Annex IV: Further information on the status quo

Inspectors have made it clear that uncontrolled cutting, grinding, sanding, drilling, and polishing of engineered stone is not acceptable. Inspectors have prioritised inspections of businesses known to have poor work practices such as ineffective dust extraction systems, poor dust control practices, or where they believe information on managing risks has not got to the workers concerned.

As of 1 June 2024, WorkSafe was aware of 157 businesses fabricating engineered stone with an estimated 600 workers currently fabricating engineered stone.

WorkSafe estimate that approximately 1000 current and former workers are eligible for health assessment under the Accelerated Silicosis Assessment Pathway (ASAP).

WorkSafe note that inspectors have conducted four rounds of inspections since 2019 (see Table IV.1 below).^[1] During inspection visits, inspectors check risk management and control processes, and since September 2020 they have also provided information to workers on the health check available to them under the ACC Accelerated Silicosis Assessment Pathway.

Table IV.1 – Enforcement actions issued since 2019

WorkSafe has observed that:

• businesses are now more aware of the risks of exposure to RCS and, overall, are managing RCS risks more effectively than when inspectors first visited in 2019,
• businesses vary in how effectively they are implementing controls to manage the risks from RCS, and even better-performing businesses can lapse in applying effective controls from time to time, and
• the matters that notices have been issued for have changed since 2019; for example, inspectors have not issued a notice for dry cutting or dry sweeping since 2020.

During the fourth round of inspections conducted between June 2023 and October 2024, inspectors visited 102 businesses and issued 131 enforcement actions to 67 businesses. 107 of these actions were enforcement notices issued under the HSW Act:^[2]

• 3 prohibition notices^[3] – all were for machine guarding, which is not an RCS management issue,
• 
  104 improvement notices, most commonly for housekeeping^[4] (25), machine guarding (17), fit testing of respiratory protective equipment (15), health monitoring (15) and exposure monitoring (9). 

Overall, engineered stone businesses have improved their management of RCS. However, inspectors continue to issue enforcement actions to businesses where risks are not being controlled effectively.

In addition to WorkSafe’s inspections, the following initiatives are currently being undertaken:

Industry accreditation programme

The New Zealand Engineered Stone Advisory Group (NZESAG) was established in July 2019 by importers and suppliers of products to respond to the occupational health risk to workers of accelerated silicosis when fabricating, manufacturing, or installing engineered stone products. NZESAG represents the main importers and suppliers of engineered stone in New Zealand.

In 2020, the NZESAG partnered with IMPAC to establish and implement the voluntary RCS Accreditation Programme to reduce the risk of silicosis across the engineered stone fabrication sector in New Zealand. The RCS Accreditation Programme has been supported by NZESAG members and ACC.

The RCS Accreditation Programme was launched in February 2021 with the intention that all fabricators would undertake an initial accreditation audit within 12 months.

To obtain accreditation, fabricators must comply with the requirements set out in the Good Practice Guide. This is checked by an audit of the fabricator’s manufacturing facility, and their processes to identify and manage RCS exposure risk. By September 2023, 55 of the approximately 130 fabrication businesses then identified by WorkSafe have engaged with the accreditation process and about half of those had met the audit standard in place at the time of “gold” or “silver”.

The Accreditation Programme has been based on an Australian code of practice and includes workplace controls and practices, including personal protective equipment (PPE), worker exposure monitoring, and some worker health monitoring. 

WorkSafe inspectors encourage engineered stone fabrication businesses to register with the NZESAG Accreditation Programme, where they are audited and followed up by a qualified occupational hygienist to ensure they maintain good practices to keep their accreditation status.

The cost to individual businesses to complete an annual audit is now $6,378.75, excluding travel and accommodation costs. Previously up to $2,300 had been met by an ACC subsidy (withdrawn from 1 April 2024).

The New Zealand Stone Fabricators Alliance has recently been established to act as a focal point for fabricator response to the issues surrounding the use of engineered stone in New Zealand. They have attracted 51 members who have committed to using low crystalline silica content (below 40 per cent) engineered stone only.

