Quartz countertop workers exposed to incurable disease

SOUNDMAN5000 said:
In the late 80's at 19, I worked for about 3 years at a plant around some very nasty stuff. I guess it was before OSHA or it simply didn't matter to the company. I worked in the Metalizing industry spraying atomized metal and was exposed to lots of metal dust that included monel, copper, high carbon steel, lead, All I was given as protection was a simple dust mask, ear plugs a boots.

I sprayed everything from copper to monel to high carbon steel and everything in-between. I sandblasting Aluminum oxide. On my copper spray nights I would have green lines under my nose when I got home and dinner tasted like a copper penny. I was exposed to large amounts of 1,1,1, Trichloroethane ( I would use about 10 gallons a night) to prep and didn't even use gloves and the 1,1,1, would get all over my clothing and ME!

Don't get me started about the time I went in for extra overtime and found myself in the bottom of a 30' Chrome Plating tank scooping the crud with nothing but my normal work boots, blue jeans and a Company shirt on for protection!

I did leave when my eyes opened but I was clueless at 19 but this was before internet so was not easy to research.
At almost 60 now I do have some strange health issue that make me wonder...

About 20 years ago I did hear a rumor a co worker that did my same job but worked many years more than I had part of his lung removed from the metal dust I was told...

Bad stuff has been around a long time, even as late as 1990 when I left that Company did I start to see better ventilation going in and a few respirators mask showed after I asked for it! I never seen a plan in place for Safety at all. Most co workers didn't even use ear plugs or a mask at all and was never a requirement. I assume that has now changed as that company is now international with plants all over the world.
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This was my first thought as soon as I read your post.

Hard metal lung disease​

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772632024000205
 
CarbonToast said:
On my kitchen reno the countertop fabricator was by far the worst sub contractor. No doubt they dont know or dont care about the risks.

I suspect the raw slabs are relatively cheap and you can make them into expensive tops with hand tools. So probably there is alot of margin and little barriers to enter the business.
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Most countertops hit a saw preferably a waterjet to eliminate dust and then are wet polished as well. Saws aren't cheap so the guys that can't afford one start off by sending their jobs out to a larger shop so basically all they do is pick up the finished pieces from the larger shop and go install them and later on maybe expand to a larger shop with their own equipment.

Price depends on the color, is it popular?, what material is in the color?, etc... colors usually grouped in tiers A, B, C, D etc... and a significant margin between the top group and the bottom group. Higher groups might be your home colors where mid to lower tier might be more mass commercial projects condos, apartments, hospitals etc.... One color could be in the 1k range and the hot color could be 3k+ for 1 slab of quartz. For cheap you'd have to pick a lower tier color, color on sales promotion, or order a whole container load. Majority of slabs are expensive and now ya have tariffs coming into play as most of the natural stone granite, marble etc... comes from Brazil, Italy, Canada, India, China etc...
 
ecotourist said:
If you want to hear about ridiculous, about 50 years ago there was spray on "snow" for Christmas trees that could also be sprayed onto windows to replicate frost in the corners (as if we didn't have enough frost in the corners of our windows already). You guessed it, asbestos. I can't think of a more dangerous way to spread asbestos around.

When I was building our first house in 1979, I'm pretty sure the stucco guy threw a handful of loose asbestos into the mixer. I suppose it "improved the texture" or something.

In the old days we had wood or coal stoves to heat skating rink shacks and such. In order to save space the stove was generally placed pretty close to a wall. So they put a sheet of asbestos board between the stove and the wall to prevent fires.

When I was 21, I spent a summer working in a sour gas plant. I was assigned to help the insulator for a few days. He was installing half rounds of insulation onto piping. These lengths of insulation needed to be cut for corners and ends. I didn't trust the stuff, so I would only cut it outside, always stood upwind and held my breath besides. But I'll still bet I took on a load of asbestos in those few days.
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I used to love spraying the fake frost on the windows as a kid.
 
By the way, some of us have probably used 2-4-D mixtures and also Roundup. I was using a cartridge type respirator for Roundup but not 2-4-D. I would only get a wiff of 2-4–D once in a while. I found though, I would then have a nagging cough for a while. I now use a cartridge respirator for both.

The trouble with a respirator is it attracts the the attention of greeny neighbours. Anyway, better to be safe.
 
alarmguy said:
Wow, what a story. Maybe it makes sense maybe it doesn’t. I can’t help feel being quartz countertops being man-made fabricated item that there could be hazardous chemicals involved, certain epoxies of the type types of glue.

