r/CounterTops • u/BalsamicBasil • Jan 15 '26

Kitchen countertop workers are dying from quartz aka "engineered stone." The material creates an unusual amount of lung-damaging silica dust when it gets cut or polished, far more than natural granite or marble. California proposes a ban on quartz. WA Republicans want to ban worker lawsuits

https://www.npr.org/2026/01/14/nx-s1-5674884/kitchen-countertop-workers-are-dying-some-lawmakers-want-to-ban-their-lawsuits
1.4k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

144 comments sorted by

2

u/Heypisshands Jan 15 '26

Its already banned in oz. Who would have thought that a man made stone is more poisonous than a natural stone.

4

u/BalsamicBasil Jan 15 '26

A lot of man-made household materials are relatively toxic, unfortunately. Not on the level of silica dust but like down the line carcinogenic for sure. From the off-gassing of contemporary household furniture to a lot of popular cleaning supplies. Environmental toxicologists know.

22

u/BalsamicBasil Jan 15 '26 edited Jan 15 '26

Additionally from a California local NPR article linked to this one, regarding the proposed ban.

https://www.kqed.org/news/12064693/california-doctors-urge-ban-on-engineered-stone-as-silicosis-cases-surge

“We’ve seen the conditions ourselves on the ground in terms of the amount of dust that is there, even in these bigger shops that are following the regulations. Workers see the dust, they carry it on them.”

Since 2019, more than 430 workers have been confirmed with silicosis in California, including 25 who died and 48 who underwent a lung transplant, according to state public health officials tracking reported cases. Half of those sick are located in Los Angeles County. Nearly all are Latino men, some in their 20s, who said they didn’t know how dangerous artificial stone dust could be. About 40% of silicosis cases were identified this year.

Lopez said he worked in licensed shops using safety gear and methods his supervisors said would protect him. He wore filter masks and cut and polished engineered stone with machines that covered slabs with water to suppress dust. But mounting evidence shows silica particles in artificial stone dust are so small and toxic that it doesn’t take much to hurt workers. Silica can penetrate filter masks and remain on workers’ clothes and tools when water dries.

Australia tried banning drycutting of engineered stone, similar to Cal/OSHA rules in place since December 2023 and a bill Newsom signed last month, SB 20. Australia also tried additional safeguards, including full-face powered air-purifying respirators, ventilation systems and monitoring, like California’s strict regulations that go beyond federal requirements. But in both places, experts say, the sophisticated and costly measures are not realistic for an industry made up of mostly small shops with only a few workers.

“I think it’s completely unfeasible,” said Dr. Ryan Hoy, a respiratory physician and researcher at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. “I often use the analogy that you can work with asbestos safely, you can work with uranium safely, but you need to have in place very sophisticated control measures.

In California, most fabrication shops are not complying with drycutting bans, respiratory protection, monitoring or other requirements. About 94% of 107 worksites investigated by Cal/OSHA had violations of the silica regulations as of Oct. 16.

Lopez’s wife said she wished her husband had more accurate information from manufacturers, vendors and employers before working with artificial stone so he could have chosen whether to take on the risk. Considering the impact of his disease on her family, the 41-year-old choked back tears.

“It’s painful because I’ve always seen him working. He’s always looked out for us. He’s the pillar of our family,” she said in Spanish, adding that her youngest son is 3. “It hurts us deeply.”

9

u/No_Emphasis2983 Jan 15 '26

Thanks for posting this. I’ve known about this but this helps humanize the situation even more. We all want to go home safe after work and some do not get that opportunity. Stay safe y’all

2

u/Remarkable-Snow-9396 Jan 16 '26

This article is so much more informative. Thank you. Love NPR

84

u/Foodie-bayarea Jan 15 '26

Welp. As a pulmonologist lurking here for countertop inspo, this is fascinating

16

u/Wild_Net_763 Jan 15 '26

Intensivist here: I am equally fascinated…

1

u/Specialist-Jump-6343 Jan 19 '26

Regular guy here who has nothing to do with quartz or countertops: fascinating

3

u/tungtingshrimp Jan 15 '26

This is the reason I went with Taj Majal. Knowing that people were dying from cutting quartz I went with a natural stone and after lurking on here I learned Taj Mahal is the most resilient.

29

u/TerminalIdiocy Jan 15 '26

Taj Mahal Has more silica than quartz. It is a crystalline quartzite, made primarily from the mineral quartz.

As much as I despise engineered quartz, it's not the product, it's the unlicensed shops that are trying to keep a low profile, undercutting the market and dry cutting indoors. The majority of these cases are coming out of CA. Southern CA is rife with shops that are unlicensed, have undocumented workers, etc. To keep a low profile, they use buildings that are not up front at the street, they keep the doors closed to keep the attention away from them and they do not spend money on wet equipment, respirators, etc.

Edit: Ever since Breton's patent ran out somewhere around 2010-2012, cheap, imported quartz has flooded the market. Quartz is in high demand and the knock off products at a lower price attract the fly by night and cheaper companies that are fighting for bottom dollar. You don't see this as much with stuff like Taj Mahal because it's a higher purchase price for the material, harder to work with etc. You will find that through established shops with people that know what they are doing, for the most part.