Development of a Good Practice Guide 

As part of the voluntary accreditation programme, a Good Practice Guide for the Control of Respirable Crystalline Silica in the Fabrication of Engineered Stone^[5] (Good Practice Guide) has been developed. It sets out the minimum steps required and a risk management process to manage the health risks associated with RCS from working with engineered stone products. It forms the basis of the audit standard used for accreditation of businesses.

The good practice guide was developed by NZESAG with ACC funding to the sector. Although it describes a standard of practice that will meet the HSW Act general duties, and gain accreditation, it is not enforceable as such, and it has not undergone the consultation and approval processes of an approved code of practice made under the HSW Act.

Because not all businesses are choosing to seek accreditation, the application of the guidance in different businesses is mixed, and it is not leading to the same levels of risk management and conformity.

It could be expected that, in future, an approved code of practice is developed and approved after public consultation. It would likely be based on the SafeWork Australia code that is in place in Australian states. Compliance with the code would be evidence of practice meeting the HSW Act general duties, but it would not be mandatory or enforceable in the manner of regulatory requirements.

Uptake of the Accreditation Programme

Uptake and completion rates for the programme were lower than expected at commencement, but there has been a significant increase in participation from May 2023 after increased media coverage of both the risks associated with RCS and the Australian decisions. The increase was also supported by two key suppliers of engineered stone requiring programme accreditation by fabricators they supply. 

By March 2024, 83 fabricators have gone through the programme and currently there are 74 active accreditations. Of these, 10 are Fully Accredited, 49 hold provisional accreditation, and 15 did not met the accreditation standard. Despite this increase in participation and accreditation, IMPAC and NZESAG advise that engagement with the more problematic one-third of fabrication businesses remains difficult and their participation is low. 

Health and exposure monitoring 

Health monitoring involves measuring and evaluating workers’ exposure to a health hazard, such as toxic aerosols. Health monitoring provides assurance that the controls that are in place are working, and workers are not being harmed. It has application to respiratory disease, such as silicosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and lung cancer, and all sectors where workers are at risk of exposure to RCS.

Ongoing health monitoring differs in nature and purpose from the ACC Accelerated Silicosis Assessment Pathway (ASAP; See Annex I), which provides a process to assess people who have potentially been exposed to high concentrations of RCS through work with engineered stone in a New Zealand workplace.

WorkSafe has been working with health professional groups to develop more specific health monitoring requirements for businesses to provide to their workers. The emphasis has been on approaches that are effective and practicable, and how that monitoring could be provided given reliance on the private provision of occupational health services in New Zealand and potentially limited access to appropriate diagnostic technologies.

Currently, monitoring workers’ exposure levels to RCS or monitoring workers’ health impacts are not required for New Zealand businesses. We understand that this is already required in Australian states, but that observance is lower than Safe Work Australia would like.

To make this mandatory (i.e. directly enforceable) under the Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016 a Prescribed Exposure Standard (PES) may be set by regulations, or a safe work instrument. We expect this would have application in subsectors within the construction, manufacturing and mining and quarrying sectors.

While prescribing a WES would send a signal to businesses about the need to maintain RCS exposures below that level, further work is needed to determine if this intervention would be effective, including whether the health and safety system has the maturity, capability and capacity to implement a PES.

Footnote

^[1] 107 prohibition notices (3) and improvement notices (104) notices were issued under the HSW Act. The remainder of the 131 enforcement actions were sustained compliance notices, directive letters, or verbal directions that are not issued under a legislative provision. 

^[2] Prohibition notices prevent a specific activity from occurring until the situation is rectified.

^[3] Housekeeping notices require a work area to be cleaned (and maintained) to ensure dust is not building up on equipment or in the fabrication area so the business can readily see if a dust control starts to become ineffective.

^[4]] From NZESAG, 2021: https://impac.co.nz/assets/file-attachment/Good-Practice-Guide-for-web.pdf. 

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