Listen to the full interview with Mike Calcutt from the Health & Safety Executive on a special episode of The kbbreview Podcast. Use the player above or go straight to it in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.
The dry cutting of engineered stone has been banned in a bid to help prevent more deaths from silicosis, but the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has stopped short of an outright ban on the material itself, allaying fears from suppliers that the UK would go the same way as Australia.
The new guidance, hailed as ‘landmark’ by the HSE, says dry cutting is now ‘unacceptable’ and water suppression techniques, already used by many suppliers and fabricators, is now a legal requirement not an optional extra.
This package of measures aims to protect workers from the dangers of breathing in silica dust released during the cutting of engineered stone. These dangers include silicosis, a deadly-but-preventable lung disease.
The deaths of two workers from silicosis in 2024 prompted calls for action on engineered stone cutting from MPs, trade unions, and medical professionals.
Australia introduced an outright ban on engineered stone in 2024, but the HSE said its own research suggests the material can still be processed safely if these strict controls are in place.
Suppliers and fabricators have argued that as long as recommended preventative measures are adhered to then the material is safe to use.
Speaking exclusively to kbbreview, Mike Calcutt, Deputy Director in HSE’s Engagement and Policy Division, said the changes were intended to clarify expectations for the industry.
“The exposure levels are five to ten times higher when you’re dry cutting than when you’re processing,” he said. “No worker should lose their life to a lung disease caused by their job, and that is why we have taken this action.
“We have spent the past two years conducting extensive research and industry engagement to understand the scale of this risk. What we found was stark. Many businesses are not putting the right controls in place, they are still using engineered stone with high silica content, and dry cutting which must stop.”
The implication of these new guidelines is clearly that, unlike Australia, the UK believes prevention, education and enforcement is enough to stop more silicosis cases and this will be a relief to material suppliers who have lobbied to prevent a ban.
However, while stopping short of an outright ban on engineered stone, the new guidance does advise fabricators to “work with stone containing the lowest crystalline silica content”.
Calcutt said that the lack of definition of ‘low’ or, indeed, ‘high’ is deliberate in the hope that the new preventative guidelines would encourage the sector’s natural direction of travel. “I think what we would expect people to do is to go as far as they can when they can,” he said.
Calcutt also revealed that the HSE is preparing a major inspection programme targeting 1,000 businesses.
“To every employer in this sector: the guidance is now published, the expectations are clear, and our inspectors are coming,” he said. “Those who are cutting corners are not just putting their workers at risk, they are undercutting the businesses doing things properly. We will create a level playing field.”
The Worktop Fabricators Federation (WFF) welcomed the tougher guidance but warned enforcement would be key.
“The updated guidelines are a step in a direction. The enforcement is the critical element,” said WFF chairman Nigel Fletcher.
“Often a clean website doesn’t mean a clean workshop. Quotes from some companies can be hundreds of pounds cheaper which is very appealing but you have to ask why. The answer is always that there has been no investment in respiratory protective equipment or infrastructure.”
However, Fletcher cautioned against seeing lower-silica materials as a complete solution: “[Silica dust] is one challenge, but low silica is not the same as safe,” he said. “Nobody should go home ill from work.”
Calcutt from the HSE said that retailers who specify high silica engineered stone have a “moral obligation” to use products with a lower content.
“I think if we’ve got unsupportive activities going on in the supply chain then I would be very interested in asking people who are specifying high silica engineered stone why they aren’t considering the alternatives and why they aren’t therefore …supporting the processing of engineered stone in premises that are compliant and are protecting their workers?”
Listen to the full interview with Mike Calcutt from the Health & Safety Executive on a special episode of The kbbreview Podcast. Use the player at the top of the story or go straight to it in your podcast app of choice…
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