreed to meet again in six months but would pull the meeting forward if the report from Safe Work Australia was ready before then.
While he sought to reassure people who had engineered stone benchtops that there were no health concerns while they were in place, Mr Burke did flag Safe Work Australia had also been asked to look at how to deal with material that needed to be moved or demolished in the future.
Union to ban material next year
The national construction union has also called for engineered stone to be banned, describing it as a death sentence for Australian workers.
The CFMEU said nearly one in four workers exposed to silica dust before 2018 have been diagnosed with silicosis or other related diseases.
"It's not integral to the building process. It's really an acidic product that's not necessary at a fundamental level to construction," incoming CFMEU National Secretary Zach Smith said.
"So by banning this product, there are plenty of safer alternatives; construction will keep happening, houses and apartments will continue to be built and the sky will not fall in."
He said the CFMEU would move to ban the product if the federal government did not act by July 2024.
Mr Burke said unions and organisations would make their own decisions about what they did within the law.
"Some suppliers will start to look now and how they can get lower levels of silica into benchtops or how they can look for alternatives for people's kitchens and bathrooms," he said.
"So a whole lot of adjustments will be made straight away."