Be Silica Smart resources address workplace silica dust risks
20 July 2026•BlueSafe Team•Source: Safe Work Australia
Safe Work Australia’s Be Silica Smart web page provides practical resources to help employers and workers understand and manage silica dust risks. Exposure can cause permanent lung damage and serious or fatal disease.
Cutting, drilling, polishing or grinding silica-containing materials, including stone, bricks, concrete and tiles, can generate hazardous dust. The particles can be small enough to settle deep in the lungs, causing permanent damage, including silicosis and lung cancer.
Workers who may encounter silica dust include those in construction, manufacturing, tunnelling, demolition, mining, quarrying and stonemasonry.
Employers are legally required to manage silica dust risks to protect workers. Workers must also take reasonable care of their own health and safety and that of others at work.
Materials containing at least 1% crystalline silica are subject to specific work health and safety regulations. The model Code of Practice: Managing risks of respirable crystalline silica in the workplace offers guidance to help employers understand and meet those requirements and protect people in the workplace.
The Be Silica Smart web page brings together fact sheets, guides and posters for employers and workers. Information is offered in English, Simplified Chinese, Arabic, Vietnamese, Korean and Hazaragi.
Be Silica Smart is delivered with the Asbestos and Silica Safety and Eradication Agency, which provides national silica safety information.
How Blue Safe can help: Our free WHS self-check can help you review your approach to workplace health and safety and identify areas that need closer attention. Take the free WHS self-check