A New Hazard is Making Headlines: Quartz Countertops

If you have been in a newly remodeled home, a new build, or on social media at all in recent years, you have likely seen (and admired) quartz countertops. What is interesting about quartz countertops is not that they are prolific and in every home, but it is the fact that they are causing disastrous health issues in able bodied young people at alarming and increasing rates. If you are an employer or employee that deals in any type of home renovation, construction, or even repair work, this may concern you. For years, quartz countertops have been fabricated and fitted into homes without much controversy. Today, controversy is brewing. Here is why.

From 2019 through 2026, a five year timeframe, the state of California has identified nearly 600 workers that have suffered from or is suffering from silicosis. Silicosis is terminal lung disease caused by the workers breathing in crystalline silica. Crystalline silica is found in engineered stone slabs because these stone slabs are made by mixing quartz powder, polyester resin, pigments, etc. Quartz is the most common form of crystalline silica. This crystalline silica gets into the air and into the lungs of the workers when the workers cut, grind, or polish these slabs. Once that crystalline silica gets into their lungs, these workers cannot breath because of inflammation and scarring. The crystalline silica cannot be taken out, and silicosis progresses very quickly.

Many of the workers suffering from silicosis are young people who can work physically demanding jobs such as cutting, grinding, and polishing stone slabs. These are people who are relatively young, have many years before retirement, able-bodied, and would have otherwise been healthy. That is why silicosis is so alarming. It is causing severe illness and rapid death in otherwise healthy young people. In fact, many of these workers do not only suffer from silicosis. They also suffer from other illnesses that manifest at the same time such as tuberculosis and autoimmune diseases. Thus, silicosis is causing terminal illness and co-illnesses in otherwise healthy young people.

For employers, the California Department of Health believes that silicosis can be prevented. New law requires employers to reduce or eliminate silica dust exposure by requiring better training, using water-based tools, and providing better ventilation systems. According to the new law, workers must apply “a constant, continuous, and appropriate volume of running water directly onto the surface” of the quartz when cutting, grinding, or polishing the quartz. Other wet methods can include submersing the entire quartz underwater or cutting the quartz with a water jet or high pressure water. In addition, the silica must be filtered out of the water if the water will be reused. Of course, none of these practices can ever make workers completely safe from the harms of crystalline silica. Common sense goes a long way in such cases.

It is believed that approximately 2 million workers are exposed to silica in their workplaces, the bulk of this group does work in the construction industry. It is important for employers and employees to take extra precaution and perhaps look for more ways to protect employees that are specific to their work environment, work schedules, and workplace protective gear. In addition, it is important for employers and employees to keep an eye out for symptoms of silicosis: difficulty breathing, a long persistent cough, chest pain, back pain, muscle weakness, night sweats, fever, chest pain, fatigue, and unexplained weight loss.