By workplace & process
Cutting, grinding and polishing stone releases respirable crystalline silica, and engineered-stone worktops are driving a surge in early-onset silicosis. The limit, the risk and what a test of the extraction has to confirm.
The short answer
Cutting, grinding and polishing stone releases respirable crystalline silica - a fine dust that scars the lungs and is a recognised carcinogen. The rise of engineered-stone worktops, which are very high in quartz, has driven a surge in early-onset silicosis in young workers. Water suppression and source extraction are the controls, and a test of that extraction is what proves the dust is actually being caught.
The detail
Respirable crystalline silica has a workplace exposure limit of 0.1 milligrams per cubic metre as an eight-hour average, and because it is a carcinogen the duty is to reduce exposure as low as reasonably practicable below that. HSE's own estimates put the risk in stark terms: at the current limit over a working life, around thirty in a hundred exposed workers may develop silicosis, falling to roughly five in a hundred at half that level.
Engineered or artificial stone has sharpened the problem. These worktops are far higher in quartz than most natural stone, so cutting and polishing them releases large amounts of silica. The result has been a wave of early-onset silicosis, with the first UK cases reported in 2024 and further cases identified since. Silicosis is irreversible and also raises the risk of COPD, lung cancer, kidney disease and tuberculosis - which is why HSE updated its silica health-surveillance guidance in 2025, naming stonework and worktop manufacture as high-risk.
What it means for you
A thorough examination and test of stone-shop LEV confirms that on-tool extraction and bench capture are drawing the fine dust away at source and moving air at the commissioned rate, backed by water suppression at the cutting and polishing points. Dry sweeping is not acceptable because it throws settled silica back into the air, so a suitable vacuum is used instead, and the examiner checks capture against the design at least every fourteen months with user checks between.
Fine respirable dust is exactly the kind that escapes a system that has lost airflow, and because the disease it causes is lifelong, the margin for drift is small. Proving the extraction still captures - alongside water suppression and the required health surveillance - is what stands between a stone worker and irreversible lung damage.
The service behind the guide
We test stone-shop LEV - on-tool extraction and bench capture - against the respirable silica it has to control, with a clear report and remedial actions.
Questions
Respirable crystalline silica has a workplace exposure limit of 0.1 milligrams per cubic metre as an eight-hour average. It is a carcinogen, so exposure must be reduced as low as reasonably practicable below that limit.
Engineered or artificial stone worktops are very high in quartz, and cutting and polishing them releases large amounts of respirable silica. This has driven a rise in early-onset silicosis, with UK cases first reported in 2024 and more since.
It is irreversible scarring of the lungs and can also lead to COPD, lung cancer, kidney disease and tuberculosis. HSE estimates that at the current limit around thirty in a hundred workers exposed over a lifetime may develop it.
Water suppression and on-tool or at-source extraction, backed by LEV, with no dry sweeping - a suitable vacuum instead. Health surveillance is required, and HSE updated its silica surveillance guidance in 2025 naming stonework as high-risk.
At least every fourteen months under COSHH, with user checks between. The test confirms the extraction is capturing the fine dust at source rather than letting it escape.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
We test stone-shop LEV - on-tool extraction and bench capture - against the respirable silica it has to control, with a clear report and remedial actions.