You've probably seen fabricated stone countertops on an HGTV remodeling show — and you might even have them in your own home.
You've probably seen fabricated stone countertops on an HGTV remodeling show — and you might even have them in your own home. The durable, affordable, and highly customizable product debuted in Italy in the 1970s and continues to grow in popularity. Between 2010 and 2018, U.S.
imports of engineered stone slabs increased by 800% . One report predicted that global demand will increase 5.4% each year, to reach 97 million square meters by 2028.
Sometimes referred to as manufactured stone or quartz (which is, confusingly, also the name of one of its main components), to the untrained eye, the material looks no different from natural stone. One of its biggest advantages is that it can be made to resemble marble, granite, or nearly any other stone.
Beneath the material’s familiar smooth surface, however, lie safety risks for engineered stone workers. Research conducted by a team of Georgia Tech scientists demonstrates that everyone in a fabrication shop is at risk, not just the workers cutting and fashioning the material.
The group included members of the Enterprise Innovation Institute ’s Safety, Health, and Environmental Services (SHES) program: Jenny Houlroyd , Hilarie Warren , Brandon J. Philpot , and Sean Castillo . Together with Jhy-Charm Soo of Georgia Southern University, they recently published their findings in Oxford Academic .
The study divided engineered stone workers into four risk groups and charted their relative exposure to the material’s chief hazard: respirable crystalline silica. Engineered stone differs notably from its natural counterpart, both in composition and in danger to worker health.
A stone slab cut from the ground, such as granite or marble, comprises several different minerals and typically has a concentration of 40% or less of mineral crystalline silica — usually quartz, which is the most abundant form of crystalline silica. Engineered stone, however, can contain more than 90% silica.
Slabs are produced when silica is crushed, combined with synthetic resins, and compressed using heat or pressure. During fabrication, these slabs are cut and shaped by powered hand tools. The resulting dust contains tiny particles of respirable crystalline silica.
Once inhaled, some of the particulate may stay in the lungs and cause an inflammatory response. While crystalline silica is released from both natural and engineered slabs during fabrication, the engineered slabs’ significantly higher percentage of silica poses a much greater risk to human health.
A growing body of research indicates that breathing engineered stone dust leads to lung inflammation and can cause acute silicosis, an untreatable lung disease. “I would classify engineered stone as a really toxic product,” said Houlroyd, manager of occupational health services at SHES.
“When you have something that’s high-risk, you have to prepare for systems to fail and have backup measures.” Over six years, the SHES research group collected air-sampling data, making 17 visits to 11 Georgia stone fabrication shops. The shops had all requested air-sampling services offered by SHES.
“The companies agree that by working with us, they commit to correcting the hazards and reducing exposures, as much as is feasible,” Houlroyd noted. Because most kitchen and bathroom countertop fabrication shops are small employers, workers often complete a variety of tasks, resulting in a range of exposure factors.
The research team recommended that all manufactured stone fabrication workers wear respirators, such as an N95 mask. For employees who are the most exposed, they recommended a respirator with a powered air-purifying element or supplied air.
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Sources
- Scientists Pinpoint Hazards for Engineered Stone Fabrication Shop Workers (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Source article: Scientists Pinpoint Hazards for Engineered Stone Fabrication Shop Workers | Source publish time: Jul 28, 2025 | Source language: en
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