301–310 of 542 posts
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There are safe levels of alcohol consumption.
It's poison, there is no safe level. "No level of alcohol consumption is safe when it comes to human health, according to a WHO statement released in January, 2023." https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanrhe/article/PIIS2665-9...
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if this was an american decision, i'd suggest the natural stone lobby was better than the engineered stone lobby.
We really don't have the same overt paid lobbying here (aka bribery) that you have in the US. Don't get me wrong our politicians are just as morally bankrupt and self-serving, but it doesn't happen at the same coordinated scale.
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Why not use other materials? Modified acrylic or compact laminate? That will save lives.
Although good materials, acrylics and laminates are not quite as durable as engineered stone countertops. They tend to show more wear over time, and are more prone to damage from extreme heat etc. Some may consider the look and feel of stone to be more "premium". But of course they're cheaper and lighter and probably still cheaper than stone even if you end up replacing them a couple of times over the lifetime of the…
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It’s incredible how bad tradies are at PPE. When my solar panels were being installed on my house, the electrician was happily about to drill through asbestos cement eave lining before I stopped him, and at least made him put on a disposable P2 respirator mask I had lying around. But he still released asbestos fibres into the air and the ceiling cavity where his colleagues were working, and will have got it on his cl…
Sadly that's just the culture. I've seen apprentices laughed at by old timers and called pussies because they were taking basic precautions and wearing PPE. And then to fit in they themselves took on that same attitude.
He can't have been much older than 20.
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From the link: > "What we found ... was that the natural products we had in the panel of products that we assessed actually caused the biggest inflammatory response," Professor Zosky said. I'm not sure why they are saying it's the engineering. Their own study says that natural stone products are worse than the engineered products! It's probably there's a larger number of cases of silicosis from engineered products de…
Weirdly enough, The article hints that the legislation won't ban natural stone. What alternatives are there to engineered stone? * Natural stone
I don't understand how banning it does anything to address the underlying problem of people wilfully ignoring PPE/safe working practices. One of the "Suggested safer alternatives" is Granite which can have silica content up to 45% (Engineered stone being 95%+) So instead of 2 years to develop silicosis it will instead take 4 years of working with the "safe alternatives"? All the people who were cutting engineered sto…
this is so dumb... quarry workers probably get silicosis...from cutting natural stone? MDF is still legal - and is horrible material *most building materials are toxic wtf has been achieved here? Seems like someone has buddies in industry and has lobbied for a ban on offshore produced building material to keep "honest local industries afloat"...ffs.
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The building industry in Australia is filled almost entirely with independent contractors. Mostly single people, working on a contract to the house builder/project manager. So there is little room for that. But I agree, this would be good. But I think the decision here is basically that, in practice, it's very difficult to actually get people to follow the required practices, in practice. As has been shown in practic…
In this case I guess the independent contractor ends up accepting the responsibility for not taking their own safety precautions seriously: they get silicosis. I feel for the people who were early in the industry who had no idea this could happen to them, but now that it's known, if a contractor doesn't feel like taking appropriate precautions, then they get what they deserve. Banning an entire industry because peopl…
It doesn’t just affect them. Everyone nearby gets exposed. People who come later to clean get exposed. Customers can get exposed.
asbestos was banned for similar reasons, or are you saying that it shouldn’t have been banned either because of “people cutting corners with ppe” - it too is perfectly safe when handled safely
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Maybe. Or it's the dose, which sounds quite high when working with engineered stone.
It's the bozos working with the stuff without proper PPE. I watched a grave marker carver absolutely bathing in dust with just a thin bandanna, I was in there for 5 minutes and was left choking in their hazardous work environment. WitH sufficient PPE and dust control, it's not a problem. This is just barking up the wrong tree because they can't get workers to not be idiots, so they pick a scapegoat to ban at random.…
> A total of 12 successful prosecutions have been reported since 2021, with many related to the uncontrolled processing (dry cutting) of engineered stone materials
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/default/files/202...
Is this stuff really so loved that we absolutely must have it, even if we aren't entirely sure what in it causes these effects? Is there really absolutely no other options available? That is we will now go hungry as there is no more tables in world to prepare our food on...
Engineered stone is cheaper than "real" stone (granite) and sturdier than other alternatives (mostly wood-based materials). But no, the world won't end because of this ban. What people are getting worked up about is that stone has been worked on for centuries, and will also keep being worked on in the future, and there are proven methods of preventing silicosis while working on it (wearing PPE, vacuuming up the dust…
It’s not short sighted to save lives