Urgent letter to our Fabricators: Concerns regarding a ban on engineered stone and a better path forward

On September 26^th 2023, our Managing Director David Cullen wrote an urgent letter to our fabricators regarding Concerns about a ban on engineered stone. We would suggest that each and every fabrication business should write to their respective Local Members to make their voice count. Read the full letter in different languages via the below links:

• English
• Hindu
• Vietnamese
• Arabic
• Mandarin

Full letter details as per below.

Dear Fabricators,

Federal Government Minister Tony Burke and the State Work Health and Safety ministers will be meeting in October to determine a final direction for our industry and a major part of your business. 

The Safe Work Australia report has been handed to Government and my understanding is they are not convinced that our Industry can operate safely due to a lack of scientific evidence. 

While this is just speculation, we should assume we are going to have to fight for survival and as such it is imperative that your voices are heard. We still have confidence that commonsense will prevail and a recommendation of silica content at 40% or below, combined with a licensing scheme similar to that of VICTORIA will be recommended but there is no absolute guarantee. The Unions although, having little to no unionised workers in our industry clearly are fighting to ban engineered stone.

As a leader in the stone industry, I, on behalf of Caesarstone, have written to the Ministers to express our concern on the subject matter. And I would suggest that each and every fabrication business write to your respective Members (email addresses below) and advise in your own words.

• The Investment you have made in your business.
• The investment you have made in creating a safe work environment.
• The changes you have made to facilitate a safe work environment. 
• The number of people you employ directly and indirectly.
• The immediate impact a complete ban would have.
• The inability to find sufficient acceptable substitute products.
• The fact that many substitute products (e.g. granite, porcelain) contain silica with some containing silica levels higher than 40%. Clearly a complete ban on engineered stone will not make the Industry necessarily safer.
• Question what will then happen with bricks, concrete, porcelain that all contain high levels of silica.
• Question what will happen to the millions of installed and ordered engineered stone benchtops.
• The number of Union  members in your business.

In relation to Victorian Fabricators, I would also suggest you point out that the Victorian Government introduced licensing, you invested to ensure compliance, a new Industry safety maturity level has and is being reached and you would find it completely unacceptable that Victoria would not support their Fabrication Industry accordingly.

Your voices count. Employment counts. The Unions are doing everything it can to force a closure of our Industry. We need to fight back. Please take time to respond.