State safety officials propose emergency regulations to halt fabrication of artificial stone products linked to fatal silicosis.
RT’s Three Key Takeaways:
- Emergency Rulemaking: The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health has proposed an emergency regulation to prohibit the fabrication and manufacturing of engineered stone countertops containing more than 1% crystalline silica.
- Severe Health Risks: Pulmonary healthcare experts emphasize that even advanced respiratory protection fails to fully shield countertop fabrication workers from unsafe silica exposures that drive progressive lung disease.
- Public Comment Period: Regulators and healthcare advocates are soliciting stakeholder feedback through September 30, 2026, to finalize standards aimed at curbing the state’s occupational silicosis crisis.
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) has issued a discussion draft for an emergency standard that would prohibit the fabrication and manufacture of artificial stone products containing more than 1% crystalline silica, according to regulatory documents released by the agency.
The move follows Petition 609 from the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, which requested regulatory action in response to an ongoing silicosis crisis among artificial stone workers.
See also: Quartz Countertop Work Tied to Rise in Silicosis
A study of California workers identified nearly 600 cases of the incurable lung condition silicosis, prompting experts to call for national surveillance and stronger safety standards.
Cal/OSHA is initiating emergency rulemaking to create a proposed new section 5204.1 and amend existing general industry standards under sections 5204 and 1532.3 to safeguard workers from silicosis, an incurable, permanently debilitating, and fatal lung disease.
To review the draft standard and gather stakeholder feedback, Cal/OSHA has scheduled an advisory committee meeting and opened a public comment period that runs through September 30, 2026.
Pulmonary Experts Back Fabrication Ban
The emergency rulemaking has drawn strong support from respiratory clinicians and the American Thoracic Society (ATS), who have warned about the rapid progression of occupational lung disease in this workforce.
“Even with the best respiratory protection, workers cutting and fabricating engineered stone continue to be exposed to unsafe levels of respirable crystalline silica. The Cal/OSHA emergency rule is a critical first step to protecting workers from silica exposure on the job, and curbing the unprecedented rise in severe, progressive silicosis caused by these materials,” said Maeve Macmurdo, MD, MBChB, MPH, a pulmonologist from Cleveland Clinic.
According to the society, the ATS plans to submit formal comments urging Cal/OSHA to quickly finalize and enforce regulations that ban the fabrication of high crystalline silica countertops across the state.
Next Steps for Implementation
Under the proposed framework, interested parties may provide oral testimony during the advisory meeting or deliver written comments directly to the Cal/OSHA Research and Standards Branch by the September 30, 2026, deadline.
Cal/OSHA stated that the advisory committee will continue reviewing silica standards and related workplace regulations to evaluate long-term protections for countertop fabrication, cutting, and finishing personnel.
