Quartz countertop workers exposed to incurable disease

Rand said:
Right but then you couldn't hire illegal aliens for pennies as young men to use angle grinders on it.
with no capital investments. (that seems to be the California story angle)

They have machines that could do most of the work but those cost $$$$$$ up front.

Granted for final install work they should be using N95, hepa vac, wet cutting whatever.
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From the people I see on job sites the "illegals" also use them. If you think someone will try to cut corner and die young you would be surprised how many don't want to.

Plus when you already are illegal you need to blend in, and fly under the radar, and work like a "pro". The one who ignores most of those rules tend to be handy man trying to act like they know everything after watching a youtube video and cut corners everywhere, oh they are very often legal and grew up locally too.
 
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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PandaBear said:
From the people I see on job sites the "illegals" also use them. If you think someone will try to cut corner and die young you would be surprised how many don't want to.

Plus when you already are illegal you need to blend in, and fly under the radar, and work like a "pro". The one who ignores most of those rules tend to be handy man trying to act like they know everything after watching a youtube video and cut corners everywhere, oh they are very often legal and grew up locally too.
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I was just commenting on the reporting slant of the article I linked. I have no experience with quartz finishing in California
 
Brons2 said:
What's new in the last 25 years or so is the desire of every homeowner to have hard, stone-like countertops in all areas of their homes. When I was growing up in the 70s and 80s, I don't remember anyone having granite or quartz countertops in their home. But supply has responded to demand, and now I see slabs for sale all over town for remodeling projects. They've got a display right in the front door at the home improvement stores.
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I had the same thought recently (old curmudgeon). Back in my day a nice Formica laminate countertop was a status symbol, lol.
 
Yep Sir! Formica and Corian were the go to nice kitchen; granite and marble were only seen on the TV show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.
 
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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One issue is that some employees refuse to use protection ie respirator and suits. Don't ban something just because a few people have health problems. If that's the case then cigarettes, and vapes have to go too.
 
JohnnyG said:
In the end, this may be an AI generated story, trying to lay the foundation for a lawsuit. We all know too well that can happen.
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If you read the article and do a search on the subject, you’ll see already three states are independently involved in this. There’s even links in the story to the California situation right in the original OP. The lawsuits will eventually force a solution. Australia already banned high silicon quartz in their country but continue to ship it here.

https://publichealthwatch.org/2025/...es-online-dashboard-to-track-silicosis-cases/

With a simple google search there are countless independent sources of information
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/sites/default/files/2024-11/harrison_f24_wtp_silicosis_508.pdf

"Australia banned the use, supply and manufacture of engineered stone benchtops in July 2024, forcing major manufacturers to switch to silica-free alternatives in that market, though they still sell their higher-silica products in the U.S. The companies maintain that their products are safe if fabrication shops follow protocols."
https://laist.com/news/health/calif...-on-engineered-stone-as-silicosis-cases-surge
 
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2strokeNorthstar said:
I'm guilty of not caring when sand blasting and grinding on occasion.
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It would be better if you didn't do that. Silicosis is a terrible disease. We saw cases where there had been silica exposure decades earlier. Silicosis also leaves the victim at increased risk for Tuberculosis and lung cancer,

The only "cure" for silicosis is a lung transplant and (according to the lung specialist who worked for me) lung transplants don't tend to last very long.

We have a blasting cabinet that only uses non silica blasting media at the museum. You would think you could use it without respiratory protection. But there is always a certain amount of dust leakage and non silica blasting material often has small amounts of silica in it - which gradually increases as it's continuously recycled (because there's silica in dirt). Following my lead, everyone now wears an N95 respirator when using the blasting cabinet.
 
And some are worried with this thread, yet their offices they worked in for 40 years is filled with acoustic tile, with silica and some had asbestos in them too, from the 70s, 80s' and even the 90s. Older stock from longer manufacture runs pushed the issue into the 2000s. Some still have the issue in older offices. Hope your office had full tiles and not small cut down tiles as those are the more dangerous ones.
 
alarmguy said:
If you read the article and do a search on the subject, you’ll see already three states are independently involved in this. There’s even links in the story to the California situation right in the original OP. The lawsuits will eventually force a solution. Australia already banned high silicon quartz in their country but continue to ship it here.

https://publichealthwatch.org/2025/...es-online-dashboard-to-track-silicosis-cases/

With a simple google search there are countless independent sources of information
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/sites/default/files/2024-11/harrison_f24_wtp_silicosis_508.pdf

"Australia banned the use, supply and manufacture of engineered stone benchtops in July 2024, forcing major manufacturers to switch to silica-free alternatives in that market, though they still sell their higher-silica products in the U.S. The companies maintain that their products are safe if fabrication shops follow protocols."
https://laist.com/news/health/calif...-on-engineered-stone-as-silicosis-cases-surge
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Which only proves my point.
 
Mainia said:
And some are worried with this thread, yet their offices they worked in for 40 years is filled with acoustic tile, with silica and some had asbestos in them too, from the 70s, 80s' and even the 90s. Older stock from longer manufacture runs pushed the issue into the 2000s. Some still have the issue in older offices. Hope your office had full tiles and not small cut down tiles as those are the more dangerous ones.
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Not to mention the drywall mastic that had asbestos until pretty recently
 
2strokeNorthstar said:
Not to mention the drywall mastic that had asbestos until pretty recently
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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.
 
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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Brake pads, ceiling cottage cheese, flame mats…yep

A landslide not so far from here exposed natural asbestos. It’s washed down stream, they used it as fill. Remediation continues
 
Risk is in cutting or polishing the quartz not so much installing it or living with it. You can eliminate almost all of this by wet cutting and wet polishing. I've walked into some shops where they dry cut the material or don't wear the masks and have white hair, eyebrows, nostril hairs etc... so if you don't follow safety guidelines and breathe the dust in it will catch up to ya. This is a toss up between workers given the proper equipment and being too cool to wear it or owners not supplying the proper equipment/training.

Our company corporate is based in Europe so we had an advance heads up of what was coming to the states as they came down very hard over there first. Instead of waiting for them to come down hard here and regulate things we actually reformulated all of our quartz to contain lower levels of silica to stay ahead of the game. I do know personal shops that got hit with obscene (million +) OHSHA fines regarding masks, ventilation, etc... so they are definitely inspecting US shops now.
 
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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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