Silicosis is an usually lethal lung illness linked to inhaling poisonous mud from slicing engineered stone. California has handed new security measures for staff in the previous few years, however docs say they don’t seem to be sufficient.
SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:
A lung illness has been sickening stoneworkers who make kitchen and toilet counter tops. California handed strict laws, however docs say they do not go far sufficient. KQED’s Farida Jhabvala Romero studies.
FARIDA JHABVALA ROMERO, BYLINE: Lopez lives 24/7 with this sound.
(SOUNDBITE OF MACHINE WHIRRING)
JHABVALA ROMERO: That is the oxygen machine that he must breathe. He is solely 43. He requested NPR to only use his final title as a result of he is an undocumented immigrant who fears deportation. For years, he reduce a well-liked materials referred to as synthetic stone to make counter tops within the San Francisco Bay space. Greater than a yr in the past, he was recognized with silicosis, an usually lethal lung illness.
LOPEZ: (Talking Spanish).
JHABVALA ROMERO: Lopez says he feels determined sitting at residence, unable to work and help his household. He is ready on a double-lung transplant.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Talking Spanish).
JHABVALA ROMERO: His spouse requested NPR to not use her title attributable to fears of deportation. She chokes again tears when speaking about how silicosis has devastated her hardworking husband. The couple have 4 youngsters.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Talking Spanish).
JHABVALA ROMERO: In California, practically 500 stonecutters – practically all Latino males – have contracted an aggressive type of silicosis. Twenty-seven have died since 2019. These staff obtained unwell from respiratory mud launched when slicing and shaping synthetic stone, often known as engineered stone or quartz. It will probably generate much more poisonous silica particles than pure stones. California accredited guidelines two years in the past requiring outlets that work with this materials to take steps to suppress mud. However employee advocates, state regulators and a few employers say there is not sufficient enforcement.
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JHABVALA ROMERO: At United Marble & Granite in Santa Clara, these new necessities are on show. Staff maintain saws and polishers that cowl synthetic stone slabs with water whereas they work. Additionally they put on high-tech respirators that may price greater than a thousand {dollars} every, and a classy air flow system retains the air clear. However Shawn DeOliveira, who co-owns the corporate along with his dad and mom, says few individuals are doing all this. He says many store homeowners suppose it is too costly or not possible.
SHAWN DEOLIVEIRA: They’re simply going to chop dry in an open space the place there’s different staff round.
JHABVALA ROMERO: DeOliveira estimates that organising a small fabrication store that implements the state security guidelines prices at the least $250,000. It is cheaper to get began within the business, he says, with out complying.
DEOLIVEIRA: It is easy. You simply purchase a noticed for $30,000. You purchase perhaps a pair different little items of apparatus. Guys are simply doing it.
JHABVALA ROMERO: California inspectors have discovered about 95% of the fabrication outlets they visited did not have the mandatory protections for staff. They’ve ordered some to close down. However CalOSHA staffers say they’ve solely been in a position to go to roughly a tenth of the outlets. That is why in December, a medical affiliation petitioned California to ban the slicing and sharpening of high-silica engineered stone. They level to Australia, the primary nation to ban the sale of the fabric in 2024, regardless of business protests.
HAYLEY BARNES: We thought that the constructing business would disintegrate, so many individuals would lose their jobs. However none of that occurred.
JHABVALA ROMERO: Dr. Hayley Barnes is a pulmonologist on the College of California in San Francisco, who handled silicosis sufferers in Australia.
BARNES: The businesses simply made a low-silica or no silica product, which is at present out there in Australia and plenty of different nations.
JHABVALA ROMERO: One key query for regulators in California is whether or not synthetic stone could be reduce safely. Massive producers, like U.S.-based Cambria, say sure.
REBECCA SHULT: You will see the issue in California just isn’t the product. It is the method.
JHABVALA ROMERO: Rebecca Shult is Cambria’s basic counsel and spoke at a latest public assembly with California regulators. She additionally lately testified in help of a federal invoice that may dismiss a whole bunch of lawsuits which have been filed by sick staff in opposition to firms like hers. Shult mentioned Cambria owns services which have been slicing engineered stones safely for greater than 20 years.
SHULT: Our staff’ well being and security is our No. 1 precedence, and plenty of relations and lifelong buddies work in our services.
JHABVALA ROMERO: However docs say that rising proof reveals that even outlets that use moist slicing and exhaust air flow can expose staff to an excessive amount of harmful silica. Governor Gavin Newsom declined to touch upon a ban on working with synthetic stone. In the meantime, California’s Occupational Security and Well being Requirements Board is discussing the chance. For now, the pinnacle of that board, Joseph Alioto, says the state should enhance enforcement.
JOSEPH ALIOTO: We at present have a regulation to do stuff. We simply have to get out into the sector and do it.
JHABVALA ROMERO: He desires native public well being departments and district attorneys to assist CalOSHA examine a whole bunch extra fabrication outlets.
ALIOTO: We simply want boots on the bottom to police this. We obtained 4,600 staff within the state of California that want these protections.
JHABVALA ROMERO: California just isn’t the one state with this downside. Medical doctors in a number of different states have recognized extra stoneworkers with silicosis however say circumstances are underreported. For NPR Information, I am Farida Jhabvala Romero in Oakland, California.
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