However, that seems not to be the case well depending how you look at it.
The high levels of silica used in man-made quartz countertops are exposing workers to an incurable and deadly lung disease.

In all fairness, I’m assuming some type of protection is probably used, but there’s not enough in the story. Other than a number of people have died and a number of people have this incurable disease.

This is about a case in Massachusetts. It’s involving one worker, but there’s many others across the country if you read through the whole story.
You may find some advocates calling for a ban. This could turn into nothing or you never know, could it turn into a pariah?

Reading the entire long story, I’m sure overtime industry will overcome somehow by using less silica. But if you read it through to the end, it is an issue even if they stop now because the disease takes a long time to show up in a worker.

https://nypost.com/2025/12/10/healt...uuj0npeFkZU61FfVSQ_aem_TD1S0Lq-QO_HWBd959sIrw

…
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The same has been said of people cutting fiber cement siding (ex, Hardie Plank) and DOT workers who cut concrete roadway.
 
Let's not forget about the Johnson & Johnson talcum powder. That lawsuit proved that there was money to be had. Keep in mind, not too much of it ever made it to the actual victims, but the lawyers, well billable hours y'know.
 
Snagglefoot said:
By the way, some of us have probably used 2-4-D mixtures and also Roundup. I was using a cartridge type respirator for Roundup but not 2-4-D. I would only get a wiff of 2-4–D once in a while. I found though, I would then have a nagging cough for a while. I now use a cartridge respirator for both.

The trouble with a respirator is it attracts the the attention of greeny neighbours. Anyway, better to be safe.
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When I did commercial landscaping we were always told not to use a respirator or mask when spraying round up. It gets wet and you just keep breathing it. Also the sales rep told us you can drink the diluted round up. He didn't do it when someone asked though. Add that to the list of things that we know know are terrible chemicals
 
Snagglefoot said:
By the way, some of us have probably used 2-4-D mixtures and also Roundup. I was using a cartridge type respirator for Roundup but not 2-4-D. I would only get a wiff of 2-4–D once in a while. I found though, I would then have a nagging cough for a while. I now use a cartridge respirator for both.

The trouble with a respirator is it attracts the the attention of greeny neighbours. Anyway, better to be safe.
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When I spray weed killer early in the morning when the weeds are damp and it’s not windy.

I immediately take a shower after spraying weed killer.
 
This is the same story as Chinese men (I think) building tunnels through mountains in the west 100 or so (give or take) years ago. Back then they would just get new workers when the workers got sick.

They should have known better.
 
SOUNDMAN5000 said:
In the late 80's at 19, I worked for about 3 years at a plant around some very nasty stuff. I guess it was before OSHA or it simply didn't matter to the company. I worked in the Metalizing industry spraying atomized metal and was exposed to lots of metal dust that included monel, copper, high carbon steel, lead, All I was given as protection was a simple dust mask, ear plugs a boots.

I sprayed everything from copper to monel to high carbon steel and everything in-between. I sandblasting Aluminum oxide. On my copper spray nights I would have green lines under my nose when I got home and dinner tasted like a copper penny. I was exposed to large amounts of 1,1,1, Trichloroethane ( I would use about 10 gallons a night) to prep and didn't even use gloves and the 1,1,1, would get all over my clothing and ME!

Don't get me started about the time I went in for extra overtime and found myself in the bottom of a 30' Chrome Plating tank scooping the crud with nothing but my normal work boots, blue jeans and a Company shirt on for protection!

I did leave when my eyes opened but I was clueless at 19 but this was before internet so was not easy to research.
At almost 60 now I do have some strange health issue that make me wonder...

About 20 years ago I did hear a rumor a co worker that did my same job but worked many years more than I had part of his lung removed from the metal dust I was told...

Bad stuff has been around a long time, even as late as 1990 when I left that Company did I start to see better ventilation going in and a few respirators mask showed after I asked for it! I never seen a plan in place for Safety at all. Most co workers didn't even use ear plugs or a mask at all and was never a requirement. I assume that has now changed as that company is now international with plants all over the world.
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Unfortunately your body absorbed those chemicals.

Luckily you left Boeing after a few years.
 
When I worked in a mine in the 1970s the miners told me, "You cough up the iron ore dust but not the silica dust". Glad I got a career in nuclear power.
 
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