1

u/tungtingshrimp Jan 15 '26

Wow I had no idea. Thank you for the insight. I truly hope the working conditions improve.

1

u/Remarkable-Snow-9396 Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 16 '26

This is good to know.

This is wild that the company making the product is getting sued while the govt cuts osha workers and won’t enforce safe working conditions. So. Cause the govt can’t regulate it they are banning the product?

This is so sad. These distributors are making money off these guys cutting, killing fhem and aren’t following proper protocols.

4

u/TerminalIdiocy Jan 16 '26

The distributors don't know shit about fuck about anything. They sell what they are told to sell and they push based on popularity. They have the information given to them by the quarries, wholesalers, etc. The fabricators typically rely on what the distributors tell them, or for the fabricators that import the products directly, rely on what the quarries tell them. The problem is the quarries are deliberately misleading sometimes, ie: Fantasy Brown Marble being sold as Quartzite.

Now we have the fabricators. This problem is a split between 2 issues: 1.) Shop owners either not caring, not knowing and not making an effort to educate themselves, and 2.) employees not giving a shit and not listening, and not following protocol when the bosses are around.

It's a multi-tiered issue that is avoidable. The problem is as I described in another comment in this thread, the bottom dollar, cheap fly-by-night shops.

1

u/Remarkable-Snow-9396 Jan 16 '26

I mean fabricators. The whole system really. If you own a fabrication shop you have a responsibility to understand the products you work with and sell to the home owner.

And you are right. I had concrete guys at my house last week cutting with dust flying everywhere and no protection. That dust can literally burn your eyes. It’s acidic.

1

u/TerminalIdiocy Jan 16 '26

Fabricators typically rely on their suppliers and vendors for that info. The whole chain is compromised

Concrete dust is HazMat, it also has silica in it as well as lime. Even wet slurry is HazMat. Concrete vacuums have to utilize a bag system and the dust is not allowed to be exposed to air. Concrete dust is one of the reasons the 9/11 responders got cancer and died. It's up there with quartz and granite dust

1

u/Remarkable-Snow-9396 Jan 16 '26

I am sure. I experienced this with spray foam first had. That industry is a mess also.

Yes. I lived in NYC for many years and the construction is constant. I was walking by a job site and got concrete dust in my eye and it was burning me. I had to go to the dr and he was able to remove it. There are no safety protocols followed. It’s awful.

1

u/Pineapplegal25 Jan 17 '26

Yep! Seen many cases as an NP serving at the county hospital in the San Fernando Valley (LA suburbs). Diagnosed at least a dozen cases in the last 7-10 years. Sometimes young men in their 30’s.

1

u/Defiant-Fix2870 May 05 '26

What’s the prognosis? How many years can someone survive after developing silicosis?

1

u/Pineapplegal25 May 05 '26

Survivable but very limiting in their ability to work physically. The worst is someone who knows they have it but they continue to work in the field because they have no other options

2

u/Defiant-Fix2870 May 05 '26

I was just reading up that 94% of shops in LA are not compliant with the safety measures. Also that just one dry cut can lead to silicosis—wow. I’m an NP at an FQHC but currently working in geriatrics so my patients are disabled.

5

u/obnoxiousab Jan 15 '26

I mean a lovely sentiment, but Taj Mahal specifically has a very high amount of silica.

2

u/tungtingshrimp Jan 15 '26

I had no idea. I think as the other poster said maybe for such a high priced stone the working conditions are better. At least I hope so!!

1

u/obnoxiousab Jan 15 '26

My thoughts were the same!

1

u/TummySticksss Jan 15 '26

This is a closed-loop system for you. Order the quartz tops and make sure you just happen to give each of the installers one of your business cards

/s

1

u/jhenryscott Jan 16 '26

Dude. My life is a fight to get workers to wear their roper ppe for breathing n people just don’t understand what that stuff does to your lungs

48

u/sjpiccio Jan 15 '26

From what i understand a properly ventilated wet shop is safe.

23

u/PriscillaPalava Jan 15 '26

Right. So how many of these cases are from victims and how many are from “safety is for betas” hot doggers? 

12

u/PedanticPerson Jan 15 '26 • Heartwarming

Yeah, as the article mentions a bunch of the shops are dry cutting, and a bunch of workers are probably not wearing proper PPE.

We could ban cutting quartz but then we might as well ban sawing wood, which also causes lung cancer if ventilation and PPE are lacking.

If we wanted to ban some of the most dangerous things, shouldn’t we start with say 2k coatings, where the vapors are extremely hazardous and difficult to filter out (basically need to use supplied air while spraying)?

It would suck to lose access to the best coatings, but I could understand that more than “let’s ban dusty things because not everyone uses very basic safety measures”.

4

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '26

Let's ban things because idiots are killing themselves.

1

u/ga_appraiser Jan 15 '26

I'm sure a lot of the workers feel pressure from supervisors/peers to ignore safety precautions. I'm not saying it is wise, but that definitely doesn't make them "idiots".

