'Killer kitchen dust' crackdown: A step forward - but not a new solution

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has announced the measure along with other guidance. This is has been reported as a “crackdown” but has anything new been put into force? 

Not a new ban — but reinforced obligations

Beneath the headlines, this is less a new legal framework - and more a long overdue enforcement of obligations that have always existed.

As reported by The i Paper, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has now made clear that dry cutting engineered stone is unacceptable and that water suppression methods are required to control exposure to hazardous silica dust - released when cutting stone and which can cause irreversible diseases like silicosis and lung cancer.

However, employers have long been under a legal duty to control the measures of dust. 

What has been introduced

From a legal perspective, this development should be understood with some caution.

There has been significant focus on the idea of a ‘ban’. But what has actually been introduced is new guidance for cutting and polishing engineered stone using powered hand-held rotary tools (known as ST3A guidance). 

This guidance reinforces existing obligations under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH), gives greater clarity on what constitutes adequate control measures and specifically prohibits dry cutting of quartz. This is not the introduction of new law — it is the re-emphasis of long-standing duties under COSHH. 

In that sense, the most important shift is not the wording of the guidance, but the intent to enforce it. The HSE plans to carry out more than 1,000 inspections and has reiterated the risk of criminal sanctions for non-compliance. 

Silicosis: A preventable disease that's still emerging

Against that background, the human impact is stark and I see the devastating impact of silica exposure through my work representing workers diagnosed with diseases such as silicosis.

Silicosis linked to engineered stone is:

• Entirely preventable, but incurable once developed
• Affecting young workers at an accelerated rate
• Emerging after shorter exposure periods than traditionally seen

The HSE’s research, underpinning the new ST3A guidance, makes this point even more forcefully. It has identified that:

• Safer alternatives are available, including engineered stone with lower crystalline silica content.
• Suitable control measures — such as water suppression and ventilation — are already widely understood and used.

Conclusion

This renewed focus on enforcement is a positive step forward but it needs to translate into meaningful action on the ground in order to prevent further cases of this devastating and avoidable disease. 

Find out more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise in supporting workers diagnosed with silicosis at our dedicated silicosis claims section.