Increased Regulations for Working with Silica

Victoria, and Western Australian have recently made, or about to make, changes to their health and safety regulations regarding working with Engineered Stone products containing crystalline silica, greatly increasing the obligations, controls and systems required.

Engineered stone means a manufactured composite stone material which contains 40% or more crystalline silica.

Victoria

Victoria Has recently issued the Occupational Health and Safety Amendment (Crystalline Silica) Regulations 2021 and an associated 75-page regulatory impact statement which are open for public comment until the 18 February. The amendment will include a number of changes including:

• Manufacturer and/or supplier are now required to identify the % of crystalline silica contained in a substance, provide contact information of manufacturer and supplier, and outline recommended exposure controls, exposure standards, engineering controls and personal protection information in relation to the crystalline silica substance, information relating to handling and storage of the crystalline silica substance. This information is to be kept up to date and be reviewed at least every 5 years.

• Any power tools used on engineered stone must have an integrated water delivery system or an on-tool dust extraction (which meets relevant standards).

• Respiratory protection must be provided, its use enforced, and quantitative fit testing assessments undertaken to prove the respirator provides adequate protection to each worker.

• Employees are to be trained in the use of power tools, risks and controls of working with engineered stone products and use of PPE.

• Employers are to undertake a risk assessment to identify if any work is High Risk Crystalline Silica (HRCS) work, where:

  • High risk crystalline silica work is work likely to result in an airborne concentration of respirable crystalline silica that exceeds half the exposure standard for respirable crystalline silica.

  • A crystalline silica hazard control statement is to be developed for HRCS work, including the hazards and risks associated with that work, controls to be in place for identified hazards.

  • If a Crystalline Silica Hazard Control statement is not in place, then an Engineered Stone Control Plan is required to be developed before work that requires an engineered stone licence is undertaken which includes: tasks to be undertaken, hazards/risks, controls, and updated with changes

• Employers must hold an engineered stone licence if an engineered stone process is undertaken at the workplace for which they are responsible.

• A supplier of engineered stone must only supply to an engineered stone licence holder.

• Health monitoring to be conducted by specialist occupational and environmental physician for all relevant employees, with reports to be provided to Authorities within 30 days.

These changes are focused primarily on the stonemason, construction, mining and manufacturing sectors, as well as 24 sub-industries which includes bricklayers, carpenters and joiners, cement manufacturing, concreters, plasterers, and tilers, along with stonemasons.

Western Australia

The Western Australian Government has made the Occupational Safety and Health Amendment Regulations 2021 to impose more stringent health surveillance rules on sectors where workers are exposed to respirable crystalline silica, like the engineered stone, stonemasonry and construction industries.

The legislation requires employers to arrange low-dose high-resolution computed topography (HRCT) chest scans of their silica-exposed workers, instead of chest x-rays.

The changes will apply from January 2021, with a three-month grace period.

This follows the October 2020 legislation changes where the workplace exposure standard for respirable crystalline silica (RCS) has been halved to an eight-hour time-weighted average of 0.05mg per cubic metre.