Safe Work Australia will draw up the regulations to be adopted after a national meeting in March.
Australia’s states and territories agreed earlier this month to roll out the world’s first ban on engineered stone,which causes silicosis.
The cost of making homes more sustainable and the banning of engineered stone have sent shock waves through the construction industry.
Health experts are divided on whether engineered stone benchtops can be safely modified or removed from hundreds of thousands of homes,with one suggesting they should be left alone for years until the risks from lower levels of exposure are properly known.
New silica-free products may cost 30 per cent more than engineered stone,and home builders are warning of price spikes and building delays before the ban.
The 48-year-old stonemason became the face of the silicosis scourge affecting Australia’s tradies when his photo appeared in this masthead in February.
Compare action on engineered stone to the speed with which the government rushed through complex legislation to re-detain some of the people released from indefinite detention after last month’s High Court decision.
Builders will be given time beyond the July 1 deadline if they have already signed contracts to use the product linked to the deadly lung disease silicosis.
While all states and territories have declared their support for a ban on the material,ministers have so far stayed silent on their preferred timeline.
State and federal ministers will meet on Wednesday to discuss a blanket prohibition of engineered stone.
Lawyers suing engineered stone manufacturers in the United States are extremely interested in the campaign run in Australia.