A major supplier of engineered stone wil refuse to sell to fabricators who do not toe the line over safety.
NZ Panels Group has announced that as of July, it will refuse to supply fabricators who fail to sign up to a voluntary accreditation scheme designed to protect workers from toxic silica dust that causes incurable silicosis.
Chief executive Lou Cadman said their larger stone buyers had good safety standards, but about two thirds of their 60 or so customers had not bothered to get accredited, and that was not good enough.
“We’ve gone out to all our fabricators and just said, ‘you have to get your house in order.’”
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NZ Panels Group chief executive Lou Cadman says the company will not supply engineered stone fabricators who are not making an effort to meet voluntary safety standards, and is shifting to lower silica engineered stone later this year.
Those already registered in the scheme have until the end of the year to meet the highest silver and gold standards.
Pressure on the industry has been mounting because of evidence that workers can get sick from even short exposure to dust created when engineered stone is cut and polished.
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Woods is awaiting a report on options to improve safety standards, including banning imports of engineered stone and introducing mandatory licencing for fabricators.
Earlier this week Construction Health and Safety New Zealand (CHASNZ) and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions called for a speedier response to the silicosis issue because out of 130 fabricators only 26 were fully accredited.
Cadman said that in the past they refused to sell engineered stone to the sort of people who “wanted to cut it up on their driveway with an angle grinder.”
Joseph Johnson/Stuff
Preventing dust exposure is a key part of safety guidelines promoted through a voluntary accreditation scheme for engineered stone fabricators, but there is pressure to have it made mandatory.
The company tried to inspect customers’ premises to ensure they used wet cutting equipment and properly fitted respirators to minimise dust exposure.
“We decided that was not robust enough. What they do when you are there, and what they do when you turn your back … we have said you must sign up [for accreditation].”
NZ Panels Group is also shifting from engineered stone with high levels of crystalline silica (more than 80%) to products containing no more than 40%.
Cadman said the stone will be tested by an independent laboratory to ensure that Chinese-manufacturers maintain standards, because they do not want to be caught out the way the reinforced steel industry was.
“They assumed that based on tests on the first shipment, it [the steel] would continue to comply, we’re going to make sure we keep testing.
”You can’t just stick your head in the sand and say it’s all OK
“They [manufacturers] are prone to winning business off people and them modifying recipes over time, and if people don’t check, they just carry on.”
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Lower silica engineered stone is becoming more widely available, but it may cost more.
Cadman says architects, designers, joiners, fabricators and builders have been notified of the shift to low silica products which perform as well as the higher silica versions, but they will cost about $100 to $150 per slab more.
Despite information about health risks associated with working engineered stone being available for some years, Cadman says low silica stone was hard to get, but that was changing rapidly.
So far, pressure to look for safer alternative products has not come from homeowners ordering new kitchen and bathroom bench tops because they are not directly affected by the safety issues.
“Once it’s in the house, it’s inert once it is cut and installed, provided there is no cutting done on site, which it never should be,” Cadman said