The Engineered Stone Ban Was Just the Start. Silica Dust Is Still Destroying Workers' Lungs.
The dry-cutting ban on engineered stone was an important step. Two young workers died. HSE acted. The message was clear: silica dust from engineered stone is lethal, and dry cutting produces enough of it to kill.
But engineered stone is only part of the picture.
What Silica Dust Actually Is
Respirable crystalline silica (RCS) is produced when common construction and building materials are cut, drilled, ground or sanded. Bricks, concrete, mortar, tiles, slate, sandstone, granite — all contain silica. All produce fine dust when worked.
The dust particles are small enough to pass deep into the lungs. Under normal lighting conditions, you cannot see them. Workers are often unaware they are breathing them in.
The Health and Safety Executive describes silica as the biggest risk to construction workers after asbestos.
The Disease Has No Cure
Silicosis is the lung disease caused by prolonged exposure to silica dust. It is progressive and irreversible. Once lung tissue is damaged by silica, it does not recover.
Workers can develop silicosis after years of moderate exposure or after shorter periods of heavy exposure. Silicosis itself increases the risk of lung cancer and tuberculosis. There is no treatment that reverses the damage — only management of symptoms.
That makes prevention the only meaningful option. By the time a worker is diagnosed, the harm has already been done.
HSE's Enforcement Position
Occupational lung disease is a declared enforcement priority for the Health and Safety Executive across 2025 and 2026. Silica sits at the centre of that priority.
HSE inspectors are conducting more than 1,000 site visits and inspections, specifically targeting silica dust control. Companies without adequate controls in place are receiving improvement notices, prohibition notices and prosecutions.
In one documented case, a stone worktop manufacturer was fined £60,000 after HSE inspectors visited the site nine times over six years and found repeated failures to control silica dust exposure.
In another case, a property company was fined £63,000 for ignoring HSE warnings, with inspectors returning four times in 13 months and shutting the site down twice.
Fines of this scale are increasingly common. The HSE has made clear it will not accept repeated non-compliance on dust control.
What the Law Requires
Silica is a hazardous substance under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH). Employers are legally required to:
- Assess the risk of exposure to silica for any relevant work activity
- Eliminate or reduce exposure as far as is reasonably practicable
- Where elimination is not possible, apply adequate controls — water suppression or on-tool extraction as a minimum, with appropriate respiratory protective equipment (RPE) where residual risk remains
- Implement health surveillance for workers with regular silica exposure
Following the engineered stone ban, HSE also updated its guidance on health surveillance for those exposed to respirable crystalline silica in March 2025.
Which Workers Are at Risk
Any worker who regularly cuts, drills, grinds or sands the following materials is potentially at risk:
- Bricks and masonry
- Concrete and concrete blocks
- Tiles (floor, wall, and roof)
- Mortar and render
- Stone (natural and engineered)
- Slate
That includes bricklayers, tilers, kitchen and bathroom fitters, stonemasons, groundworkers, and any trade carrying out alteration or refurbishment work on older structures.
What to Do
If you have workers carrying out any of the above activities, the starting point is ensuring silica is identified and assessed in your COSHH assessments and method statements, and that the correct controls — wet cutting, dust extraction, RPE — are not just listed on paper but actually used in practice.
HSE guidance on silica dust is available at hse.gov.uk/construction/healthrisks/cancer-and-construction/silica-dust.htm.
If you need help building silica dust controls into your risk assessments, COSHH assessments or site documentation, get in touch.
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