The growing popularity of artificial stone or “quartz” kitchen worktops in Britain has led to an increased risk of serious and incurable lung disease for workers who cut them to size, a study has warned.
Artificial stone, also known as reconstituted or engineered stone, or quartz, is made from crushed rocks bound together with resins and pigments.
Although the substance offers aesthetic benefits and is easier to work with than natural stone such as granite, eight cases of artificial stone silicosis (AS) have now been identified by doctors in Britain, researchers said.
All cases of illness in the UK have been directly linked to dust inhalation by workers cutting kitchen worktops to size before installation, with no cases reported. at the counter owners.
Doctors have suggested that the British government should follow Australia’s lead and consider banning the material.
Silicosis is a chronic, incurable lung disease that has been known for millennia, caused by the inhalation of tiny, needle-like silica flakes in dust by those working with certain types of stone, sand and clay, which can then shred the lungs.
The study shows that the risk only affects people who cut the fabric, but the disease has previously been reported in people who work with denim jeans and jewelry.
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It is known that the slaves who built the pyramids about 4,500 years ago in ancient Egypt and the workers who built the Greek temples 2,500 years ago suffered from it.
In recent decades, outbreaks have been reported among people who work with pencils, denim jeans, dental supplies and jewelry, according to an editorial in the journal Thorax written by Dr. Christopher Barber of Sheffield University Hospitals.
He noted: “Given the availability of engineered stone kitchen worktops, the arrival of engineered stone silicosis in the UK has been feared by clinicians for some time.”
A study, also published in Thorax, found: “The increasing use of artificial stones has led to the emergence of a progressive and severe accelerated form of silicosis.”
Barber said: “By design, these worktops have a very high silica content to make them more resilient and durable. Processing them dry with power tools without the use of water suppression, local exhaust ventilation and respiratory protective equipment exposes workers to very high levels of airborne silica dust. In many cases, they are two orders of magnitude higher than legal exposure limits.”
Scan of the lungs of a person with silicosis
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Cases of AS silicosis have been identified in Israel, Spain, Italy, the USA, China, Australia and Belgium. No cases had been recorded in the UK until the middle of last year, when eight cases were referred to a single specialist clinic.
They were all men, with an average age of 34, working in small businesses with fewer than ten employees. None of them worked in the manufacturing or installation of the worktops, but rather in the “finishing” process, which involved cutting and polishing the artificial stone worktops before installation.
They all worked without water to capture dust, without adequate masks and with poor or no ventilation. “None of them were aware of workplace airborne dust monitoring,” the study found.
Barber said many of them were “migrant workers whose first language is not English, who
“People with silica may have a poor understanding of the health risks and limited access to health care,” and said the eight cases involved people who “were not receiving annual health surveillance, a legal requirement for people exposed to silica in the workplace.”
The study concluded: “The introduction of a legal obligation to report AS silicosis cases, the implementation of health and safety regulations focused on small businesses and a ban on AS in the UK (such as that introduced in Australia in 2024) should be considered.”
