Swedish furniture giant Ikea has become the latest household name to ban engineered stone from its product range.
The homeware superstore was criticised by the construction workers’ union for selling the composite material, made from crushed quartz and resin, despite evidence that its toxic dust causes the fatal lung disease silicosis.
Workers who manufacture and install the material, often used in kitchen benchtops, are exposed to respirable silica dust that is released when it is cut. Ikea sells a number of engineered stone products, including its quartz benchtops range.
It has now joined Bunnings and the Australian Capital Territory in taking a stand against the use of the dangerous material.
In a statement, the Ikea Australia chief executive officer and chief sustainability officer, Mirja Viinanen, said the company had been monitoring the issue, including recent analysis and recommendations from Safe Work Australia, on the risks associated with engineered stone products.
“Ikea Australia will begin the process of phasing out engineered stone products from our local range, ahead of government action,” Viinanen said.
She called for a nationally aligned approach from governments “to provide clarity and ensure coordinated action across the country”.
In October, Safe Work Australia published its recommendation to prohibit the use of all engineered stone, irrespective of crystalline silica content, to protect the health and safety of workers.
A national response to the “powerful and compelling” report is being developed, the federal workplace relations minister, Tony Burke, said last month.
Ikea’s move follows a campaign from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union calling on businesses to ban the use of the product.
The union welcomed Ikea’s move, while calling on the company to set a date for the ban to be imposed.
“There is now unstoppable momentum behind banning engineered stone. Ikea now backs what the CFMEU and health experts have been saying all through this campaign: there is no safe exposure to engineered stone,” the CFMEU national secretary, Zach Smith, said.
“Bunnings and Ikea have beaten our federal, state and territory governments to the punch. We need an immediate announcement from all work health and safety ministers locking in a ban.”
Bunnings will stop selling engineered stone on 31 December while WorkSafe ACT has introduced a new code of practice that can lead to heavy fines for workplaces that fail to protect workers who handle engineered stone as well as bricks, tiles, concrete and other dust-generating materials.
Caesarstone, the brand name for an engineered stone product that is popular around the world, opposes the potential prohibition, pushing instead for a ban on products that contain a silica content of more than 40%.
The Safe Work Australia report found there was “no evidence” that lower levels of crystalline silica could be safe for workers cutting and grinding engineered stone.
“No one should ever contract a terminal illness simply because they’ve turned up to work,” Burke said.
