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Australia to ban engineered stone

abc.net.au

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Re: Australia to ban engineered stone

#481

Post by amluto »

xupybd wrote: post #265
amluto wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm, this isn’t crazy. IIRC in the nineties and earlier, porcelain tile countertops were very common. Granite and marble were exotic. Porcelain is high in silicates, but not so high in silica. Glaze is (I think) amorphous, like glass. And your average tile installer cuts with a wet saw. Marble is mostly calcium carbonate. Granite contains lots of quartz.

Engineered stone is easy to cut on site. Real cheap to work with that's why it beat Porcelain. I don't think Porcelain is as dangerous.

Porcelain is also easy to cut with a tile saw, and tile saws make very little dust. Porcelain tile doesn’t look fun to cut with a dremel or angle grinder.

Re: Australia to ban engineered stone

#482

Post by xhdusux »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #473
IlliOnato wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, the product does not cause death, at least not according to this article. It is production that causes severe and potentially deadly illness. And not because the production process inherently deadly, but because of rampant non-compliance with safety standards. The article does not explain why an obvious solution: certification and severe (severe!) fines for non-compliance would not work. Probably a political is…

> article. It is production that causes severe and potentially deadly illness. No. It is the cutting of the product (often on-site at the residence) to fit the kitchen or bathroom that causes silica dust. Workers not wearing mask protection and not using proper ventilation fans and vacuums breathe in the dust. The odd thing is silica dust is also present in natural stones like quartz (very popular in America right no…

It's in the article they're banning imports later.

Re: Australia to ban engineered stone

#483

Post by some_random »

Incipient wrote: post #89
dylan604 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's so funny to me how many non-americans just assume their country is perfect because they apparently don't pay attention to their local news. Or maybe it's just nationalism, hard to say.

Re: Australia to ban engineered stone

#484

Post by amanda99 »

10u152 wrote: post #406
Modified3019 wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes sense, this kind of work can have an extremely “toxic” anti-ppe culture that’s impossible to mitigate against without outright burning the industry to the ground. Fines and inspections are easy to dodge when everyone involved is trying to do so. Hell I work in agronomy and it’s hard enough getting seasonal helpers to wear earplugs when riding ATVs all day. Then there was an old supervisor from a former oil chan…

I work in the construction industry. We have about 1:10 ratio of “supervision” to contractors. Getting people to wear PPE is a constant, ongoing 12 hour a day battle. We kick about 1 person off site permanently, every day for something egregiously dumb. The contractor just sends them to another job. And of all the places I’ve worked, my current employer is one of the best, takes it very seriously.

Had a friend who worked in construction. He said every day the workplace health & safety person would come in and show them a video of the "dumb [expletive] of the day" doing something very stupid by not following WHS rules, and suffering the consequences of it. Allegedly this helped with compliance quite a fair bit.

Re: Australia to ban engineered stone

#485

Post by _3u10 »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #237
_3u10 wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those fluids are carcinogenic to drink, not to get on your skin. Don’t be a scold, show the benefit, which is it’s easier to clean up after work. Also latex gloves cause latex allergies frequently, vinyl gloves can be a good alternative.

Buna nitrile is the goat

Yes thats it, I was thinking of nitrile not vinyl

Re: Australia to ban engineered stone

#486

Post by WaitWaitWha »

But, can they be imported? Asking because the need for engineered products is not going away, and just because a government wants something banned it does not mean it will be gone as history shown time and time again.

My guess is within a few months larger companies will just shift their production out of jurisdiction, and smaller ones go out of business.

Re: Australia to ban engineered stone

#487

Post by unnouinceput »

WaitWaitWha wrote: post #486

But, can they be imported? Asking because the need for engineered products is not going away, and just because a government wants something banned it does not mean it will be gone as history shown time and time again. My guess is within a few months larger companies will just shift their production out of jurisdiction, and smaller ones go out of business.

Quote: "The federal government will also impose a ban on imported engineered stone to provide an "additional layer of enforcement and deterrence at the border", however the date has not been finalised yet."

Re: Australia to ban engineered stone

#488

Post by kingnothing »

TylerE wrote: post #121
bobsmooth wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asbestos was banned but lead is still used in many things.

It’s been banned in new residential construction since 1978.

Lead was banned in a few specific products like paint.

You can still find it all over the place in things like cabinet pulls, door handles, and even ceramic tile.

Re: Australia to ban engineered stone

#489

Post by xxs »

eggy wrote: post #476

What about coal mining in Australia? Should they ban it too? It produces 80% of their electricity, and a low death rate from direct mining incidents, but a 26% increase in mortality compared to the general population most likely due to respiratory and stress-related issues.[0,1] CWP (Coal Miner's Pneumoconiosis) is the long-term risk vs. the mining accidents, and it involves silicosis too. The US and Australia have l…

need more what-about-ism,

Re: Australia to ban engineered stone

#490

Post by xxs »

HlessClaudesman wrote: post #383
Hawxy wrote: post #169

It's very much worth reading the full reasoning within the SafeWork decision (page 56): https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/default/files/202... SafeWork's view is that the industry is too much of a non-compliant mess to recommend any other option apart from a complete ban.

To protect the workers we must fire them.

It's quite certain the workers can make/fit countertops from other materials as well.
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