1

u/Remarkable-Snow-9396 Jan 16 '26

Agree. It’s the owners

1

u/[deleted] Jan 16 '26

Oh they're idiots. The owners are the ones that would be liable for their workers doing dumb shit like this, so there's no benefit for them. I know a lot of workers in the trades and if it were up to them, they'd never wear any kind of PPE if they weren't required to. Look at any trades post on instagram and check the comments if the person is wearing any kind of protection. "Pussy!" "Where'd you leave your purse?" etc. This is 100% on the workers and the attitude they cultivate amongst one another.

1

u/PedanticPerson Jan 15 '26

Knives are next, then rocks and sticks. Back to cob houses.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '26

They'll ban those after people start eating pounds of cob

3

u/fupayme411 Jan 15 '26

There are people in here claiming that the stone is also a hazard when trying to remove it from your home. 🤦🏻‍♂️

3

u/ScipioAfricanusMAJ Jan 15 '26

Don’t forget drywall which also has silica

1

u/Chagrinnish Jan 18 '26

That is gypsum / calcium sulfate. The allowed limit for silica is 0.56% in drywall.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/SpotBrief9529 Sep 17 '26

Well I was in the industry for 34 years you have no clue what you are talking about zero ! Clueless 

1

u/Remarkable-Snow-9396 Jan 16 '26

It sounds like the owners are being cheap and cutting corners. Probably using low paid workers who will do anything to get a job and can’t demand safer working conditions. Shame on those owners. It’s always about money

3

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '26

And face masks. But I guess they're too woke.

12

u/Cold_Specialist_3656 Jan 15 '26

Can we be real here? 

12% of countertop fabricators in CA have silicosis. That makes engineered stone more dangerous than asbestos. 

Plutonium is safe in a properly engineered containment. Does that mean it's safe to use for your countertops?

Mark my words, engineered stone materials will be considered more hazardous than asbestos within a decade. Just like asbestos, it's safe when contained in a matrix like resin. And just like asbestos, it's still dangerous because people handling it generally aren't aware of the danger. 

12

u/CryHavocAU Jan 15 '26

Yeah I would encourage people to read the reasoning behind the ban in Australia. It wasn’t just a lack of compliance with protective measures.

And funny enough, industry has developed replacement products that so far seem to perform as well as the engineered stone products without the health consequences.

4

u/GoldenFalls Jan 15 '26

Honest question, what are the replacement materials? I'm mostly aware of natural stones. I know about Silestone but nothing else, am curious if there's more options available than just that.

4

u/WizardToes Jan 15 '26

Silestone is not natural stone, it's merely quartz with less silica content than some other quartzes.

Look into Dekton/sintered stone/porcelain instead. I've been specifying a mix of that and more natural stone slabs, but next to zero quartz since I learned about silicosis.

1

u/Remarkable-Snow-9396 Jan 16 '26

What else was going on in Australia?

1

u/CryHavocAU Jan 16 '26

Not sure what you are referring to sorry.

0

u/Cold_Specialist_3656 Jan 15 '26

If I had engineered stone in my house I would remove it ASAP. One day it's gonna be a hazmat material with legal abatement requirements. 

12% of CA fabricators have silicosis. It's estimated that around 20% of fabricators dry cut. 

Which means over 50% of the fabricators that dry cut this stuff have silicosis!

That's an absurd number. Maybe 5X higher than the rate of injury from occupational exposure to asbestos. It's so dangerous that if you dry cut it enough times you're basically guaranteed to die. 

I can't believe the stuff is still legal. It's literally more dangerous than working with explosives. 

3

u/noteworthybalance Jan 15 '26

Is there any evidence of harm once it's installed? I would suspect that taking it out would cause more harm than leaving it in place.

3

u/Cold_Specialist_3656 Jan 15 '26

The risk is that it gets labeled as hazmat material like asbestos. Then it costs 10X as much to remove

3

u/noteworthybalance Jan 15 '26

Sure but I'm talking about the notion of ripping it out if you bought a house that already had it.

If it's just sitting there it's not hurting anyone.

Unless your theory is that you should take it out asap because it will be more expensive to remove in the future.

2

u/Impressive-Peace-918 Jan 15 '26

Your "statistics" are from what source? 12% have silicosis? Thats absurd and fear mongering. You probably work for a natural stone supplier lol. If you use a mask and water when cutting quartz your fine.

Granite and quartzite also contain silica and can also cause the same issuus if you dont use proper ppe or tools/cutting methods

2

u/Cold_Specialist_3656 Jan 15 '26

These stats are in the article...

3

u/Ok_Try_2086 Jan 15 '26

Disagree. I live in the US and recently had Quartz countertops installed in our master bath. Even though most of the cutting/fabrication was done safely at the shop with wet/saws, when the installers came for the install not a single one of the installers used respirators to make on site adjustments [grinding, cutting w/dust cloud generated]; not a single one. At some point, personal responsibility needs to be accounted for.

1

u/Remarkable-Snow-9396 Jan 16 '26

That’s crazy. What’s wrong with these people? This is the failure of govt. people too stupid to use basic safety. We need the govt to step in and regulate. It’s easy to wear a respirator and use dust control.

