A study into silicosis by Curtin University estimates there are more than 275,000 workers – including miners,contractors,construction workers,stonemasons and tunnellers – exposed to high levels of crystalline silica,which is carcinogenic. Commissioned by the ACTU,the study predicts up to 103,000 workers will be diagnosed with silicosis.
In February,Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke,along with state and territory work,health and safety ministers,commissioned Safe Work Australia to investigate the implications of a ban.
“We can’t keep delaying this. It’s time we considered a ban. I’m not willing to wait around the way people did with asbestos,” Burke said at the time.
The report was handed to the ministers in August but has so far been kept secret. It is expected to be released following a meeting of the ministers on Friday afternoon.
“Federal,state and territory work,health and safety ministers will meet this Friday for initial discussions about the Safe Work Australia silicosis report they commissioned earlier this year,” a spokesman for Burke said.
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The spokesman said Burke would ask the meeting to agree to release the report “to inform the public debate as further decisions are made”.
“The Albanese government believes no one should ever contract a terminal illness simply because they’ve turned up to work,” he said.
According to sources,most states and territories wanted the report released weeks ago,but Tasmania was the hold-out.
Queensland Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace,who has backed a complete ban,said the ministers would “further consider the matter” at Friday’s meeting. Comment has been sought from the NSW,Victorian and Tasmanian governments.
Two key manufacturers are lobbying the government about the threshold that should be imposed for the amount of crystalline silica in engineered stone products.
Caesarstone wants a ban on manufactured stone with a crystalline silica concentration above 40 per cent,while Cosentino says a 10 per cent threshold could be achieved.
The Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists said a 10 per cent threshold would probably keep silica dust exposure levels to acceptable workplace standards,but supported a blanket ban as products at that level still weren’t “without risk”.
The NSW government submitted to Safe Work’s inquiry that 40 per cent crystalline silica should be the cut-off for the product.
WorkSafe Victoria said its submission,which has not been made public,focused on the state’s current regulations,which include a licensing regime for users,and define engineered stone as containing at least 40 per cent crystalline silica.
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Speaking at a dinner hosted by law firm Sparke Helmore earlier this year,Burke warned banning manufactured stone products outright could have unintentional consequences.
“The issue that we will have to weigh up is,we don’t want to create a perverse outcome where we in fact push people to a more dangerous product because we’ve done a ban across the board,if it turns out that some forms of manufacturing stone are,in fact,proven to be safer than natural stone,” he said.
The construction union’s Smith said thousands of union members would demonstrate outside NSW Parliament House on Thursday,urging politicians to ban engineered stone. He said the momentum behind a ban was growing “but we’re not going to sit idly by and wait while more workers die”.
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