Bathroom wholesale company Fienza Pty Ltd faces 22 charges following alleged breaches of the prohibition on the processing and supply of engineered stone.
New Victorian regulations banning work involving the manufacture, supply, processing or installation of engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs took effect on 1 July 2024, the same day that the national ban came into effect.
The charges against Fienza Pty Ltd are the first brought by WorkSafe under the new regulations.
After the ban commenced WorkSafe warned business owners that it was actively enforcing the ban and had placed non-disturbance notices on nearly 1,000 products to prevent them from being supplied to consumers or businesses. WorkSafe went on to advise employers in the construction and stonemasonry industries that they were responsible for ensuring that none of the products the worked with contained engineered stone.
Fienza Pty Ltd has been issued a single charge under regulation 319Y(b) of the OHS Regulations for directing or allowing a worker under their management or control to perform an engineered stone process, cutting holes in engineered stone benchtops at its Epping warehouse in July 2024.
The company is also facing 21 charges under regulation 319Y(a) of the OHS Regulations for directing or allowing a worker under their management or control to supply engineered stone benchtops, panels or slabs. It is alleged that Fienza Pty Ltd supplied engineered stone benchtops on 21 occasions to traders in Epping, Bairnsdale, Narre Warren, Mitcham, Bendigo, Warrnambool, Boronia, Warragul, Hastings, Belmont, Lakes Entrance, Richmond, Hamilton, Hoppers Crossing and Ravenhall.
The 2024 prohibition of engineered stone was implemented due to a significant increase in cases of silicosis and silica-related diseases among Australian workers in recent years. A notable proportion of these diagnoses involve engineered stone workers, who are exposed to crystalline silica dust during the processing and installation of products like benchtops, panels, or slabs.
Silica dust is so fine it can enter the deepest parts of the lungs. This dust can build up in the lungs and scar them - leading to a number of diseases such a mesothelioma, silicosis and lung cancer.
Read more: Bathroom wholesaler first to be charged after engineered stone ban | WorkSafe Victoria