Study highlights the rapid rise of workplace silicosis

New research from Monash University has confirmed a disturbing increase in cases of silicosis among Australian workers.

Led by Dr Ryan Hoy from the Monash Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health within Monash’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine — and published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine — the study aimed to investigate changes in the rate of silicosis cases occurring in Victoria and the association with stone benchtop industry work.

Since mid-2019, the Victorian Government provided stone benchtop workers access to health screening in response to silicosis cases in the industry. The researchers said the government-funded screening has been critical in identifying affected workers and understanding the magnitude of the silicosis outbreak.

“Following commencement of active health assessment of hundreds of stone benchtop industry workers in Victoria from 2019, the results of our study confirm the alarming scale of the silicosis outbreak,” Hoy said.

What does the data show?

To investigate, the team analysed two data sources: workers compensation claims for silicosis in Victoria from 1 January 1991 to 31 December 2022, and a clinical registry that recorded new cases of silicosis diagnosed by respiratory physicians from 1 May 2019 to 31 December 2022.

The key findings from the workers compensation claims data found:

• Over 32 years, there were 536 workers compensation claims for silicosis.
• In total, 90% (482 claims) of the silicosis claims were received between 2015 and 2022, a 27-fold increase from the previous eight‐year period (18 claims).
   

“The incidence rate for silicosis claims in the adult population increased from 0.12 per 100,000 in 1991–1998 to 2.38 per 100,000 in 2015–2022,” Hoy said. “During the most recent eight-year period, the median age of people with silicosis was younger at 39 years, compared to 50 years for earlier time periods. Most silicosis compensation claims were received following commencement of the government-funded stone benchtop industry screening program in 2019.”

The key findings from the silicosis clinical registry found:

• There were 210 patients with silicosis diagnosed by respiratory physicians in Victoria between May 2019 and December 2022.
• 22% of the patients were diagnosed with more advanced complicated silicosis.
• 97% of patients with silicosis worked in the stone benchtop industry, and 95% primarily worked with artificial (engineered) stone.
• 89% of workers with silicosis have participated in the government-funded screening program.
   

“The results should be extremely concerning for other countries where engineered stone is popular but there has been no screening of workers. These results suggest that in those regions, there are highly likely to be a very large number of undiagnosed workers,” Hoy said.

“The ban of engineered stone is a very important step in protecting workers; however, there has been two decades of workers being exposed to highly dangerous conditions due to the use of this material. This will result in workers remaining at risk for decades to come.

“The stone benchtop industry is a multibillion-dollar industry, employing hundreds of thousands of workers internationally. Our study has demonstrated an alarmingly rapid increase in cases of silicosis caused by work with artificial stone and provides further justification for Australia’s prohibition of the material.

“Government-funded screening of stone benchtop workers has been crucial in revealing the magnitude of this silicosis outbreak and should be considered in other countries where this material has become popular.”

Image credit: iStock.com/Frazao Studio Latino. Stock image used is for illustrative purposes only.