A stonemason who contracted a deadly lung disease after cutting a material popular in kitchen makeovers has called for it to be banned in the UK amid a new wave of global cases in young workers.
Malik Al-Khalil, 31, is among the first UK-based kitchen countertop workers diagnosed with silicosis after inhaling toxic dust from grinding engineered stone.
Speaking from his hospital bed, Mr Al-Khalil, a Syrian refugee who has lived in the UK for 10 years, is the first in the group to go public with his illness, and to call for the new Labour government to issue a ban on the high-silica material.
Mr Al-Khalil, who developed silicosis after five years of working with the stone, said he knows a growing number of engineered stone workers with the incurable illness, including a friend who has to use a mobility scooter as he can no longer walk.
Silicosis is an occupational disease that can destroy the lungs of workers who inhale particles of dust known as repairable crystalline silica (RCS) when cutting stone or rock without adequate safety measures in place.
The disease can cause scarring and inflammation of the lungs, severe breathing problems and increase the risk of lung infections and can ultimately be fatal if the lungs stop working properly or serious complications develop.
It has ravaged workers in sectors from mining to construction for decades, with an average of 12 UK deaths per year over the 10 years to 2021, although the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says available sources are likely to substantially underestimate case numbers.
There were no safety measures such as ‘wet’ cutting to suppress dust or specialist PPE to protect the workers, who were just provided with standard masks, he said.
A machine to extract dust did not work properly with the firm he worked for failing to clean it regularly and health and safety inspections not carried out, he said.
Sounds like the problem is insufficient health and safety enforcement, rather than the stone worktops per se.
Yeah this is not exclusive to “engineered” stone at all. Asbestos is a naturally ocurring mineral.
Similar cases happened in Australia leading to government intervention.
There are ways of making it safe, but those ways cost time and money.
Companies (and the individuals who work for them, this guy is not a complete innocent here) have shown time and again that “guidelines” are simply ignored and regulations and fines - or outright bans - are the only way to deal with this shit.
All workers see is that today they have cut and installed 15 countertops in this new apartment block. The more they do in a day, the more money both they and the company get, and that’s a powerful motivation for all parties to turn a blind eye to safety issues.
