The Worktop Fabricators’ Federation (WFF) has met with the doctors who recently called for a ban on engineered stone in the UK, with the goal of showing them why it believes proper regulations are the solution to silicosis concerns, instead of an outright ban.
The WFF says that two of its Preston members, Granite House and Granite Tops, opened their doors to Dr Johanna Feary from the Royal Brompton in London, Prof. Martie van Tongeren from Manchester University and Mike Slater from the British Occupational Hygiene Society, earlier this week.
According to the WFF, the medical professionals were able to experience various techniques that are integral to the safe fabrication of worktops, including wet-cutting, extraction, water recycling, sludge removal, hand-finishing.
The Federation says it aimed to give the medical professionals “a warts-and-all experience of the realities of worktop production lines”, which also highlighted the various solutions that WFF members have put in place to keep their workers safe in accordance with the workplace exposure limits.
Chris Pateman, general secretary of the WFF, said it was “hugely useful to get both sets of experts face to face”. He said: “Ideas came out in conversation that might never have arisen if we had stayed in our respective bubbles. The idea of preventative CAT scans, instead of retrospective X-rays, for example, is something only a medical expert with access to NHS resources could consider.
“This was a really useful next step in WFF’s engagement with the academics. Despite what the newspapers might want us to believe, we are all on the same side here: nobody wants to see our workers put at risk, and everyone wants the safest-possible industry.”
Last Wednesday, August 7, Dr Feary released a new research paper which identified 8 new individuals who had been diagnosed with silicosis in the UK. Along with her findings, she also called upon the government to consider a ban on engineered stone products in the UK.
As well as the trade press, the story was also reported by national news outlets, including the BBC, Daily Mail, Guardian, The i, and The Telegraph. However, some have accused the media of misleading the public on the issue, publishing stories with headlines such as “UK households who have worktops in their kitchen ‘warned’”. Several people have deemed this coverage “sensationalist”, believing that the media is not accurately portraying that the risk of silicosis caused by engineered stone products comes during the product’s fabrication, and that there is no risk to consumers.
Dr Feary’s research identified that all of the stone workers diagnosed with silicosis in the UK have been those who have worked with the product in what the WFF has called “the less well-regulated end of the industry”.
According to Dr Feary’s research, all eight newly-diagnosed silicosis patients reported that their work was carried out “without consistent water suppression, without what they felt was appropriate respiratory protection and that even where workshop ventilation was present, they stated that the system had not been serviced or cleaned regularly. None were aware of airborne dust monitoring in the workplace”.
Earlier this week, the managing director of County Stone called for the industry to prioritise safety practices in stone fabrication instead of simply considering an outright product ban, calling “misconceptions” around the product “severely exaggerated”.