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Here in Australia we just banned engineered stone because it tends to cause silicosis
And yep, lots of shitty business owners whined and a few shit customers on Facebook
Silicosis is what's killing people at the moment, and business owners in particular don't seem to care, despite the fact there's is alternatives
I have no idea engineered stones causes silicosis. Is it the manufacturing or the installation or the home owner getting too close to it that causes it?
When it's cut for bench tops and such , that's what exposes people.
Lots of stonemasons here in Australia now have silicosis because of it.
Natural stone has far less issues and there is stone available which doesn't cause it
Business owners were also claiming they weren't given enough time to switch. Everyone including me (I have a friend with silicosis now) has known engineered stone was dangerous to work with for years.
So they had years of warning that it was dangerous But they pretend like it was unexpected.
We (srtaya) tried to introduce cutting standards as the silicosis is avoidable, but the cutting technique is more expensive so it got skipped for the cheaper dangerous methods.
You probably know about it more than me..
I've been onsite plenty of times when they've been cutting that stuff up. Some owners argued better PPE would be enough for the Stonemasons, but it won't protect other people where its being cut.
Furthermore, nobody NEEDS engineered stone anyway, and people tend to take shortcuts when they are in a rush
And its mainly the workers affected. The people selling it are sometimes the ones who aren't even cutting it up (especially because they know there are risks).
Feel bad for my friend though who now has silicosis and no way to cure it.
It was the same with asbestos, there were correct handling procedures but they were skipped enough for people to still get sick from it. Better we don't use it if we don't need to.