A full ban on the use of engineered stone in Australia has been recommended due to its links with an incurable disease that’s killing tradies.
Workplace health and safety ministers will meet on Friday to determine whether to adopt the findings from a Safe Work Australia report.
Ahead of the meeting, federal minister Tony Burke said the decision to ban the product was now with the states but confirmed he wanted to see it outlawed.
“I want as soon as possible for people to be safe when they go to work. It’s as simple as that,” he told ABC Radio.
“I don’t believe there’s any section of Australia that will look lightly at the reality of people losing their lives because they went to work.”
Engineered benchtops, which have become a trendy feature in many Australian kitchens and bathrooms, contain a high concentration of crystalline silica.
The silica dust from cutting the engineered stone benchtops can lead to the potentially deadly disease silicosis as well as lung cancer.
Silicosis is incurable and is caused by inhaling tiny particles of silica dust.
The Safe Work Australia report considered three options: a regulation system, a ban of anything with 40 per cent silica content, and a complete ban, Mr Burke said.
“It’s come back with a very strong recommendation in favour of a ban,” he told ABC’s Radio National.
“I intend to get the agreement (from the states) so it can be publicly released, as people have a right to know why there is such a strong recommendation.”
Another meeting will be scheduled for later this year for ministers to make the final decision.
While he could not say when action would be taken, Mr Burke said the public would not “not be disappointed” by the pace of action.
“I don’t get a sense from any jurisdictions that they’re looking to delay,” he said.
Ministers have had the report since August. On Friday, they will vote to release it.
The CFMEU has vowed to ban its members from working with engineered stone products from July next year if federal and state governments do not act.
Last month, the national construction union wrote to Bunnings to urge it to immediately pull engineered stone benchtops from its product line-up.
“It is unconscionable for Bunnings to continue promoting and selling this killer product when there is no need to do so,” CFMEU boss Zach Smith wrote.
Mr Burke stressed if people had the product in their homes, there was no immediate risk, as the issue was either at installation, renovation or removal stages.
“We will be dealing with this, a legacy product, for decades to come,” he said.
Mr Burke said he would be surprised if the industry campaign against a full ban continued after the full report’s release.