Michael Nolan, who is waiting for a transplant, wants Australia’s exposure limit dramatically cut to save lives

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A Victorian father who has a life expectancy of only five to 10 years if he doesn’t get a lung transplant soon says the new national mandatory limit for silica dust exposure doesn’t go far enough and that the decision will “cost lives”.

Michael Nolan, 33, is a former stonemason who was diagnosed in March this year with silicosis and is on a waiting list for a transplant. He wanted the present dust exposure limit, of 0.1 milligrams per cubic metre over an eight-hour shift, dramatically cut to save lives.

The Cancer Council of Australia, unions and Victorian state government wanted the limit to be set at 0.02 milligrams per cubic metre, which would make the nation a world leader.

But Safe Work Australia, the national body that develops work health and safety policies, decided on Wednesday to cut the limit to 0.05 milligrams per cubic metre, in three years time.

“It’s a stupid decision, it’s going to cost lives,” Nolan told Guardian Australia.

Nolan, who lives on the Mornington Peninsula, has two sons, Damon aged three and Kai aged 12.

“I can’t even laugh properly any more – if I laugh too hard for too long, I can’t breathe, it feels like I’m going to pop one of my lungs,” Nolan said.

“I won’t be able to play football with my kids like I used to. I have absolutely no gas now, walking upstairs you start to feel it.”

Nolan has been inhaling the dust while cutting stone benchtops for the past decade and now can’t work.

“We may as well be making benchtops out of asbestos, it’s the same thing,” Nolan said.

A committee of state and territory work safe authority heads, a federal government representative, union officials and business lobbyists made the decision.

The Victorian Trades Hall Council occupational health and safety expert Paul Sutton noted Japan’s silica dust exposure level is 0.03 milligrams per cubic metre, while the US has recently cut its limit to 0.025.

“This is a black day for stonemasons and all workers around the country exposed to silica dust,” Sutton said.

“Safe Work Australia’s decision ignores international scientific evidence and Cancer Council recommendations. The three year implementation is particularly galling because workers are being exposed to deadly, toxic silica dust today.”

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry supported keeping the dust exposure limit at the present level because it doesn’t think a reduction would improve safety outcomes. Instead it favours extra awareness-raising and compliance activities.

It’s understood large quarries could face $1m-$2m in new equipment costs and the construction sector could be up for $400m if the dust exposure limit is reduced.

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The Cancer Council occupational epidemiologist professor Tim Driscoll said there is no safe level of exposure so it’s vital to reduce it to as low a level as possible to minimise the risks.

He said international research estimates around 200-230 Australians develop lung cancer a year as a result of silica dust exposure.

“It’s a big enough problem to do something about it,” Driscoll said.

Victoria’s attorney general Jill Hennessy said the state has launched a compliance blitz of 300 workplaces at high risk, a state-wide ban on uncontrolled dry cutting of artificial engineered stone and free health checks for stone masons.

“Silicosis is a dangerous and deadly disease that is preventable. We need the federal government to show leadership to set a health based national standard to protect our workers from exposure to unsafe levels of silica,” she said in a statement.

Crystalline silica is found in stone, rock, sand, gravel, clay, bricks, tiles, concrete, artificial stone benchtops and some plastic. Silica dust is 100 times smaller than a grain of sand and exposure can lead to lung cancer, silicosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and kidney disease.

In 2011, about 587,000 Australians were exposed to silica dust at work and an estimated 5,758 will develop lung cancer over the course of their lives, according to the Cancer Council of Australia.