Silicosis and black lung disease in Queensland coal mines have caused alarm among Australian health practitioners. People are diagnosed with silicosis, which is linked to newer engineered stone products used for kitchen and bathroom benchtops.

Dr. Anthony Johnson, addressing a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry as a member of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, revealed that he and others doctors in Melbourne and Sydney recorded an increasing number of silicosis cases. Speaking to Fairfax Media, he said it was a disease they commonly saw in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, specifically among people who were jack-hammering Sydney sandstone.

Maurice Blackburn Lawyers’ Theodora Ahilas also told Fairfax Media that her firm has several new clients with silicosis. She said that people exposed to silica dust or cement dust, as well as those who develop renal failure, auto immune conditions or pulmonary fibrosis, are not covered under dust diseases legislation for statutory compensation.

Silicosis from dust exposure

Last month, the Medical Journal of Australia published an article by Johnson and five colleagues about a silicosis case obtained from dust exposure in the workplace. "In almost all reported cases, there was little adherence to basic protection measures, such as provision of appropriate ventilation systems and use of personal protective equipment," the article reads. It also notes benchtop stonemasonry as a “potentially dangerous occupation," thus urging practitioners to have heightened awareness of this health-threatening occupation.

Slabs of engineered stone are typically cut and finished with an angle grinder. Clouds of silica particles are released, causing significant health risks if inhaled.

Respiratory physician Susan Miles told the inquiry that unlike in other countries, there is no centralised system or process for the collection of information on occupational lung disease in NSW. Meanwhile, NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge has recognised that the re-emergence of industrial dust diseases may reflect deterioration in the country’s work health and safety standards.

Shoebridge argued that silicosis can be prevented by ensuring safe workplaces. However, attacks on union rights as well as dismantling on state industrial inspectors has put lives at risk. "Twenty years ago, unions and inspectors would have shut down unsafe workshops,” Sydney Morning Herald quotes him as saying.

icare​, the NSW government's insurance and care services provider, assured that silicosis is covered by the Dust Diseases Scheme. An icare​ spokesperson stressed a compensation if the condition is attributed to workplace exposure while at work in NSW.

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