The Federal government has accepted all recommendations of the National Dust Disease Taskforce’s interim report, but lawyers representing stonemasons affected by accelerated silicosis have condemned the Taskforce’s advice as “pathetic and weak”.
Minister for Health Greg Hunt said the government will act on the five early steps suggested by the Taskforce to address the issues identified to date, which include:
- Developing a targeted education and communication campaign to raise awareness of the risks of working with engineered stone.
- Ongoing staged development of a national dust disease registry, with specific data requirements recommended by the Taskforce.
- Targeted investment in key research activities, to improve understanding of prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
- Developing national guidance on screening workers working with engineered stone.
- Development of a national approach to identify occupational silica dust exposure and other future occupational diseases.
He said action and collaboration was needed by state and territory governments .
“These actions will be implemented progressively in 2020 in parallel to the Taskforce finalising its report. A final report will be delivered to the Council of Australian Governments’ (COAG) Health Council by the end of 2020,” said Mr Hunt.
Lung Foundation Australia welcomed the government’s decision to implement the recommendations to deal with the growing number of silicosis cases in people working in the engineered stone industry.
“We’re pleased to see recommendations made by Lung Foundation Australia, and our partners, have been echoed by the taskforce,” said CEO Mark Brooke.
But a law firm representing workers affected by the silicosis epidemic said the Taskforce’s interim advice completely failed to recommend immediate action needed to ban unsafe practices in the artificial stone industry.