Engineered Stone Fabrication Exemption Operations SWMS

Engineered stone fabrication is prohibited in Australia. From 1 July 2024 the manufacture, supply, processing and installation of engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs is banned nationally, following the rise of accelerated and rapidly progressive silicosis in engineered stone fabrication workers, and the importation of these products is prohibited from 1 January 2025. This document does not provide a method for fabricating engineered stone benchtops, because that work cannot lawfully be carried out. Instead it addresses the narrow, exceptional circumstances in which work connected with engineered stone is permitted under an exemption or exclusion, and the controls that apply when any crystalline silica substance is processed, so that duty holders understand precisely where the line sits and do not stray into prohibited work.

The prohibition is not absolute at the edges, and the exclusions matter. The ban applies to engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs; it does not apply to porcelain and sintered stone products, nor to finished engineered stone products that do not need processing such as sinks, sculptures and garden ornaments. Beyond those exclusions, the only pathways are tightly limited: work for genuine research and analysis and for sampling and identification of engineered stone, and a stringent exemption framework under which a WHS regulator may exempt a product only where satisfied the work will achieve a standard of health and safety at least equivalent to that achieved without the exemption, after consultation with Safe Work Australia's social partners. Where any permitted work involves processing a crystalline silica substance, the exposure standard of 0.05 mg/m3 (eight-hour time-weighted average) applies, reframed as a workplace exposure limit from 1 December 2026, together with the full high-risk silica regime. This document is written to keep duty holders firmly on the lawful side of a prohibition, not to enable banned fabrication.

Hazards identified

8 hazards covered, sorted by priority.

Control measures

Hierarchy-of-controls order: elimination → substitution → isolation → engineering → administrative → PPE.

1. 1Elimination: do not fabricate, supply, process or install engineered stone benchtops, panels or slabs — this work is prohibited and the only sound control is not to carry it out.
2. 2Substitution: where a benchtop product is required, specify a material outside the prohibition such as porcelain or sintered stone, confirming the product's classification with the manufacturer before any work.
3. 3Administrative: confirm that any proposed work falls within a genuine exclusion (porcelain or sintered stone, or a finished product not requiring processing) or a specific regulator exemption, and hold documentary evidence of that status before starting.
4. 4Administrative: where relying on a regulator exemption, hold the exemption instrument and work strictly within its terms, recognising that an exemption is granted only where the regulator is satisfied the standard of health and safety is at least equivalent to that without the exemption.
5. 5Administrative: where any permitted work — including research, analysis, sampling or identification — involves processing a crystalline silica substance, prepare a silica risk control plan before the work commences and make it available at the workplace.
6. 6Engineering: for any permitted processing, apply wet methods with water to the cutting or polishing face together with on-tool dust extraction through an H-class (HEPA) vacuum, because of the very high silica content.
7. 7Administrative: arrange air monitoring to validate the controls hold below the exposure standard, and notify the regulator of any result that exceeds the standard within the prescribed period.
8. 8Administrative: enrol workers carrying out permitted silica processing in health monitoring supervised by a registered medical practitioner, including respiratory function testing and low-dose high-resolution chest CT, and retain records confidentially for at least 30 years.
9. 9Administrative: provide full decontamination of the area, tools and workers before leaving the work area, and never transport contaminated items or clothing uncontained.
10. 10PPE: a powered air-purifying respirator for any permitted engineered stone processing given the silica load, at minimum a fit-tested P2 respirator, selected and maintained per AS/NZS 1715 and AS/NZS 1716, with disposable coveralls removed and bagged at decontamination.
11. 11PPE: hearing protection, eye and face protection to AS/NZS 1337.1, gloves, and Class I or Class II safety footwear with protective toecap to AS/NZS 2210.3.
12. 12Administrative: all workers must hold a valid White Card (General Construction Induction Training, CPCCWHS1001) before entering any construction workplace.
13. 13Administrative: conduct a pre-start toolbox talk confirming the lawful basis for the work, the silica controls and decontamination, and record attendance in the SWMS consultation section.
14. 14Administrative: review and update this SWMS whenever the work scope changes, after any incident or near miss, when a worker or health and safety representative raises a concern, when the regulatory position changes, or at minimum every 12 months.

Applicable Codes of Practice

High-Risk Silica Work triggered

Worked example

A benchtop business is asked to supply and fabricate a new kitchen benchtop and wants to confirm what it can lawfully do. Engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs are prohibited, so fabricating an engineered stone benchtop is not an option and no method statement can authorise it. The business instead confirms with the manufacturer that the client's preferred product is porcelain, which sits outside the prohibition, and documents that classification before any work. Because porcelain is still a crystalline silica substance, the fabrication is assessed for silica risk; the cutting and edge-profiling are carried out wet with water to the tool together with on-tool H-class extraction, a silica risk control plan is prepared, and air monitoring confirms the controls hold below the exposure standard. Operators wear powered air-purifying respirators, the workshop is decontaminated by wet and H-class vacuum methods, and workers are enrolled in health monitoring. Separately, when the business is asked to cut a small sample from an offcut of engineered stone for laboratory identification, it treats that as permitted sampling work, applies the same wet-cutting and respiratory controls for the single cut, and keeps the records. At no point does it process engineered stone benchtops, panels or slabs for supply or installation.

Related legislation

• Model Work Health and Safety Act — primary duty of care; the duty to consult workers; the reckless-conduct offence; and notifiable-incident provisions, as enacted in each jurisdiction.
• Model Work Health and Safety Regulations — the prohibition on the manufacture, supply, processing and installation of engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs from 1 July 2024; the exclusions for porcelain and sintered stone and for finished products not requiring processing; the research, analysis, sampling and identification exclusions; and the stringent exemption framework, as enacted in each jurisdiction.
• Prohibition on the importation of engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs from 1 January 2025.
• Workplace exposure standard for respirable crystalline silica: 0.05 mg/m3 (eight-hour time-weighted average), which must not be exceeded; reframed as a workplace exposure limit from 1 December 2026.
• Victoria operates under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017, with the engineered stone prohibition and silica provisions applying through the Victorian instruments.

Frequently asked questions