Engineered stone ban must focus on silica levels: producers
Australia’s largest producer of engineered stone is pushing to exclude natural alternative products following this week’s national ban on the potentially lethal material, saying the prohibition should be based on the proportion of silica content.
Caesarstone boss David Cullen, whose $US116.3 million ($184.4 million) in sales last calendar year accounted for about half of the overall Australian market, said on Thursday that other products used in kitchen and bathroom benchtops also emitted silica dust in cutting.
Caesarstone Asia-Pacific managing director David Cullen.
“You’ve got crystalline silica in products like granite, which can have an average of 45 per cent up to 72 per cent crystalline silica,” Mr Cullen said on ABC radio.
“You have porcelain that can have up to 45 with an average of 25 per cent … Those products will not be banned under our understanding, albeit the understanding is somewhat confused at the moment.”
By drawing attention to other products containing more silica, suppliers such as Caesarstone and its rival Cosentino want to create a gap for their low-silica alternatives to gain acceptance. This would ensure their continued use in a market only set to grow on the back of efforts to build homes and reduce Australia’s chronic housing shortage.
A Cosentino spokesman said on Thursday: “Cosentino’s porcelain product Dekton usually has 5-6 per cent silica content, significantly less than granite, most marbles, cement, bricks and ceramic tiles.
“We believe better enforcement from regulators of the recently updated Model Work Health and Safety Regulations and extending the ban on uncontrolled dry-cutting to all stone products, regardless of silica content, should be a priority before other products are considered for bans.”
On Wednesday, federal and state workplace relations and work health and safety ministers announced a ban on the supply and manufacture of engineered stone. There was little further detail on Thursday about what effect the prohibition – which most states said they would implement from July 1 next year – would have on existing sales and contracts.
“Safe Work Australia at the end of February will come back with some level of recommendation on other products,” Mr Cullen said.
“What do consumers do between the 1st of January and the end of February? The government’s come out and said, ‘We’ll consider honouring contracts’. Which contracts are they honouring? Builders’ contracts, kitchen companies, my contracts?”
Caesarstone said it was “deeply disappointed” that ministers had chosen to implement a ban on only one type of product containing crystalline silica.
It said “a piecemeal approach” to tackling silicosis meant Australian workers would continue to be exposed to the risks of the disease.
Mr Cullen told The Australian Financial Review in October, that out of a typical kitchen renovation costing $20,000, about $6000-$7000 was the cost of installing an engineered stone benchtop. Replacing that with porcelain would raise the cost to $12,000-$13,000, he said.
The artificial product made of up to 90 per cent crystalline silica, with minerals, resins and pigments, was the cause of a “dramatic increase in cases of silicosis and silica-related disease”, a report by government agency Safe Work Australia said earlier this year, recommending a total ban.
In a submission to Safe Work Australia ahead of its report recommending the ban, the Housing Industry Association said a full prohibition on the use of engineered stone – used for 60 per cent of the 215,500 residential kitchen and 446,700 bathroom benchtops installed in FY2021 – would hit 1000 businesses and 10,000 workers involved in installation and fabrication.
Suppliers such as Caesarstone also want regulation to focus on ensuring safe cutting practices, rather than banning individual products.
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