Silica Dust in Construction: The Benchtop Ban Was the Easy Part

At 7:15 on a Tuesday, on a townhouse job in Brisbane’s north, the paving subcontractor sets up a quick-cut saw on the driveway. There is no hose on it. A light breeze carries a pale plume across the slab to where two carpenters are framing the rear wall.

The site manager walks straight past. He spent most of 2024 making sure no engineered stone came anywhere near his projects. The benchtops are banned, so as far as he is concerned, silica dust on construction sites is a problem that has been dealt with.

It is not. The ban removed one product. The saw on the driveway is cutting another one, and the rules that apply to it are, in some ways, stricter.

What did the engineered stone ban actually ban?

On 1 July 2024, the Commonwealth and every state and territory made it an offence to manufacture, supply, process or install engineered stone benchtops, panels or slabs.[1] From 1 January 2025 those products also became prohibited imports.[1]

The definition is narrow. Engineered stone is an artificial product containing at least 1% crystalline silica by weight, made by combining natural stone materials with other constituents such as resins or pigments, that then hardens. And the ban only bites if the product is in benchtop, panel or slab form.[1]

Safe Work Australia lists what is expressly not engineered stone: concrete and cement products, bricks, pavers and similar blocks, ceramic wall and floor tiles, sintered stone and porcelain (provided they contain no resin), roof tiles, grout, mortar and render, and plasterboard.[1]

Read that list again from a builder’s side. It is almost everything a construction site cuts.

1%

The crystalline silica content that makes a material a regulated crystalline silica substance. Concrete, brick, pavers, tiles and fibre cement all clear it.

Safe Work Australia, Model Code of Practice (2025)

Does silica dust still apply to ordinary construction work?

Yes. A second set of amendments, in force from 1 September 2024 as each jurisdiction adopted them, regulates work with every material containing at least 1% crystalline silica, across all industries.[2] The regulations call these crystalline silica substances.

Safe Work Australia’s model Code of Practice lists examples that read like a site materials schedule: natural stone, sintered stone, porcelain and ceramic products, asphalt, mortar and grout, bricks, blocks, pavers and tiles, and concrete and cement-based products including fibre-cement sheeting and autoclaved aerated concrete.[2]

What triggers the rules is processing. That means using power tools or mechanical plant to cut, crush, grind, trim, sand, polish or drill the material, plus tunnelling, excavation and handling that exposes someone to respirable dust. The Code’s own examples include brick, concrete and stone cutting, angle grinding and jackhammering concrete or masonry, cutting and laying pavers, and cleaning up dust by sweeping or vacuuming.[2]

What does “controlled processing” mean?

A business must not carry out, or direct or allow a worker to carry out, processing of a crystalline silica substance unless it is controlled, which has a specific meaning.[2] First, the risk must be eliminated or minimised so far as is reasonably practicable. Second, at least one of these must be used during the work:

• isolation of the person from the dust

• a fully enclosed operator cabin with high efficiency air filtration

• an effective wet dust suppression method

• an effective on-tool extraction system

• an effective local exhaust ventilation system

Third, anyone still at risk after those measures must be given respiratory protection and must wear it. A respirator on its own only counts as controlled where none of the five measures is reasonably practicable, and you should be able to show why.[2]

Housekeeping is part of this. The Code’s best practice table says to clean with low-pressure water, wet sweeping or an M or H class vacuum, and not to use compressed air, dry sweeping or general-purpose vacuums.[2] The paver saw with no hose fails the test twice: once when it cuts, and again at knock-off when someone sweeps the driveway.

“All silica-related diseases are preventable by using controls that eliminate or minimise exposure to RCS at work.”

Safe Work Australia, Model Code of Practice: Managing risks of respirable crystalline silica in the workplace, 2025[2]

What is the exposure standard for respirable crystalline silica?

The workplace exposure standard for respirable crystalline silica is 0.05 mg/m³, averaged over an eight-hour day, and it must not be exceeded.[3]

The name is about to change. From 1 December 2026, exposure standards are replaced by workplace exposure limits, once each jurisdiction adopts the new list.[4] Respirable crystalline silica is one of nine substances ministers sent for additional impact analysis before its limit is updated, so check the published list before relying on a number after that date.[4] The obligation itself does not change.

30 years

How long air monitoring results and health monitoring reports for silica must be kept.

Safe Work Australia, Model Code of Practice (2025)

When does silica work become “high risk”?

Every business processing a crystalline silica substance has to assess whether that processing is high risk, meaning it is reasonably likely to result in a risk to the health of a person at the workplace.[2] If it is, four further duties apply:[2]

1. A silica risk control plan must be prepared before work starts, in consultation with the workers doing it

2. Workers involved, or at risk of exposure, must receive crystalline silica training

3. Air monitoring must be carried out, with results kept for 30 years

4. Health monitoring must be provided for workers carrying out the high risk processing

There is a useful shortcut for builders. If the high risk processing is part of high risk construction work, a SWMS can stand in for the silica risk control plan, provided it contains everything the plan would.[2] Most sites already have the document. The question is whether it says anything specific about dust.

Who needs health monitoring?

Any worker doing ongoing work where exposure to respirable crystalline silica creates a significant risk to their health, including anyone carrying out high risk processing.[2] The Code notes this can extend to workers who are regularly near the dust, or who clean the areas and equipment it settles on.