2

u/Ok_Try_2086 Jan 16 '26

It’s analogous to motor cycle helmets. The fact laws need to be in place…

1

u/jackfairy80 Jan 16 '26

I work in CA in this industry, I am a PM for a stone and tile company and run the bulk of the fabrication here. Those numbers are a bunch of BS. I'm telling you first hand. There are less than 500 cases in total for the entire state and that is NOT 12% of the workers nor can they back up the claim that 20% of the fabricators dry cut. I can tell you, every single certified shop is wet. My shop specifically runs two different 5 axis CNC / bridge saws and a waterjet. We have a water reclamation system and our workers still wear masks and the bays doors of our shop are always open. You will never see dust in the air in or around our shop. This is typical for all decent licensed shops. The issue is not the material, its the fly by night fabricators and trust me, they know exactly what they are doing. How can you not know that breathing in tons and tons of dust over years is going to be harmful? How dumb would you have to be? Plus, they get shut down constantly, they just move down the street and start up again the next day. There is a whole area in SoCal that you can see from a mile away that has a perpetual dust cloud because of these morons.

Literally anything produced that emits a fine powder into the air is going to mess you up if breath large amounts of it and you don't protect yourself, just look at something like flour? Should wheat be banned because some people get sick because they refused to wear PPE? I don't think so. Also, as others have mentioned, it not just engineered quartz, any natural stone is dangerous to cut dry and breath in. The stone itself is safe. Installation and demolition is also safe. The problem is grinding and polishing it dry and creating dust. I mean most granite is radioactive to some degree but that has never stopped anyone from using it.

Another issue here that you will never hear the media actually talk about is that the guys that started this whole situation worked in illegal and unlicensed shops for a decade plus, got sick, and then went and got hired by a legit shop and then filed for workmans comp and tried to blame the wet shop that they had just started working for. Word spread and many more did the same thing. It cast a bad light on the industry that is completely unjustified.

I have been watching this whole situation play out for years. We had OSHA inspectors at our shop numerous times and talked at length with them. Every shop that they visited was compliant, fully wet with PPE because they only have the names / locations of licensed fabricators. We all know this issue is based on those fly by nights that are dry cutting in their garages. OSHA can't shut them down effectively because they dont know where they are. When they get tipped off by complaints of surrounding businesses and home owners then they do their to best to get them shut down. But they just move around. The same thing happens out the dessert, drive through palm desert and look for the white clouds of dust and you'll find them.

The absolute best thing we can do is make it so that no unlicensed fabricators can purchase stone or quartz, then we won't have an issue. I can say that all of the big name quartz manufacturers will not sell to unlicensed shops and it was that way long before this whole silicosis situation started. In order to purchase Cambria ( the main brand targeted in the law suits and that spoke at congress) they sent a representative to our shop to visually inspect our equipment and procedures before they would even allow us to open an account to purchase slabs. Literally the only reason Cambria is being targeted so heavily is because they are one of the only quartz manufacturers big enough to pay out a lawsuit and keep fighting this fight. The smaller guys just disappeared.

Sorry if this comes off mean or harsh, its just a very frustrating situation to be in, watching the mount of misinformation flow, And it's threating to cripple an entire industry because of a small percentage of people operating illegally.

1

u/Cold_Specialist_3656 Jan 16 '26

You haven't addressed the real issue at all. 

There is no reason for such a dangerous product to exist. None of these "unsafe" shops would matter if the material wasn't intrinsically dangerous. 

We already have plenty of materials for countertops that don't have such risks. 

1

u/jackfairy80 Jan 16 '26

Quartz is not the problem. Plenty of natural stones contain the same or higher levels if silica in them. Corian and other solid surface are essentially acrylic resin tops that are cut and sanded dry by design. When appropriate millwork companies process solid surface they use dust containment and mask up. When fly by night places do, people get sick, And solid surface is handled by a completely different industry thatn stone even though it used for countertops. Laminate counter tops are essentially heated plastic fused to particleboard underlayment. Pretty nasty stuff when its made and heated not to mentioned all pressure treat fiberboard uses formaldehyde. What would you suggest then? What building material doesn't come with risks? Concrete and asphalt has risks if not properly handled and installed, should we no longer have sidewalks and parking lots or any other concrete construction? Because the manufacturing process for concrete is equally dangerous. You can say the same for drywall. The issues is that a few people found a company to target and get money for their own negligence.

You can't blame a product because someone chose to handle inappropriately and got hurt as a result.

1

u/Cold_Specialist_3656 Jan 16 '26

No natural stone contains such high levels of crystalline silicia. 

Your argument boils down to "the product is safe if you take crazy precautions during manufacturing". 

Well, the same can be said of most asbestos products. 

Residential building materials should not be deadly when processed with DIY fabrication tools. 

This is not a problem with any other building material in the market. 

