SWMS for silica dust: engineered stone ban and the new rules

CClaus, Director — Hampton Homes · 35 years on site
Trade SWMS · Updated 7 September 2026 · 5 min read

Two things changed in 2024 and a lot of tradies still haven't caught up. From 1 July 2024, engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs are banned across Australia: no manufacturing, supplying, processing or installing. From 1 September 2024, the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld) got a new set of rules for processing any crystalline silica substance, which covers concrete, bricks, tiles, fibre cement, pavers, natural stone and mortar. If you cut, grind, drill or sand that stuff with power tools, "uncontrolled" processing is now prohibited, and if the work is high risk you need a silica risk control plan. On a construction site, a proper SWMS (Safe Work Method Statement) can be that plan.

The engineered stone ban: what's actually banned

Section 529D of the WHS Regulation prohibits work involving the manufacture, supply, processing or installation of engineered stone benchtops, panels or slabs. Queensland gave no transition period. The Commonwealth followed with an import ban from 1 January 2025.

Engineered stone means an artificial product that contains at least 1 per cent crystalline silica by weight, is made by combining natural stone with resins, pigments or similar, and is hardened. Concrete, bricks, ceramic tiles, sintered stone, porcelain, grout, mortar and render are specifically excluded from the ban. They're still covered by the silica rules below, they're just not banned.

The ban has exceptions for legacy stone that's already in someone's kitchen. You can repair it, make minor modifications, remove it and dispose of it. But you must notify WHSQ (Workplace Health and Safety Queensland) before that work starts using their online form, and you must do it with dust controls and respiratory protection. "It's only one cut-out for a new tap" is exactly the job the notification is for.

The 1 September 2024 rules: everything else with silica in it

This is the bigger change for most builders, because it's not about benchtops. A crystalline silica substance is any material with at least 1 per cent crystalline silica by weight. That's nearly every hard material on a residential site.

Processing means using power tools or mechanical plant to crush, cut, grind, trim, sand, polish or drill that material, plus things like mechanical screening and tunnelling. A drop saw through a brick, a grinder in a slab, a drill through a fibre cement sheet. All processing.

Uncontrolled processing is prohibited. To be "controlled" you need at least one of these, as far as reasonably practicable:

isolating the worker from the dust
a fully enclosed operator cabin with high efficiency air filtration (plant)
an effective wet dust suppression method
an effective on-tool extraction system
an effective local exhaust ventilation system.

If risk remains after that, suitable RPE (Respiratory Protective Equipment) is on top of the control, not instead of it. Dry cutting with a disposable dust mask is neither.

High risk silica work and the risk control plan

The PCBU (Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking) has to assess whether the processing is high risk, meaning reasonably likely to result in a risk to someone's health. If you can't tell, treat it as high risk until you can show otherwise. Weigh up the task, how much silica is in the material, how long and intense the exposure is, airborne dust levels, how good your controls really are, and any health monitoring history.

If it's high risk, you need a silica risk control plan. It has to be developed in consultation with workers, prepared before the work starts, kept current, made available to everyone affected, and actually followed. On top of that:

Training: workers doing high risk silica processing need training in the health risks, identifying silica materials, how the controls work, RPE fit checking and fit testing, and clean-up (regulation 529CD). Keep records for five years after the worker leaves.
Air monitoring: if you're not sure whether airborne respirable crystalline silica exceeds the workplace exposure standard, you have to monitor. Exceedances must be reported to the regulator.
Health monitoring: required where there's a significant risk to health from ongoing exposure. Records are kept for 30 years.

WorkSafe Queensland says outright that for construction work, a SWMS that meets the risk control plan requirements will do the job, so you don't need two documents. That's the practical answer for a builder. One silica SWMS, written properly, covers regulation 299 and the silica plan.

What a silica SWMS needs to say

Don't write "silica" as a hazard and move on. Name the material, the tool and the control for each task:

Cutting bricks and blocks: wet brick saw, or dry saw with on-tool extraction and an H-class or M-class vacuum. Where the cutting station is and who's downwind.
Grinding and chasing concrete: shroud with extraction, or water feed. No dry chasing inside a closed room.
Fibre cement: score and snap where you can. Power tools only with extraction.
Clean-up: H-class vacuum or wet methods. No dry sweeping, no compressed air. This gets skipped more than any other control.
RPE: type specified, fit tested, clean shaven. Write down when a powered air-purifying respirator is required instead of a P2 half face.
Who checks that the water's flowing and the vac is running, and how often.

Why it matters

Silicosis is incurable and it's been showing up in stonemasons in their thirties. If you're the PCBU and one of your crew ends up with it, "we always cut it that way" is not a defence. Write the SWMS, give the blokes the gear, and check they use it.

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Sources

General information only — not legal advice. Laws and codes change; check the current legislation or get advice for your own situation.