Crystalline silica is a common mineral that is found in sand, quartz and many other types of natural rock. It has also been used to make engineered or manufactured stone, and other construction materials. Engineered stone – often used for benchtops in kitchens and bathrooms – contains more silica than natural stone.
When products that contain crystalline silica are crushed, cut, drilled, polished or sawed – they generate tiny dust particles that when inhaled can lodge deep inside the lungs, damaging and scarring the lungs and making it difficult to breathe.
Silicosis mainly affects workers without appropriate protective equipment, exposed to silica dust in jobs such as construction and mining, as well as with engineered stone. With a very high content of silica and the formation of dust, engineered stone is seeing one in four workers facing a silica-related disease.
Silicosis can be prevented by avoiding ongoing exposure to silica dust, wearing protective equipment, wetting down tools and materials to suppress dust (i.e., not dry cutting) and using tools with dust-collecting attachments.