Silica in the News
Victorian stonemason Karl Hanson had to give away the job he loved after it led to deadly lung disease silicosis.
Victorian father-of-five Karl Hanson loved his job as a stonemason, but it left his lungs riddled with the deadly disease silicosis, and inspired a plea to ban hazardous building materials.
Read more: sbs.com.au
The Andrews Labor Government will launch an unprecedented compliance and enforcement blitz targeting over 300 high-risk workplaces – focusing on stonemasonry workshops to prevent the deadly lung disease silicosis.
The comprehensive action plan, unveiled by Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister for Workplace Safety Jill Hennessy today, includes:
A state-wide ban on uncontrolled dry cutting of materials that contain crystalline silica dust
Free health screening for Victoria’s 1400 stonemasons
A tough new compliance code for businesses working with silica
An awareness campaign to highlight the risks of working with engineered stone.
Read more: miragenews.com
The Egyptian pyramids and the Great Wall of China would not have been built without stonemasons, but finding a tradesman to simply cut a hole in a kitchen benchtop is getting harder in Queensland as the silicosis epidemic takes hold.
A Queensland Government audit of the state's stone industry last year found 98 workers had contracted silicosis, with 15 of those cases considered terminal.
Read more: abc.net.au
A new federal taskforce to tackle the growing lung disease crisis does not go far enough, a leading legal advocate argues.
The federal Coalition has promised $5 million to set up a dedicated taskforce to deal with the fallout of potentially thousands of workers across the country being diagnosed with the deadly lung disease silicosis.
Read more: brisbanetimes.com.au
A national dust diseases taskforce will be created under a $5 million plan by the Morrison government to address the worsening occupational lung disease crisis.
Ahead of the federal election, the government has promised to spend $5 million to establish a dedicated taskforce, to set up a national dust diseases register and to commission research into the nature, prevention and treatment of occupational lung diseases.
Read more: theage.com.au
A concerning trend of Australian workers contracting the lung disease silicosis has prompted the federal government to establish a task force aimed at preventing dust diseases.
Medical professionals, industry figures, researchers and government officials will make up the National Dust Diseases Task Force, with the Morrison government stumping up $5 million for the group.
Read more: 9news.com.au
Karl Hansen loved working with his hands but he never thought the job he was so passionate about would send him towards an early grave.
For 13 years, the father of five created beautiful benchtops from manufactured stone, until he received the devastating news that he needed to pack up his tools, stop work immediately and never step foot in a stone factory again.
Karl had been diagnosed with silicosis – an aggressive and incurable lung disease which is so serious, health experts are warning it is the new asbestosis. Read more: 9news.com.au
A father-of-two who was diagnosed with silicosis after working as a stonemason has recently learned his wife is also battling a life threatening illness.
Nick Larrodary was forced to stop work after the disease's side effects - which are now being compared to asbestos exposure - took a toll on his body. Read more: dailymail.co.uk
Retired Queensland miner Terry Blanch worked in the underground coal mining industry for 30 years, but was diagnosed with silicosis at the beginning of 2017.
He said it took him two-and-half-years, three specialists and a number of doctors to be officially diagnosed.
Mr Blanch said he was disappointed mining company-appointed doctors — who told him he had bronchitis — did not know how to read chest X-rays correctly. Read more: abc.net.au
A recent ABC News article titled “Silicosis death of Anthony White sparks calls for action to address ‘nationwide epidemic'” addressed the tragic death of a Gold Coast stonemason from this disease.
It is an insidious disease, caused by inspiring the crystalline silica found in manufactured stone bathroom and kitchen benchtops.
While manufactured stone fittings such as these have gained in popularity relatively recently, the disease has long been recognised as a problem, the origin of the word “silicosis” having been traced back to 1870, with the disease itself having been recognised much earlier than that, in Greek and Roman times.
Read more: kottgunn.com.au
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