# Silicosis and occupational lung disease
Silica dust will wreck your lungs just as surely as asbestos if you give it long enough, and you don't feel the damage until it's well underway. If you're cutting concrete, brick, stone or worktops without proper dust control and a decent mask, you're betting your future breathing on today's convenience.
Quick rule of thumb: cutting, chasing and grinding without dust control or a proper mask isn't being tough: it's slow-motion lung damage. The stuff you can't see is the bit that reaches the bottom of your lungs.
1. What silicosis actually does
Silica is in most site materials · concrete, mortar, bricks, blocks, tiles, natural stone, engineered stone. When you cut, grind, chase or drill them, you create respirable crystalline silica (RCS) · dust fine enough to get deep into your lungs.
Heavy or long-term exposure to RCS can cause:
- Silicosis · permanent scarring and stiffening of the lungs. You get breathless, cough, and are more prone to infections. It can keep getting worse even after exposure stops.
- Lung cancer: HSE calls silica "the biggest risk to construction workers after asbestos".
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) · long-term blockages and narrowing of the airways.
- Higher risk of tuberculosis and other serious chest infections.
An HSE hazard assessment suggests that a working lifetime at the current UK limit of 0.1 mg/m³ RCS could still leave a double-digit percentage risk of silicosis developing years after exposure stops.
Once the scarring is there, it can't be reversed: you just stop it getting worse.
2. Legal exposure limit and COSHH duties
Under COSHH, respirable crystalline silica is a substance hazardous to health.
- The UK workplace exposure limit (WEL) for RCS is 0.1 mg/m³ as an 8-hour time-weighted average.
- Employers must reduce exposure below the WEL and then as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP), because RCS can cause cancer and genetic damage.
COSHH duties for silica
- Assess the risk · identify tasks that generate RCS, who is exposed and for how long.
- Prevent or control exposure:
- Use wet cutting, local exhaust ventilation (LEVs), on-tool extraction and method changes to stop dust at source.
- Plan work so fewer people are in the dust, for less time.
- Provide RPE (respiratory protective equipment) where dust can't be eliminated, and make sure it's fit-tested, maintained and worn correctly.
- Provide health surveillance where there's a reasonable risk of workers developing silicosis · for example, regular lung health checks and questionnaires.
If your site is grinding slabs and chasing walls in a fog of dust with no extraction, no water, and a box of paper masks for show, they're nowhere near COSHH compliance.
3. The dusty jobs that do the real damage
HSE and industry guidance highlight the worst RCS offenders:
- Dry cutting and chasing with cut-off saws or grinders on concrete, stone, brick, blocks, tiles.
- Dry drilling into concrete and masonry, especially overhead or in confined spaces.
- Grinding, polishing and finishing stone and engineered quartz worktops.
- Sandblasting / abrasive blasting with silica-containing media.
- Stone masonry and carving on sandstones, granites and engineered stone.
The engineered stone issue
The engineered stone issue is big enough that Australia has banned engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs after a spike in young workers with aggressive silicosis. UK HSE has issued new advice for stone worktop installers and is under pressure to tighten controls in the same way.
4. HSE enforcement, they are going after dust now
Silica is officially one of HSE's "health risk priorities", with thousands of targeted inspections planned for RCS, wood dust and isocyanates. Recent cases include:
- Property developer fined £63,000 after inspectors found serious failures on silica and wood dust control; nine enforcement notices were served on a single site.
- Warmsworth Stone Ltd repeatedly ignored improvement notices on RCS; HSE described their behaviour as "reckless disregard" and the company and director were fined over £25,000 combined.
- A stone worktop manufacturer was fined £60,000 after inspectors found the workshop floor covered in hazardous dust and workers with no adequate controls for RCS exposure.
HSE's business plan for 2024–25 commits to enforcing preventive controls for lung disease from RCS, with 4,000 proactive inspections across priority sectors. The direction is clear: if your site is visibly dusty with no controls, you're in the firing line.
5. RPE and face-fit, the mask has to actually work
Because RCS is so fine, any old mask won't cut it. HSE's silica guidance stresses:
- Use at least FFP3 disposable masks or half-mask respirators with P3 filters when engineering controls can't bring dust down far enough.
- RPE must be fit-tested for the wearer: especially tight-fitting masks. Beards and stubble stop a proper seal.
- RPE has to be:
- Worn whenever there's dust risk.
- Stored properly.
- Checked and maintained.
- Replaced when damaged or clogged.
HSE sees RPE as last line of defence, after you've used water suppression and extraction to push levels down. But on many real-world jobs, RPE is the difference between "some exposure" and "a lungful of concrete dust every day".
If you're cutting slabs with a petrol saw and dry disc and your only "PPE" is pulling your hoodie up over your mouth, that's not brave: it's rolling the dice on being breathless in your 40s.
6. IIDB for silicosis and occupational lung disease (PD D1 / D12)
Under the Industrial Injuries scheme, several silica-related lung diseases are prescribed:
- D1 · Pneumoconiosis (including silicosis) related to exposure to silica in certain jobs (for example, quarrying, mining, stone masonry, foundry work).
- D11 · Primary lung cancer with silicosis.
- D12 · Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in coal miners and some others.
To claim IIDB
- You apply via DWP (IIDB helpline 0800 121 8379), using the relevant disease forms.
- You need:
- Clear diagnosis (for example, CT scans, lung function tests, respiratory specialist letters) showing silicosis or related disease.
- Evidence of working in prescribed occupations with silica exposure.
- DWP arranges a medical assessment to assign a percentage disablement; payments depend on that percentage and your age.
Silicosis often shows up years after the dust exposure. If you're already diagnosed or strongly suspected, it's worth contacting a welfare rights adviser or lung charity to help you navigate IIDB and any civil claims.
What to do next
- If you're cutting, chasing or grinding dry, stop doing it without water or extraction · it's not worth your lungs.
- If you're getting breathless, coughing more than usual, or feeling tight-chested, see your GP and tell them about your dust exposure at work · ask for a chest X-ray or CT referral.
- If your employer isn't providing dust controls or RPE, raise it in writing · they're failing their COSHH duty and HSE is actively inspecting for this.
- If you've been diagnosed with silicosis or COPD from dust exposure, contact the IIDB helpline (0800 121 8379) and a welfare rights adviser to start a claim.
Sources
- Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) · legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2677/contents · employer duties on hazardous substances including silica.
- EH40 Table 1 · workplace exposure limit for RCS: 0.1 mg/m³ (8-hour TWA).
- HSE silica guidance · respirable crystalline silica in construction, control measures, RPE requirements.
- HSE hazard assessment for RCS · lifetime risk estimates at the current WEL.
- HSE enforcement cases · fines for silica failures on construction sites and stone workshops.
- HSE business plan 2024–25 · 4,000 proactive inspections for RCS, wood dust and isocyanates.
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 · legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/37/contents · general employer duty of care.
- Social Security (Industrial Injuries) (Prescribed Diseases) Regulations 1985 · silicosis as prescribed disease D1, lung cancer with silicosis D11, COPD D12.
- DWP IIDB guidance · claim process, medical assessment, percentage disablement.
- Australian engineered stone ban · context for UK regulatory pressure on engineered quartz.
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