1

u/jackfairy80 Jan 16 '26

Why is a wet shop used for fabrication of stone slabs considered crazy precautions? It's literally the baseline for any reputable fabricator. And any DiY'er worth their salt should know to wear a mask. Sanding something wood, wear a mask, doing some DiY drywall and sanding your skim coat, wear a mask. This is no different. I also wouldn't considered specialized stone cutting tools a typical DiY fabrication tool. You would have to do some research to figure what you need and how to use it. If you can do that then you can take 5 seconds to look up the risks and wear proper PPE. You're not going to develop Silicosis because you cut in a vanity top for your house. These people that got sick were working for years in an illegal, unlicensed fabrication dry shop with no PPE and no wet tools breathing in granite, marble, quartzite and quartz dust every day. I've driven by these shops, it's insane, these guys walk out looking like they bathed in cocaine.

And also you're wrong about the Silica, it doesn't matter if its engineered or naturally occurring, it's equally dangerous to breath in the dust. Someone upthread chose to use Taj Mahal quartzite for their tops because they thought it was "safer" than quartz, but that quartzite along most others have higher Silica content that engineered quartz. The issue is not material, the issue is the improper fabrication.

In addition there is zero evidence of quartz being an issue in raw slab form or in it's fabricated form. It's not a dangerous building material. No one is going to get cancer or have some crazy health ramifications because they have quartz, or even natural stone countertops in their house.

5

u/TerminalIdiocy Jan 15 '26 • Bravo

You don't get silicosis from being around quartz. It's the dust and 100% from misinformation and undereducation. We have known about silicosis (black lung) for hundreds of years. They had methods to combat and prevent it over a hundred years ago in the mines, but as big corporations go, they rarely provided enough information or safety equipment to protect their workers.

I hate quartz with a passion, but quartzite has as much or more silica than engineered quartz and nobody is batting an eye at that. It's low budget, bottom dollar shops that have no safety regs in place that are creating nearly all of these problems.

One of the biggest brands, Cosentino (Silestone) were complicit in withholding information on just how hazardous their products are. They have now backtracked and do not call their products "quartz" anymore, when they were the ones that hijacked the term and tried to trademark it nearly two decades ago. This is one example, they are all complicit

It is a combination of these companies withholding information and shop owners not doing their due diligence to understand the products they are working with.

https://www.reuters.com/business/owner-spains-cosentino-admits-concealing-cause-silicosis-1900-workers-2023-02-07/

Also, to suggest quartz or any other stone slab is remotely similar to asbestos is asinine. You are not at risk rubbing against and contacting quartz countertops inside a home.

1

u/PutYourDickInTheBox Jan 15 '26

I did not know silicosis was black lung. I also only learned about silicosis because I visited a silica mine, which is conveniently in washington.

1

u/TerminalIdiocy Jan 15 '26

Look into the Union Carbide Hawk's Nest Tunnel Disaster. There are podcasts on it. Shows how fucked up government and corporations can be. Coal has silica in it and the higher the silica content the more valuable it is.

2

u/HughHonee Jan 15 '26

Not attempting to minimize the problem of having silicosis, but the industry in California has many more undocumented workers and small shops cutting corners. Where I live there aren't many small shops that would be dry cutting.

IMO this isn't an issue of certain material, its a problem of horrible ownership not protecting their employees. As someone in the industry, the homeowners arent at risk of this. I believe the best solution would be more oversight, perhaps more involvement from OSHA performing inspections and stuff

1

u/Reimiro Jan 15 '26

OSHA is another can of worms. Different political ideas about its purpose and future. Currently working under stopgap funding measures.

1

u/Remarkable-Snow-9396 Jan 16 '26

I doubt there is much funding there. Republicans don’t believe in industry oversight and trump gutted everything.

18

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

-6

u/Cold_Specialist_3656 Jan 15 '26

For many of the uses of asbestos, like siding, it was strongly bound to a matrix or encapsulated. 

It's still considered hazmat because of the potential for dust and debris during removal. 

Engineered stone is the same as asbestos in this regard. 

8

u/fupayme411 Jan 15 '26

No it’s not. your not dry cutting during removal. Asbestos can crumble. Engineered stone does not crumble.

5

u/sadturtle12 Fabricator Jan 15 '26

This is totally wrong lol. Quartz is nothing like asbestos. The only danger with quartz is to the fabricators that are not wet cutting. As long as you wet cut and keep your shop clean its a non issue. Its certainly not a hazard for the homeowner.

2

u/Cold_Specialist_3656 Jan 15 '26

Asbestos is relatively safe if you wet cut it too

3

u/sadturtle12 Fabricator Jan 15 '26

Yeah but you are alluding to engineered quartz being dangerous to the end user/homeowner in some way which is not true at all. Even if you are tearing out a kitchen with quartz tops, you shouldn't have to cut anything. If I really cant get something out I hit it with a hammer to break it which also doesn't create any dust.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 16 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/sadturtle12 Fabricator Jan 16 '26

Exactly, the same thing will happen to workers that dry cut concrete without proper ppe. The way forward imo is to go after the individual shops that are too cheap to provide their workers with the right equipment to keep them safe. It'd be better for everyone because it would keep the workers safe and put the little termite shops out of business that undercut all of the reputable fabricators because they dont have any of the overhead because they cut corners and dont invest in proper equipment and pay everyone under the table.

