Crystalline Silica WHS in Australia: Risks, Controls and Stone Ban

Crystalline silica is present in many rocks and building materials. Cutting, grinding, drilling or crushing a silica-containing material can generate fine respirable crystalline silica dust, or RCS. Breathing that dust can cause serious lung disease. A business needs to identify the material and task, assess the exposure, control dust at its source, and check whether monitoring or other specific duties apply. A paper risk assessment cannot substitute for working controls.

Australia has a national model work health and safety framework, but the model Act, regulations and codes do not automatically become law everywhere. Each state, territory and the Commonwealth implement and enforce their own requirements. Safe Work Australia explains that Victoria has not adopted the model WHS laws and operates under its own occupational health and safety legislation. Start with the regulator for the place where work occurs before treating a model provision as an enforceable local rule.

Silica dust is a task problem, not just a product label

Examples include cutting concrete or masonry, drilling stone, quarrying, tunnelling, and work with other silica-containing products. The material's silica content matters, but the operation, equipment, duration, control method and surrounding workers also affect exposure. A label saying a product contains silica does not measure what reaches a worker's breathing zone. Conversely, a task that looks briefly dusty should not be dismissed without assessing the exposure.

The Safe Work Australia silica duties page separates general risk-management duties from specific rules for crystalline silica substances, air monitoring and health monitoring. Identify whether the task processes a material covered by local crystalline-silica-substance provisions. The 2024 model amendments strengthen controlled-processing and risk-assessment duties for materials containing at least one per cent crystalline silica. Safe Work Australia's amendment notice expressly says those amendments only take effect in a jurisdiction when that jurisdiction implements them. Do not assume the model commencement date is the local commencement date.

The engineered-stone ban is narrower than all silica work

Since 1 July 2024, a prohibition on manufacturing, supplying, processing or installing engineered-stone benchtops, panels and slabs has applied across Australia. The Safe Work Australia engineered-stone ban page sets out the product definition, exclusions and limited exceptions. It also warns that details of local implementation may vary. The ban does not mean all natural stone, concrete or other silica-containing materials are prohibited. Those materials may still create dangerous dust and remain subject to applicable control duties.

Limited work with legacy engineered stone may be permitted, such as controlled removal, repair or minor modification of previously installed products, and disposal. Notification to the local WHS regulator may be required before permitted work with legacy stone. Do not read “legacy work permitted” as permission to process it without controls, or assume that a contract signed before the ban still authorises a new installation. Check the current regulator guidance and the specific exception before accepting the job. WorkSafe Victoria's current guidance illustrates how one jurisdiction explains its OHS requirements and permitted legacy work.

Assess the work before deciding on controls

Map each silica-generating operation: what is cut or drilled, which tool is used, where the dust travels, who may be exposed, how long the task runs, and whether the work is indoors, enclosed or near others. Include cleaning and maintenance, since dry sweeping or poorly controlled equipment servicing can spread dust after the main cut ends. Consult workers who know where dust escapes or controls fail.

Compare the task with the applicable local law and the current code or regulator guidance. Safe Work Australia's crystalline-silica-substances guidance explains how to identify high-risk processing under the model framework. It cautions against treating the absence of previous air-monitoring data as proof of low risk. The assessment may need representative exposure information; the exact legal test depends on the jurisdiction and task.

Control dust before relying on respirators

First consider whether the hazardous process can be eliminated or substituted with a safer method or material where lawful and practicable. For work that must proceed, use effective engineering controls such as suitably designed water suppression or on-tool extraction and local exhaust ventilation as appropriate to the task. Restrict access to the work area, plan cleaning that does not resuspend dust, maintain equipment and verify that the control performs during real work. Respiratory protective equipment may also be needed, but it is not a substitute for reducing dust at the source.

The precise control combination is not universal. An outdoor cutting job, an enclosed workshop and permitted legacy engineered-stone removal present different conditions. The local regulator may specify measures for particular work. A person competent to assess the process and exposure should confirm the method, including whether control performance needs testing or air monitoring. The Safe Work Australia model silica code is practical guidance; check whether and how it has been approved in the relevant jurisdiction. Do not reproduce a copyrighted Australian Standard as if it were freely available law.

Air monitoring and health monitoring are different

Air monitoring measures airborne exposure so a business can assess whether controls work and whether an exposure standard may be exceeded. Health monitoring concerns a worker's health under the applicable statutory trigger. Neither is a replacement for controlling the hazard. Safe Work Australia's WHS duties for silica explains that health monitoring is required in specified circumstances involving a significant risk to health, and that air monitoring may be required when exposure is uncertain or a standard may be exceeded. Do not assume every silica task automatically has the same monitoring schedule.

Australia is also changing terminology for airborne contaminants. As checked on 30 September 2026, Safe Work Australia says workplace exposure standards, or WES, apply through 30 November 2026, with workplace exposure limits, or WEL, scheduled from 1 December 2026. That is a future transition, not a reason to call a WEL current in September. Local implementation must be confirmed. A number in a table is a legal exposure ceiling, not proof that any lower exposure is harmless. This guide therefore links to the current official list rather than copying a value that may be revised.

Example: a contractor cutting masonry beside another trade

A subcontractor plans to cut masonry with a powered saw while electricians work in the next bay. The manager should establish the material and method, check local silica rules, plan an effective dust-control method, and consider the electricians' exposure as well as the saw operator's. The team should test whether water or extraction is available and functioning, set a boundary around the work, and plan cleanup. If the proposed control fails or the work moves into a confined indoor space, stop and reassess. A previous assessment for an outdoor job does not automatically cover the new setting.

This is an illustration of the decision sequence, not a determination that one control setup is legally sufficient. A real plan may need a competent exposure assessment and monitoring. The Complys Australian WHS software page is a destination for evaluating an organisational workflow. It is not presented as an air-monitoring instrument, health-monitoring provider or legal assessor. The SWMS tool serves a different construction-document task and is not a substitute for the silica-specific assessment.