Queensland engineered stone ban to begin on 1 July 2024
04 Apr 2024•BlueSafe Team•Source: WorkSafe QLD
A national ban on the use, supply, manufacture and installation of engineered stone will take effect in Queensland on 1 July 2024. WorkSafe Queensland is reminding builders, renovators, fabricators and others in construction to prepare for the change.
Until the ban begins, Queensland businesses and workers can continue working with engineered stone under controlled conditions. The state’s approved codes of practice set legally enforceable safety standards for work involving materials that contain crystalline silica, including engineered stone.
Businesses are being strongly urged not to sign new contracts involving engineered stone if the work may not be completed before 1 July 2024.
Work Health and Safety Ministers are due to finalise the details in the coming weeks. These will include limited transitional arrangements for contracted work agreed to before the ban was announced in December 2023. Businesses are encouraged to check the national Safe Work Australia website for updates.
Cutting, grinding, drilling, trimming, polishing, sanding or crushing stone products with power tools or machinery produces dust containing respirable crystalline silica (RCS). Inhaling RCS can cause serious health conditions, including silicosis, a lung disease.
The latest scientific evidence identified by Safe Work Australia shows that RCS particles produced when processing engineered stone are smaller and more toxic. This is leading to more serious health risks that progress rapidly among workers processing engineered stone.
Other manufactured products containing crystalline silica will be exempt from the ban. These include concrete and cement products; bricks, pavers and similar blocks; ceramic and porcelain products; wall, floor and roof tiles; grout, mortar and render; and plasterboard.
Work Health and Safety Ministers have also agreed to nationally consistent exemptions for additional products where evidence demonstrates they can be used safely.
Engineered stone already installed will not have to be removed. Repairs, minor modifications, removal and disposal of previously installed products will remain permitted, but any work involving installed engineered stone will require effective dust controls.
How Blue Safe can help: Our free WHS self-check can help you review your business’s approach to workplace health and safety and identify areas that need closer attention as requirements change. Take the free WHS self-check