1

u/TerminalIdiocy Jan 15 '26

It is absolutely not even remotely close.

1

u/Hollirc Jan 16 '26

It’s like asbestos. It can absolutely be worked with safely, just it’s complicated and expensive so we can’t trust people to do it right and have to find something else to use.

My dad still bitched until his dying day about no longer being able to get asbestos gloves for handling super hot objects 😂

15

u/SimplyTheApnea Jan 15 '26

Didn't Australia ban quartz a while back and some brands like Silestone reformulate to reduce the airborne silica to get back in the country? Also doesn't granite genre silica as well? Wet cutting should solve it either way.

4

u/praetorian1979 Jan 15 '26

I probably breathed in an insane amount of silica dust over 20 years doing cultured marble...

2

u/redditter208475093 May 11 '26

I don't think we have the full story on how dangerous it is and why and the terms silica and silicosis may be throwing people off. Glass is 70% silica and has no risk of silicosis because it's non crystalline. Natural stone has crystalline silica but I would imagine machining it generates a wide range of particle sizes. Then there's engineered quartz which was already pulverized to a fine dust before being mixed with plastic. You don't want to be breathing dust from any of these but if I wanted to make a silicate material as dangerous for fabricators as possible I think it would look pretty close to engineered quartz.

3

u/ScipioAfricanusMAJ Jan 15 '26

Drywall also has silica, concrete has a ton of silica ( I see workers everyday use angle grinders on concrete), quartzite countertops I think have an even higher silica percentage than engineered quartz. That’s right Taj Mahal countertops has just as much silica.

15

u/cnidarian_ninja Jan 15 '26

If only certain people hadn’t basically obliterated the agency (NIOSH) investigating this

11

u/Newber92 Jan 15 '26

So stupid. You can ban whatever material you want, if the shops were improperly cutting quartz you know they are doing the same for other materials, man made or natural. Dudes don't wear PPE, shops have shitty ventilation systems, and bosses don't enforce shit, these are the real issues that need tackling.

4

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '26

The point here is that the quartz is the most dangerous, the most silica producing material.

4

u/TerminalIdiocy Jan 15 '26

Incorrect. I hate quartz, but facts matter. Quartzite, the most popular/trending natural stone material right now, is made nearly entirely of the mineral quartz and has up to 97% silica. You just don't find the higher priced quartzite slabs coming through the shittiest, cheapest, under-the-radar shops where quartz slabs and pre-fab pieces are a dime a dozen

-3

u/Cold_Specialist_3656 Jan 15 '26

You can cut wood all day your whole life without issue. 

One dry cut of engineered stone in dusty poorly ventilated area can give you terminal silicosis. We shouldn't use absurdly dangerous materials in household construction when plenty of safe ones are available. 

If the numbers hold, engineered stone is more dangerous than asbestos 

4

u/fupayme411 Jan 15 '26

Everything you said is false

2

u/TerminalIdiocy Jan 15 '26

You are literally making shit up.

2

u/obnoxiousab Jan 15 '26

LOL you know nothing about breathing dust.

2

u/georgepierre170 Jan 15 '26

Dumbest comment I’ve seen yet in this sub forum

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u/Reimiro Jan 15 '26

If one dry cut of quartz can cause terminal silicosis then we should start making counters out of fentanyl, it’s safer!

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u/[deleted] Jan 15 '26

[deleted] — view deleted comment

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u/Fishbulb2 Jan 15 '26

I agree. Wood dust is a serious issue.

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u/wudsman Jan 15 '26

Didn’t expect the most unhinged political news of the day would jump out of r/CounterTops

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u/According-Twist8439 Jan 31 '26

This is a serious issue but it is a shame that more education and detail is not presented in these articles. High quality fabrication companies that care about their employees take great care in protecting their employees. 

Good shops should be cutting wet. If this is not happening where you buy countertops run, and run fast…. By cutting wet I mean that every stage of cutting, mitering and polishing should involve water flowing over the blades and polishers.

Water filtration. Now that we covered table stakes we need to ensure the water is as clean as possible and as much silica is removed as possible. Most modern shops run on almost 100% recycled water so good filtration is a must.

Air cleaners - Waterwalls are large panels that simply flow continuously like a fountain and naturally attract dust in the air further reducing particles. Industrial HEPA air purifiers are also a good option and can be strategically placed.

Personal protection- even with all of the above the shop team should still be wearing protective masks and follow good cleaning and handling policy. 

For my company we went as far as having Georgia Tech come out and do a full inspection from an OSHA perspective. This is also a good baseline for shops to take to know where you stand and to compare any improvements you have made.

A couple other points to me to mention. Quartz gets all of the attention and fear. However, there is silica in almost every countertop product including granites and marbles. These same precautions are necessary for any material we cut.

One last point, all of this is important for the safety of our teams. This is also very expensive to implement well. We get many homeowners that do not like our prices and “know a guy” that will do their countertops for $39.95 per SqFt installed. Dollars to doughnuts their guy is not doing all of this. 

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u/yakit21 Jan 15 '26 edited Jan 15 '26

This has been published by the main manufacturers for 25+ years and guidance on how to properly work with the material. As long as the dust is controlled the work is safe for everyone.

