Responding to an epidemic of the fatal lung disease silicosis, workplace regulators in California on Wednesday released a draft emergency rule that could lead to a ban on artificial-stone countertops.
In a notice published online, the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, known as Cal/OSHA, put forward a plan to prohibit “the manufacture or fabrication” of the surfaces, which contain high concentrations of lung-destroying silica. As of September 10, the state had confirmed 644 cases of silicosis and 35 deaths among the mostly immigrant workers who cut, grind and polish countertop slabs made of crushed quartz, resins and pigments. Cal/OSHA will accept public comments on the draft rule through September 30.
Public Health Watch, with partners LAist and Univision, was the first to report on a silicosis cluster in Southern California, in December 2022. Officials responded with stepped-up enforcement in fabrication shops and public-education campaigns, but saw limited success. Momentum has been building for a ban on artificial-stone countertops – which became popular with American consumers about 15 years ago – amid growing evidence that they cannot be fabricated safely even when strict precautions are taken.
At a public meeting in Los Angeles in May, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board voted to grant a petition — filed by more than 600 health professionals — calling for a ban. Dozens of ailing workers and their family members spoke at the meeting; one worker pleaded with the standards board in Spanish to “do something to stop this evil.”
If the board approves the draft rule, it will likely become permanent in one year. “We urge them to quickly finalize this emergency rule,” said lawyer James Nevin, who has won several multimillion-dollar verdicts against countertop manufacturers this year in lawsuits brought by fabricators. Nevin has argued in these cases that artificial stone is “uniquely toxic,” and that “all entities in the chain of distribution are liable for [its] devastating consequences.”
Another lawyer who has successfully sued manufacturers, Raphael Metzger, praised Cal/OSHA’s proposal but said he was “concerned that no date has been set for adoption of the regulation, because on average, every day a fabrication worker is being diagnosed with silicosis in California and every month that passes a fabrication worker is dying of silicosis in California.” Metzger said he hopes Cal/OSHA and the standards board will “proceed expeditiously to adopt the regulation to finally put an end to the carnage and misery of artificial stone countertop fabricators in California.”
