Hundreds of kitchen stonemasons are being exposed to deadly silica dust, with more than half of Britain’s quartz worktop fabricators failing to adhere to health and safety laws, it can be revealed.

A five-month campaign of unannounced visits by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on workshops producing kitchen counters made from engineered stone – or quartz – has revealed hundreds of breaches of regulations designed to protect workers from inhaling toxic dust responsible for silicosis, an incurable and often fatal lung condition. 

Of the 434 businesses inspected, 166 (38 per cent) were issued with legally-binding enforcement notices, as inspectors raised significant concerns following the discovery of dangerous or unsafe practices.

Failure to comply with an enforcement notice – compulsory orders requiring action such as the installation of new equipment or improved working practices – can result in criminal prosecution. 

Of those 166, the safety lapses were deemed to be so serious that 47 firms were hit with a prohibition notice, which imposes an immediate ban on the work activity in question. 

The HSE believes a significant number of these 47 prohibition notices – imposed where a life-threatening or serious risk of injury has been found – are for the “dry cutting” engineered stone without water, which causes exposure to dust responsible for poisoning dozens of stonemasons.

Dust ‘billowing’ out the door with workers handed inadequate masks

In one “shocking” case, inspectors arrived at a premises in the Midlands to find lethal engineered stone dust “billowing” out of the front door as workers equipped with inadequate face masks shaped worktops. 

The HSE clampdown, which aims to see all of the UK’s 1,000 worktop fabricators inspected by the end of March next year, is being taken after this newspaper’s Killer Kitchens campaign revealed the extent of the threat facing workers at the heart of the UK’s multibillion-pound-fitted kitchen industry. 

The cost of an engineered stone worktop starts at around £2,000, but those who make them can pay a deadly price. Almost 60 quartz stonemasons in the UK have so far been diagnosed with silicosis, with many falling ill or dying in their twenties, thirties and forties. 

Doctors believe the true number of silicosis cases is much higher and could reach as many as 1,000 people in a workforce of 7,000. Such is the toxicity of the dust generated from dry cutting engineered quartz that skilled stonecutters are feared to be developing the symptoms of silicosis after as little as a few months of exposure in unsafe workplaces.  

56 per cent of workshops in breach of safety rules

Figures provided to The i Paper show that 38 per cent of workshops visited since HSE inspections began in May were flouting safety regulations so badly that they were issued with enforcement notices.

In a further 18 per cent of cases (76 sites), companies were issued with written advice where safety contraventions were identified but fell below the threshold for legally-binding action. In total, 56 per cent of engineered stone workshops visited were found to be in breach of safety rules. 

Some 44 per cent of workshops were found to be adhering to the regulations. 

Safety bosses said the inspection regime had revealed a “very mixed picture” of safety standards within the kitchen worktop industry, and where breaches had been identified, the “majority” related to health issues related to working with engineered quartz. 

Harvey Wild, HSE’s head of operations, said: “Where we’re finding things that are wrong, there isn’t just one thing wrong – there’s multiple things wrong. We’re taking a very strong enforcement line and people are getting multiple notices. 

“We’re telling people that you need to put that and that right, and if you don’t do it, failure to comply with an improvement notice is a criminal offence.” 

Engineered quartz – the sought-after material exacting a lethal price

Quartz, which has boomed in popularity for home improvements in the last decade, is inert once it is cut and installed. But it represents a grim danger of debilitating disease to those who must hone and shape it. 

The threat posed by the man-made stone comes from “dry cutting”, where particles are emitted in a fine dust as slabs are cut.

Engineered stone often contains as much as 95 per cent silica quartz – far higher than natural stone such as granite (about 30 per cent) and marble (5 per cent). 

When engineered quartz dust – known as respirable crystalline silica (RCS) – is inhaled it lodges in the lungs, triggering an aggressive immune response from the body. Over time, scar tissue forms and spreads, slowly killing the lung. Many sufferers of silicosis remain asymptomatic until it is too late. 

‘Silica dust billowing out of the doorway’

Such is the threat posed by high levels of RCS that Australia has banned the use of engineered quartz, with California poised to do the same in the US.

In the UK, following pressure from The i Paper, the HSE this year unveiled its first ever regulatory guidance on engineered stone, telling firms dry cutting was banned. Workers must also be provided with electric respirators and regular health screening. 

But the agency said it had come across examples of extreme poor practice where the new rules were being openly flouted. 

Inspection notes from one site in Central England, shared with The i Paper, stated: “Inspectors arrived… to find silica dust billowing out of the doorway. The company who have three workers were dry cutting and polishing with hand-held rotary tools. This work activity was prohibited immediately.” 

Wild said: “We know there are people who are dying early so we’re expecting to find poor conditions. But dust billowing out of the door, that’s shocking. That’s what the inspection programme is here to do, to stop these things.” 

‘We’re up against people who are dry cutting and will sell for £1,000 cheaper’

The HSE’s guidelines ask worktop suppliers to switch to low-quartz alternatives and trade body the Worktop Fabricators’ Federation is also advising homeowners to ask questions about their worktop material and the conditions in the factory producing it. 

For employers such as Sam Hotten, owner of Stone Sense, a worktop fabricator in West Bromwich, such awareness would help level the playing field in a sector where he says responsible producers are being undercut by “rogue” operators who spurn safety rules. 

Hotten, whose firm of 15 employees produces up to 30 kitchen worktop assemblies per week, uses state-of-the-art wet-cutting tools, including a computerised precision saw, which cost £500,000 when the company was set up five years ago. 

He also spends £6,000 a year on testing and health surveillance for his staff, as well as the provision of respirators and specialist filtering and disposal of silica waste. Stone Sense passed its HSE inspection earlier this summer. 

The result, according to its owner, is that while responsible employers do what is required to lower the risk of silicosis, it creates a gap in the market for less reputable employers to profit from the risks posed by engineered stone. 

Hotten said: “I want my guys to be confident that they can go home and tell their family they are being properly looked after. The problem is we’re up against people who don’t do that, who are dry cutting and will sell a worktop for £1,000 cheaper than me. 

“And that’s very frustrating. I’m passionate about shining the light on the fact that this work can and should be done safely.” 

Inspections could lead to UK ban on engineered stone

The question remains of whether the UK should ultimately eliminate the risk posed by engineered quartz and follow Australia’s lead in banning the material, or whether the measures being put in place will prove sufficiently robust to end dangerous practices. 

The HSE expects to have completed its inspection regime by the end of next March, after which it said it will review its findings. 

Wild said: “These inspections will build up a picture that will feed into and inform policy work. Part of the process is understanding how big the problem is. It’s the best intelligence you’re going to get. We’re walking through the door and we’re seeing what’s there.”