Approximately 587,000 Australian workers were exposed to silica dust in the workplace in 2011. It has been estimated that 5,758 of these will develop a lung cancer over the course of their life because of silica dust exposure.
Employers and other persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs) have a primary duty of care to ensure a safe work environment, including providing safe systems of work, equipment and training.
Businesses must manage the health and safety risks from silica dust at work by using the hierarchy of control measures. This ranks control measures from the highest level of protection to the lowest.
Work with crystalline silica that is likely to produce a large amount of respirable crystalline silica or pose a health risk to a person in a workplace is defined as high-risk crystalline silica work.
From 1 July 2024, there is a ban on nearly all work that involves the manufacture, supply, processing, or installation of engineered stone benchtops, panels, and slabs. A ban on the importation of engineered stone benchtops, panels or slabs took effect on the 1 January 2025.