States back plan for report on deadly silica dust ban
Andrew Brown and Dominic Giannini |
The work safety watchdog will investigate a national ban on potentially deadly engineered stone to protect workers from an asbestos-style disaster after securing unanimous support from states and territories.
Workplace health and safety ministers met on Tuesday to back the proposal for Safe Work Australia to examine what types of silica products a ban would cover and how it would be enforced nationally.
Products with high levels of silica, commonly used in kitchen benchtops, have been linked to incurable lung disease and cancer.
Federal Workplace Minister Tony Burke said the investigation would make sure employees who work with the material would be better protected.
“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,” he told reporters in Canberra.
An estimated 600,000 workers have been exposed to silica dust generated through mining, construction, building, and manufacturing.
A Curtin University study has put the total number of deadly and incurable disease silicosis at more than 100,000 people and estimated 10,000 workers would develop lung cancer from dust exposure.
Mr Burke said ministers would next meet on the issue in six months or sooner if the report was handed down early.
“Australia took 70 years from the time we were warned about asbestos to the time that we got to the point of a ban. We’re not going to make that mistake again,” he said.
“That report may take quite some months but it will be presumptuous of me to say that every jurisdiction has locked in on a ban before we even have a scoping study to see what that might look like.”
The construction union had warned it would take the law into its own hands if the government failed to act on the issue.
The CFMEU said it would prohibit the use of silica products from July next year if the government did not enforce a ban.
Incoming national secretary Zach Smith said a full ban was needed because there was no safe level of exposure and the disease was still occurring in workplaces with high levels of health and safety compliance.
The minister reassured homeowners there was no risk if their kitchen benchtops weren’t removed or cut up but said there were dangers if renovations took place.
“Even for the most dangerous of these products, they’ll now be in kitchens where as long as they’re left alone, they’ll be quite safe,” he said.
“No one should be worried in terms of what they currently have in their home and think suddenly that’s a dangerous item to have.
“But the moment it’s adjusted, the moment it’s moved, the risk is real.”
Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union national secretary Steve Murphy welcomed news a ban would be examined.
“Silica dust is the asbestos of the 21st century – a deadly workplace substance that has been allowed to hurt and kill thousands of workers for the sake of corporate greed,” he said.
“The sooner federal and state governments ban engineered stone and protect workers from silica dust, the better.”
AAP