It should start before the worker first does the work, must be carried out or supervised by a medical practitioner experienced in health monitoring, and at minimum covers work history, personal exposure records, a respiratory questionnaire, lung function tests and a chest X-ray.[2] Reports are kept for at least 30 years, and go to the regulator if the doctor finds a possible silica-related disease or recommends remedial action.[2]

That 30-year horizon is the real point. Symptoms can take years to appear. The exposure record you keep on a townhouse driveway in 2026 is the one someone will ask for in 2040.

Why the problem is bigger than benchtops

The ban drew attention to one trade, but exposure across construction was always wider. The impact analysis behind the 2024 reforms estimated that in 2011, 6.6% of Australian workers were exposed to respirable crystalline silica and 3.7% were heavily exposed, with construction, tunnelling and demolition named among the affected industries.[5]

The obvious hazard has left the site. The dust from concrete, brick and tile has not, and it is generated by dozens of subcontractors on different days under different SWMS. Nobody sees it accumulate, because nobody is looking at all of it at once.

What good looks like

Good silica management on a construction site is not a dust policy in the WHS management plan. It is evidence, at the task level, that the controls were on when the saw was running.

• Every subcontractor SWMS for cutting, grinding or drilling masonry, concrete or tile names the specific dust control, not “wear PPE”, and is reviewed before they start

• Saws and grinders on site are the ones with water or extraction fitted, and plant checks confirm it

• Workers doing high risk processing are listed, and their health monitoring status is known

• Air monitoring results are filed against the task and date they measured, and kept

• Housekeeping is written into the task: wet down or vacuum, never dry sweep

• Observations of dry cutting are recorded and closed out, so the next one is not a surprise

The Australian context

The ban is national, but the detail varies by jurisdiction, and Safe Work Australia tells businesses to check with their own regulator.[1]

Victoria does not require notification before legacy engineered stone work, though controls still apply.[1] It does require a crystalline silica hazard control statement before high risk crystalline silica work, which includes work reasonably likely to push airborne silica above half the exposure standard. WorkSafe Victoria allows the statement to be incorporated into a SWMS.[6]

Queensland was first to publish a silica code for construction. Its Code of Practice 2022 covers all construction work and the manufacture of construction elements such as bricks, blocks, tiles and concrete.[7]

Western Australia requires low dose CT for silica health monitoring rather than chest X-ray.[2]

For a principal contractor working across state lines, that is three sets of rules for the same saw cut. This sits inside the broader set of duties covered in what HSEQ actually means on a construction site.

Where Plexa fits

Plexa holds the SWMS register, safety data sheets, plant checks, observations and worker records in one place, so the evidence for silica control is connected rather than scattered.

Each worker’s record shows the SWMS they signed alongside inductions, licences and permits. Safety data sheets, where a product’s crystalline silica content is usually stated, carry hazard classification and expiry tracking. Plant and equipment checklists can confirm a saw has its water or extraction fitted before it is approved for use.

A dry cut is raised from the field as an observation with a photo, and the corrective action is tracked to close-out. Safety plans and monitoring reports sit under version control, so the file an inspector asks for is found, not rebuilt.

Back on the Brisbane driveway, the site manager does not walk past. The paver SWMS names wet cutting, the saw’s plant check shows the water kit, and when it turns up without a hose, he raises it in thirty seconds. The cut waits until the water is connected.

Frequently asked questions

Is engineered stone completely banned in Australia? Engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs containing at least 1% crystalline silica cannot be manufactured, supplied, processed or installed from 1 July 2024. Removing, repairing, minor modification and disposal of already installed engineered stone is still permitted, with controls, and outside Victoria only after notifying the regulator.[1]

Does the silica ban apply to concrete, bricks and tiles? The ban does not. Concrete, bricks, pavers, ceramic tiles, mortar and plasterboard are excluded from the definition of engineered stone. They are still crystalline silica substances, so cutting, grinding or drilling them must be controlled under the rules in force since 1 September 2024.[1][2]

What is the exposure standard for silica dust in Australia? The workplace exposure standard for respirable crystalline silica is 0.05 mg/m³ over an eight-hour time weighted average. From 1 December 2026 exposure standards become workplace exposure limits; silica was one of nine substances referred for additional impact analysis, so check the published limit list.[3][4]

Who needs silica health monitoring? Workers doing ongoing work where exposure to respirable crystalline silica is a significant health risk, including anyone carrying out high risk processing. It must be carried out or supervised by an experienced medical practitioner, and reports are kept for at least 30 years.[2]

Is dry sweeping silica dust allowed? Safe Work Australia’s Code of Practice says not to use dry sweeping, compressed air or general-purpose vacuums. Use low-pressure water, wet sweeping or an M or H class vacuum. Sweeping silica dust can itself count as processing.[2]

Related reading

The document that carries most of these controls on site is explained in what is a SWMS, and what the regulations say about keeping it digital is covered in digital SWMS in Australia. If exposure turns into a reportable event, the obligations are set out in notifiable incidents in construction.

If you want to see how SWMS, plant checks and observations sit in one record on your projects, book a 30-minute demo with the Plexa team.