{"id":589903,"date":"2026-05-18T03:37:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T03:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/589903\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T03:37:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T03:37:14","slug":"total-ban-on-killer-kitchen-worktop-stone-under-consideration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/589903\/","title":{"rendered":"Total ban on killer kitchen-worktop stone ‘under consideration’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Safety bosses will keep an outright ban on a kitchen worktop stone blamed for rising cases of deadly lung disease silicosis under consideration, following a crackdown on the unsafe cutting of the material.<\/p>\n

Last week, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) unveiled its first regulatory guidance specifically for quartz \u2013 also known as engineered stone \u2013 to stop \u201cdry cutting\u201d, which exposes workers to deadly dust.<\/a><\/p>\n

The move marked a major victory for the The i Paper\u2019s Killer Kitchens campaign<\/a>, which has pushed for a ban on dry cutting and for proper punishments for rogue employers who put their workers\u2019 lives at risk.<\/p>\n

The new guidance tells firms that water-suppression tools to dampen lung-shredding dust are a legal requirement, with HSE now carrying out 1,000 inspections across Britain to ensure the rules are being followed.<\/p>\n

Currently, the HSE believes that, rather than an Australia-style ban on quartz, the most \u201ceffective and proportionate\u201d approach is to ensure safe cutting practices are enforced.<\/p>\n

But speaking at a trade exhibition in London, Mike Calcutt, a deputy director at HSE, did not rule out a future ban.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia famously banned engineered stone, and I think we just need to really think about what that means and how that\u2019s put into practice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve decided that that\u2019s not the right thing to do right now. But we will keep a ban open for consideration, especially as we go through what we\u2019re planning now.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut right now that\u2019s not the right thing. That\u2019s because we think we can take the action, with your cooperation, that needs to be taken to get this problem under control.\u201d<\/p>\n

He described rising cases of silicosis among younger quartz stonemasons, many in their 20s and 30s, as \u201cunacceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n

The HSE has found that dry cutting exposes workers to lethal silica dust \u2013 known as respirable crystalline silica (RCS) \u2013 at levels five to 10 times higher than wet cutting.<\/p>\n

Regulations \u2013 Control of Substances Hazardous to Health<\/a> (COSHH) \u2013 are already in place governing workplace exposure to harmful substances such as RCS dust.<\/p>\n

But HSE\u2019s new guidance is the first under COSHH specifically for engineered stone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it means is there\u2019s going to be no more dry cutting,\u201d said Calcutt of HSE\u2019s new guidance, describing ending the practice as \u201cnon-negotiable\u201d.<\/p>\n

Unions demand quartz is banned <\/p>\n

Unite, the UK\u2019s lead union, described the new HSE guidance on safer working with engineered stone as \u201cinadequate\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said: \u201cThe UK needs to follow Australia\u2019s example and ban this deadly material outright.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sian Elliot, director of organising at the\u00a0Trades Union Congress, said every time workers cut engineered stone, \u201cthey put their lives at risk\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSteps to strengthen protections and reduce exposure are welcome, but the most effective way to prevent deaths and diseases is to remove the hazard altogether,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBritain should follow Australia\u2019s lead, where the supply and cutting of engineered stone has been banned. This decision\u00a0could\u00a0save lives \u2013 that\u2019s why the\u00a0TUC\u00a0has raised this directly with government and the Health and Safety Executive.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also called for any action to be backed by robust enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat means properly funding the Health and Safety Executive, so it has the capacity to clamp down on employers who continue to expose workers to lethal risks,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

HSE is also telling firms to switch to engineered stone with a low silica content, provide appropriate respiratory protective equipment (RPE) and ensure health surveillance of their workforce.<\/p>\n

Sir Stephen Timms, Minister for Social Security and Disability, said in a recorded message for exhibition: \u201cWe\u2019ve not decided to ban engineered stone. Science makes it clear that it is not needed to protect workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemoving engineered stone from the market would be very difficult in practice, and would, in any case, not move the risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

The way to protect workers was to cut exposure to the dust, he said, which was \u201centirely achievable\u201d.<\/p>\n

Businesses now had \u201cclear, unambiguous instructions on what the law requires\u201d and the controls needed to protect workers \u2013 wet processing, mist suppression, respiratory and protective equipment and health surveillance, Timms said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are not optional \u2013 they are legal requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan Fenton, 50, who is one of dozens of UK workers diagnosed with silicosis after cutting quartz worktops, has said an Australia-style ban is the only way to stop more people developing the deadly condition.<\/p>\n

He told The i Paper this week: \u201cYou can have all the water-fed tools in the world. You can have all the dust extractors, all the masks, all the PPE, all the best stuff. There\u2019s still going to be dust in the air and on your clothes.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust ban it. Find an alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Safety bosses will keep an outright ban on a kitchen worktop stone blamed for rising cases of deadly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[10979,59,102,129181,471,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-589903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-construction","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-killer-kitchens","tag-safety","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}