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One in five engineered stone workers have high self-reported rates of asthma, even if they don’t have silicosis
Workers who install artificial stone benchtops are at a higher risk of developing asthma, new research from Monash University has found.
One in five of those engineered stone workers reported having asthma, which is twice the rate of people in the general population.
This is despite Australia becoming the first country to ban silica within engineered stone to prevent workers in the industry from developing silicosis.
Monash Centre for Environmental Health research fellow Dr Dee Tomic says the findings are worrying as the study highlights how asthma is present even in workers who don’t have silicosis.
“Over the past decade we’ve really seen this mounting evidence for an epidemic of silicosis, which is a severe and often incurable lung disease among workers who cut and install these artificial stone benchtops,” Dr Tomic says.
“And so in response, Australia recently became, thankfully, the first country in the world to ban engineered stone containing this crystalline silica, which is a huge win for public health.”
“However, the issue, and what’s received much less attention, is that artificial stone doesn’t just contain silica. While it’s 90% or above silica, often it’s also made with things like polymer resins and other additives like epoxy and hydrides and acid, and they’re actually well-known causes of occupational asthma in other industries.”
The study used data from 450 workers in Victoria who participated in a WorkSafe screening program.
“What we found was quite striking,” Dr Tomic says.
“Importantly, we found that those workers who had high dust exposure, even when they didn’t have silicosis, were also more likely to report asthma symptoms and show signs of airflow obstruction on their lung function tests.
“Also, importantly, over half the workers who had symptoms of asthma — so a wheeze and shortness of breath — said that they improved on weekends or holidays. This is a classic sign of work-related asthma, which often goes unrecognised.
“And I guess why this really matters is because asthma can become chronic or irreversible if it’s not caught early.”
Dr Tomic says while the general public had assumed this was no longer a problem, these findings show that’s not the case.
“It hasn’t solved the problem for the workers who have been historically exposed, even if they don’t have silicosis, they may develop it decades in the future,” she says.
“However, what’s not being addressed is that the other potentially harmful components like the resins, they’re still in use, including in new alternative benchtop products that are now entering the market.”
“What this research really underscores is that we need independent safety testing for these new products before they become widespread.”
“And also it reinforces from a clinical perspective that clinicians really need to routinely ask about occupational exposures when someone is presenting with symptoms of asthma to them, because that’s often what the cause is.”
The findings coincide with work on redoing the national silicosis guidelines.
“We’re looking at the international comparisons and how often you should be doing these tests and do you do them with chest x-ray or a CT scan,” she says.
“A lot of these tests have really low sensitivity, so it’s not an easy kind of thing for a clinician, who has a worker complaining of these types of symptoms to go, okay, this is exactly what do I need to do.”
Nance Haxton was a journalist at the ABC for nearly 20 years. She’s also worked as an Advocate at the Disability Royal Commission helping people with disabilities tell their stories and as a senior reporter for the National Indigenous Radio Service.
In that time she’s won a range of Australian and international honours, including two Walkley Awards, and three New York Festivals Radio Awards trophies.
Now freelancing as The Wandering Journo, Nance is independently producing podcasts including her personal audio slice of Australia “Streets of Your Town”.
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