The Queensland government announced an urgent safety warning regarding dry-cutting artificial stone benchtops after cases of a deadly lung disease were reported.
The crackdown stems from the coal miners’ Black Lung inquiry where the government was looking at risks of developing the life-threatening disease silicosis.
The government identified stonemasons dry cutting stone benchtops as being at serious risk of the irreversible condition.
The audit of 10 workplaces resulted in 26 people being found to be suffering from silicosis, and six of whom are in the serious category.