A new law could enforce a crackdown on the toxic kitchen worktop dust behind a surge in cases of a deadly lung disease among young tradespeople.
Liz Jarvis, the Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh, has backed The i Paper’s Killer Kitchens campaign by putting forward the Silicosis Prevention, Awareness and Worker Protection Bill amid heightened concern over stonemasons’ lives being put at risk.
The parliamentary bill mirrors The i Paper‘s calls for an outright ban on the “dry cutting” of high-silica engineered stone without safety measures like water suppression or dust extraction.
Jarvis warned mounting cases of the incurable lung disease silicosis could become “a scandal on the scale of asbestosis” as she lodged the presentation bill.
It comes amid growing political scrutiny of the lung-shredding disease. Another MP, Ian Lavery, this week called in the Commons for the first parliamentary debate about silicosis among quartz stonemasons, many of whom are in their twenties and thirties.
Jarvis’s intervention comes after she spoke with Caroline Hudson, the bereaved sister-in-law of George Elliott, a stonemason who worked on a bathroom refurbishment inside No 10 and later died of silicosis.
Jarvis’s bill aims to make provision for the prevention, monitoring and reporting of silicosis and lung diseases caused by occupational exposure to silica dust.
It calls for a ban on dry cutting of high-silica stone such as quartz, a screening programme to identify cases and improved health surveillance.
Sandra Elliott, the widow of George, a stonemason who died of silicosis (Photo: Teri Pengilley/The i Paper)There should also be additional resources for the Health and Safety Executive to enforce regulations and tackle unsafe practices, it states.
Presentation bills are usually unlikely to become law themselves, but are often used to draw attention to an issue that requires a change in legislation.
The private member’s bill allows backbench MPs to introduce draft legislation without debate and can put pressure on ministers.
Jarvis told The i Paper: “I’m hugely concerned that silicosis could be a scandal on the scale of asbestosis in the UK unless prompt action is taken now to protect workers.
“My constituent Caroline Hudson came to see me about her brother-in-law George Elliott, who tragically died from silicosis.
“The family’s experience has made them determined to raise awareness and push for a change in the law to protect workers and I am doing everything I can to support them with that.
“It’s absolutely heartbreaking that construction workers, stonemasons and kitchen fitters – including very young men who should have had their whole lives ahead of them – are dying from what is an entirely preventable disease.”
She urged the Government to act as she highlighted the burden placed on families of stonemasons stricken with silicosis then forced out of work due to ill health, and the impact on the NHS.
“I’m really grateful to The i Paper for raising awareness on this hugely important issue and applaud the paper’s campaign to ensure more families are not left grieving their loved ones as a result of this terrible disease.”
On Thursday, Labour MP Lavery, who also backs the campaign, called for a parliamentary debate on engineered stone-induced silicosis to see how the Government can intervene to prevent “the next asbestos national tragedy”.
“Silicosis…is alarmingly on the increase here in the UK, predominantly for young people between the age of 20 and 30, it’s really something we need to be looking at,” he told MPs.
“The reason why it’s escalating is because of the increase in engineered stone dry cutting.”
Mr Elliott died of silicosis in 2023 after decades working with mainly natural stone like granite and marble, which have a lower silica content that quartz.
It is believed he had also cut man-made quartz later in his career, which saw him work in No 10 on a bathroom refurbishment while David Cameron was prime minister.
Speaking to The i Paper last month, his widow, Sandra Elliott, and her sister Ms Hudson, described how he had worked in very dusty conditions which left him covered in white dust.
They also spoke of their determination to raise awareness of silicosis, a preventable workplace related disease.
“I don’t want families to go through what I’ve been through. It’s horrible,” said Ms Elliott.
“We’ve got to get the word out there, and we’ve got to make people realise that this is a devastating disease that could be preventable,” said Ms Hudson.
Since 2024, there have been four confirmed UK deaths from silicosis specifically linked to quartz kitchen worktops, with more than 50 cases detected so far.
The average age of the first 45 quartz stonemasons diagnosed is 31 years old while the youngest, a 23-year-old, was referred for a lung transplant last year.
But the Health and Safety Executive estimates that around 500 deaths a year in the UK overall occur from workplace exposures to silica dust – known as respirable crystalline silica (RCS).
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