The UK’s health and safety watchdog is meeting its Australian counterparts to discuss the country’s ban on kitchen worktops linked to a deadly lung disease in hundreds of workers, after the first British cases were identified.
A report by policy body Safe Work Australia recommending that engineered stone be banned led to the country becoming the first to outlaw the material in December.
The material is used to make worktops and is popular in kitchen makeovers.
This week, members of Safe Work Australia are meeting experts from the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to discuss the ban, amid warnings that Britain is facing its own outbreak of silicosis – as first revealed by i in February.
The report by Safe Work Australia found workers in engineered stone were dramatically overrepresented among workers diagnosed with silicosis, the majority of whom were under 35.
Men in their 30s and 40s have been left needing lung transplants after suffering exposure to the dust while cutting quartz countertops without adequate safety measures.
It’s believed up to 10 cases have been detected so far in the UK, with the first emerging last year
Usually a thick mask with a valve to let air out, it’s like 3mm thick. Well underground first thing is to water down the entire working area, helps in cooling the area as well. So everything needs to stay wet. Next with masks in place, you still have to monitor, usually a handful of employees will wear a device that monitors their exposure as well as devices at specific areas of work. Then there is the medical monitoring were every 3-6 months a Xray, will be done and lung capacity and performance will be tested on each employee.