Silicosis
Latest blog posts
There is no time to waste banning engineered stone
Safe Work Australia has published a damning report on the alarming rate. Silicosis is a deadly and incurable disease, in Australian workers and proposed a national ban on engineered stone. Slater and Gordon has lent our voice to the calls for banning the deadly product, standing alongside the decision of all Australian unions to refuse to work with, import or manufacture engineered stone in Australia from 2024. In our legal practice, we have seen increasing numbers of workers with silica-related diseases, often at the advanced and debilitating stages, caused by exposure to silica dust from engineered stone. Many of these are workers in the prime of their life, with young families, mortgages...
Engineered stone and silicosis: Findings from the National Dust Diseases Taskforce
Silicosis is a group of diseases to describe fibrosis, scarring and nodules in the lungs caused by breathing in silica dust. Symptoms include coughing, phlegm build up, chest pain and breathing difficulties with more serious cases presenting with fever, weight loss and fatigue. Silicosis can be progressive and life shortening. In some cases, breathing in silica dust can cause silica induced cancer, silica induced scleroderma (which affects the connective tissues and causes a hardening of the skin), silica induced tuberculosis, mixed dust pneumoconiosis, kidney disease and emphysema. Silicosis was common in Australia during the 1940s to 1960s amongst construction workers, but waned due to...
Workers need access to accurate testing
Workers who have been exposed to silica dust in the workplace need to be screened for lung disease and screened using accurate technology as soon as possible. I recently provided evidence to the NSW Parliament Standing Committees’ review into the 2019 Review of the functioning of the Dust Diseases Care Scheme, on behalf of the Australian Lawyers’ Alliance. While the Queensland and Victorian Governments have implemented free lung scans and testing for stonemasons and have identified a significant number of people diagnosed as a result, the NSW Government has not yet offered screenings to all stonemasons and would only be offering free first round screenings to those working for employers...