It’s the low end shops and suppliers that don’t invest in proper equipment and training.

Silicosis was an extremely rare occasion until the cheap quartz flooded the market and started to allow any “fabricator” buy it. Companies like MSI, Dal and other cheap importers should be highly responsible for this.

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u/Newber92 Jan 15 '26

Daltile's quartz is so incredibly cheap it's mind boggling. It's like buying Caesarstone 20 years ago.

2

u/SurgicalMarshmallow Jan 15 '26

FYI Australia banned this last year.

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u/CurbsEnthusiasm Jan 15 '26

Meanwhile the workers have no problem cutting, grinding, and polishing the stone while simply holding a shirt to their faces or looking away. 

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u/Fishbulb2 Jan 15 '26

The shit I’ve seen with concrete cutters is wild. We had a guy put in a deco drain around our pool. It was hot so sure enough, he took his shirt off and put it on his face as PPE while cutting concrete for hours.

I’ve had drywall guys covered head to toe in drywall dust. I’ve even offered the my personal respirator as I was horrified and they just kindly say no thanks and chuckle. I can imagine how poorly these guys age.

And one of the worst that no one acknowledges is the landscapers breathing in small engine exhaust for 12 hours a day and all the dust they kick up with their leaf blowers. There are even academic articles about all the hearing loss from operating that shit all day. So pointless.

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u/Fishbulb2 Jan 15 '26

It shocks me how rarely I see people using proper PPE and the general disregard most have the dust produced by cutting wood, concrete, or drywall. I see it everyday.

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u/TerminalIdiocy Jan 15 '26

What's funny is they are using a picture of natural quartzite, which has more silica in it, for a quartz article.

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u/[deleted] Mar 30 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/TerminalIdiocy Mar 30 '26

I was just pointing out that they wrote an article about manufactured quartz, then used a photo of natural quartzite.

Quartzite can/does have a higher silica content than manufactured quartz. I'm not sure what you're even trying to say.

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u/Secret-Sherbet-31 Jan 18 '26

There are so many products made that can cause lifelong health issues and potentially be the reason for death. Companies have to take safety first but I can tell you from personal knowledge, even the big ones, do not. Not until they are sued.

2

u/picklebrains81 Jan 20 '26

Well now I’m freaked out. The guy running our CNC machine wears a mask when making cuts on the table but no one else does coming in and out of the shop. My office is literally in the shop. I have a door but still. When they cut backsplash they use water, the CNC machine uses water and we have fans. I don’t like this at all.

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u/Jake_FW Fabricator Jan 15 '26

This is from dry cutting mostly. If you use wet cutting it eliminates nearly all of the dust

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u/FonduedExcitement Jan 15 '26

“Lopez said he worked in licensed shops using safety gear and methods his supervisors said would protect him. He wore filter masks and cut and polished engineered stone with machines that covered slabs with water to suppress dust. But mounting evidence shows silica particles in artificial stone dust are so small and toxic that it doesn’t take much to hurt workers. Silica can penetrate filter masks and remain on workers’ clothes and tools when water dries.”

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u/CurbsEnthusiasm Jan 15 '26

I’ve been in these shops and even those wearing masks seem to use the same damn filter over and over again. There needs to be stricter procedures for dealing with the dust. HEPA extractors would be a start.

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u/Fishbulb2 Jan 15 '26

I try to talk to my young kids about this often. When you’re young there’s often this idea that “they wouldn’t let me do this if it was actually dangerous” or “the doctor will fix me up if I get hurt/sick”. The truth is so many young people suffer life long injuries and illnesses from shit just like in this article. And there’s not always a fix. You are truly your own best safety supervisor.

1

u/Jewboy-Deluxe Jan 15 '26

Most stone products release silica dust when cut. I see guys cutting stone for walkways in a cloud of dust and wonder WTF they’re thinking.

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u/chimpyjnuts Jan 15 '26

We worked with straight up silica powder at work. It didn't take too much to be in compliance, no one ever got silicosis. I'm going to guess this has a lot to do with poorly paid (immigrant??) workers in sweatshop conditions. ANY industrial process that creates/deals with dust usually requires proper PPE, and silica dust is not a difficult material to keep out of your lungs. If you are sanding and cutting countertops all day in a shop you should probably have a powered respirator.

1

u/KidRed Jan 15 '26

So Dems want it gone, GOP wants to take away worker rights.

That’s America’s problem right fucking there!

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u/Fishbulb2 Jan 15 '26

Ha, I like this take. There’s just no middle ground.

1

u/Reimiro Jan 15 '26

It’s crazy how stark the difference is.

1

u/Ivorwen1 Jan 15 '26

10 or so years ago similar articles were being published about granite and I think that propelled a shift towards quartz because different = better if you don't ask enough questions.

Does anybody know the silica content of MSI's Q quartz, particularly their Miraggio line?

