The trouble with artificial stone

While silicosis case numbers may have declined over recent decades, that long-term, positive trend masks the emergence of a newer, apparently more aggressive form of the industrial disease, among people working with engineered stone. Mike Knight, Head of ATE Sales at ARAG, takes a look at the problem of artificial stone silicosis.

Silicosis was identified as a serious medical condition more than 150 years ago, but the dangers of working in and around stone dust were understood centuries earlier.

Since then, both our awareness of and ability to manage the risks of working in dusty environments have undoubtedly improved, but the decline of certain UK industries has also played a significant role in reducing the incidence of silicosis cases

Fewer than 50,000 workers were employed in the mining and quarrying sector last year, compared to almost 400,000, 50 years ago. Most of that decline was complete by the early 90s, so it is unsurprising that the number of silicosis diagnoses has since decreased.

The total number of UK workers who could have been exposed to some form of silica, across mining, construction, stonemasonry and numerous other sectors, may still be more than half a million. For most, though, the level of exposure is unlikely to have been harmful.

However, a number of troubling cases have recently hit the headlines, involving victims who have been exposed to silica dust while working with engineered stone, which has become a popular material used to construct attractive but durable worktops for kitchens and bathrooms, all over the world.

Such ‘artificial stone’ has been likened to asbestos because of the damage that prolonged exposure working with the material can cause to the lungs.

For now, the number of people clinically affected in the UK appears to be small, but researchers in California have estimated that as many as 15-20 per cent of those working in the fabrication, shaping and finishing of artificial stone products in the United States, could have or develop silicosis.

This has prompted calls for such products to be banned in numerous jurisdictions around the world. Last year, the Australian government passed legislation, outlawing the “...use, supply, and manufacture of engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs...” throughout the country and followed up, in January, by making it illegal even to import such products into Australia.

Here in the UK, the number of artificial stone silicosis cases still seems to be small, but the stories that have made their way into the regional and national press, are deeply troubling.

The young age at which some patients have been diagnosed, in their 20s and 30s, and the speed with which they have succumbed to the disease, sometimes within months of diagnosis, is truly alarming.

Whether or not the relatively small number of cases we’ve seen in the UK so far is just the tip of an iceberg, remains to be seen and could determine whether we’ll see a similar ban on engineered stone here in the UK.

However many cases this emerging risk may entail, ARAG is committed to helping victims of artificial stone silicosis to access the justice they deserve.

ARAG has supported industrial disease cases for over 16 years and has insured the costs in thousands of claims. If you’d like to know more about how ARAG’s unparalleled expertise can help your firm insure industrial disease cases, then please