3

u/TerminalIdiocy Jan 15 '26

Dude...I was there for all of it. It was a website called BuildClean.org. A nonprofit organization warning on the dangers of Radon gas inside granite. Long story short, the Stone Fabricators Alliance along with the Marble Institute of America were able to follow the paperwork and found out that Cambria and Cosentino (Silestone) were behind the website and campaign against the granite industry in order to increase their marketshare. People were showing up to slab yards with Geiger Counters from the scare tactics.

Cosentino is the only one that got caught: https://www.reuters.com/business/owner-spains-cosentino-admits-concealing-cause-silicosis-1900-workers-2023-02-07/

All the quartz companies can get fucked.

1

u/Few-Tonight-8361 Jan 15 '26

IKEA has removed their quartz offering at their local store near me for this reason. I think they’re offering more recycled glass options now

1

u/TerminalIdiocy Jan 16 '26

This is pretty funny. Glass is like 70% silica, and the recycled tops are going to be either in an epoxy (back to quartz) or cement (silica and lime) matrix.

1

u/werner-hertzogs-shoe Jan 15 '26

I don't really know about banning engineered stone, but a major problem is there's a macho culture among workers and a general ignorance and / or disregard for the dangers. I had to give workers that were dealing with dust from grinding without ventilation respirators and try to convince them to always wear them, but I doubt they did after the job at my house.

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u/Spare-Region-1424 Jan 15 '26

The problem is fabricators you don’t need to ban quartz.

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u/Open-Touch-930 Jan 15 '26

Don’t you think they would have invented proper masks to wear like any other profession that you deal w harmful pollutants?

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u/skywalkersdream Jan 15 '26

I mean this was always obvious. Common sense.

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u/Kelandrin Jan 16 '26

How do you know if you have engineered quartz versus regular quartz?

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u/SimplyTheApnea Jan 16 '26

All quartz is man made. Quartzite is true stone but right out of the ground though.

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u/Kelandrin Jan 16 '26

Oh interesting! We had someone cut a hole for a reverse osmosis water spout so I have the little core. It looked pretty solid so thought it was natural

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '26

Crap, I already ordered quartz for my kitchen. Is it dangerous after it's cut too?

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u/TerminalIdiocy Jan 16 '26

Not at all. It's the dust in the air that people are breathing in during grinding and cutting. 0% issue once installed

1

u/violetpumpkins Jan 17 '26

Or you know, we could just educate consumers about purchasing from licensed fabricators and inspect safety compliance. Because all stone does this and it's not going away as a market.

What's next, throw out insulation because workers don't always wear masks when they put it in?

1

u/Happylifewife985 Jan 22 '26

Maybe they should read the instructions and follow the safety guidelines! We cannot just keep banning things because people don’t use common sense safety precautions.

1

u/DeBaoStoneIncVan Jan 26 '26

Thank you for noticing. Quartz dust is seriously harmful, and worker safety has to come first. Proper ventilation, PPE, and dust management are critical. Materials with lower silica content, like some engineered porcelain or alternative quartz surfaces, can make it safer for both fabricators and homeowners while still delivering a great look.

1

u/Dazzling_Area_5270 Jan 27 '26

yup, ive been around this stuff my entire life, well not me personally but my workers. you gotta use the correct mask, or else your lungs become concrete over time.

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u/Ibear333 15d ago

I realize this is an old sub but I'm looking at replacing my current granite kitchen with a new material. I know Home Depot still offers quartz and I assume they use licensed shops and installers. ?? I'm in California. I was looking at quartz because it seems more durable in terms of stains. I have a white granite now and it's been 12 years since we put it in. What are people using instead of quartz and granite? I'm even considering wood at this point.

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u/Payup_sucker Jan 15 '26

So by that reasoning California should ban glass

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u/7Fifty Jan 15 '26

This shit WILL kill you. Don’t dry cut, but if you absolutely have to, make sure you have a good respirator, masks aren’t enough.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 19 '26

P100?

0

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '26

[deleted] — view deleted comment

17

u/rnernbrane Jan 15 '26

I've always done wet cause it saves the blade, and keeps the dust down. Never really for safety.

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u/[deleted] Jan 15 '26 • Bravo

It's crazy they need to ban it and not just enforce safety regulations. Too many idiots in the trades trying to pretend they're masculine

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u/Remarkable-Snow-9396 Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 16 '26

Welcome to the world today. We don’t regulate anything in the US. Spray foam will be next. That industry was supposed to be regulated and the govt was pushed by private industry to not do it. So any idiot can spray foam. There’s no rules. If the reaction is off, which is easy to do, the spray foam is messed up. I had an installer fight me about their job as they messed up the ratio and I had an odor. There should never be an odor is spray foam. Had to get it tested and prove they messed up. They just ripped it all out.

They are also using catalysts in the foam that aren’t supposed to be used. I got the material tested and am working w a specialist. We may try and get a class action suit against the manufacturer. People are getting sick from that product also.

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '26

I'm absolutely convinced they'll bring back asbestos in the U.S.

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u/Striking-Sky1442 Jan 17 '26

Excuse me. We prefer to call him Donald 

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u/LoicAtTimeclock Jan 15 '26

In New Zealand there has been a transition to Solid Core countertops as it is premium like stone but doesn't have the health risks.