Silicosis lawyers for silicosis compensation claims

What silica dust does to the lungs

Crystalline silica is a natural mineral found in sand, stone, concrete, brick and many manufactured products. When those materials are cut, ground, drilled or polished, they release respirable crystalline silica: particles small enough to reach deep into the lungs.

Once there, the particles cause inflammation and then scarring of the lung tissue. That scarring is silicosis. It is irreversible, and it can keep worsening after exposure has stopped.

Silicosis generally takes one of three recognised forms:

• Chronic silicosis follows long, lower-level exposure and usually appears ten years or more after exposure began.
• Accelerated silicosis follows heavier exposure, and can appear within about five to ten years. It is the form most often seen in engineered stone workers.
• Acute silicosis follows very intense exposure over months to a few years, and is the most severe.

Some people develop progressive massive fibrosis, where areas of scarring merge into larger masses and lung function falls significantly. Breathlessness and a persistent cough may not appear until the disease is well established, which is why screening matters.

Engineered stone silicosis and the national ban

Engineered stone is a manufactured product used mainly for kitchen and bathroom benchtops. Many products contained more than 90 per cent crystalline silica, far more than most natural stone such as granite or marble.

Where it was cut, ground or polished dry, without adequate ventilation, water suppression or fit-tested respiratory protection, exposure was extreme. Queensland was one of the first places the resulting rise in diagnoses was identified. Many of those diagnosed were never formally trained as stonemasons. They were labourers, factory hands and installers who cut, trimmed or fitted the product as part of the job.

Because the exposure was so heavy, engineered stone silicosis has often been the accelerated form. It has been diagnosed in people in their twenties, thirties and forties. That changes what a claim needs to account for: decades of lost earning capacity, a young family, and the likely future course of the disease.

The brands fabricators cut

Engineered stone benchtops were sold in Australia under a number of brand names. The slabs fabricated here before the ban included Caesarstone, Essastone, Silestone, made by Cosentino, Quantum Quartz, Smartstone, Stone Ambassador and AC Stone, alongside imported slabs sold under other names and unbranded product.

You do not need to know which brand you worked with, or be able to name one. That is worked out from where you worked, what was supplied to that workshop and the records of what was installed.

Since the ban, many of these suppliers have moved to crystalline silica-free, mineral and porcelain surfaces. A claim concerns the product that was cut at the time of the exposure, not what a supplier sells today.

What the ban covers

From 1 July 2024, the manufacture, supply, processing and installation of engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs was prohibited under work health and safety laws across Australia. Work on engineered stone already installed, such as removal, repair and minor modification, is still permitted under strict controls.

The ban applies to future work. It does not affect claims for exposure that has already happened. The national workplace exposure standard for respirable crystalline silica was also halved in 2020, to 0.05 mg/m³ averaged over an eight hour day. Standards and codes of practice like these can be relevant evidence of what a careful employer should have done.

Other work that creates silica dust

Stonemason silicosis is the most familiar example, but it is far from the only one. Silica exposure also arises in:

• Tunnelling and excavation. Major road and rail tunnel projects in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne have involved excavation through silica-rich rock.
• Mining and quarrying. Particularly where rock is drilled, crushed or blasted. Coal and metalliferous miners can develop silicosis, sometimes alongside coal mine dust lung disease.
• Grinding. Including the use of grinding wheels and abrasive products containing silica.
• Abrasive blasting and sandblasting.
• Foundry work, where silica sand is used in moulds and cores.
• Construction and demolition, where concrete, brick, tiles or stone are cut, chased or scabbled dry.
• Manufacturing of glass, ceramics, bricks and concrete products.

If your work produced visible dust from any of these materials, that is relevant history, even if it was many years ago.

Conditions linked to silica exposure

The main compensable condition is silicosis itself. Silica exposure is also associated with:

• Lung cancer. Respirable crystalline silica is classified as a cause of lung cancer.
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
• Autoimmune conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis (scleroderma), lupus and some forms of vasculitis. Autoimmune disease has been reported at notable rates in engineered stone workers.
• Kidney disease, in some workers.
• Tuberculosis, to which people with silicosis are more susceptible.

An autoimmune diagnosis is often treated by a rheumatologist who may not ask about dust at work. If you have a condition like this and a history of silica exposure, raise both with your doctors, and with us. These claims turn heavily on specialist evidence, and they are assessed individually.

Silicosis screening in Queensland

Queensland responded early. From late 2018, WorkCover Queensland funded free initial health screening for current and former stonemasons exposed to engineered stone dust. The screening found a significant rate of work-related lung disease, including silicosis and progressive massive fibrosis.

Several features of the Queensland system are worth knowing:

• Employer-funded health monitoring. Employers in the stone benchtop industry must pay for workers’ initial health screening and ongoing health monitoring, including doctors’ fees, tests, reasonable travel and time off to attend.
• Code of practice. Queensland introduced a code of practice for managing silica dust in the stone benchtop industry in 2019, before the national ban.
• Notifiable Dust Lung Disease Register. Queensland Health keeps a register of dust lung diseases, including silicosis, and specialist doctors must notify diagnosed cases.
• Mine workers. Queensland coal and mineral mine workers have their own mandatory health assessment arrangements, which can identify dust lung disease early.

Other states have run similar programmes, including Victoria’s health assessments for stonemasons. A screening result is not a claim, but it is often where one begins. If screening has found changes on your lungs, it is worth getting advice even if you feel well.

Silicosis compensation claims that may be available

A diagnosis of silicosis does not by itself create a right to compensation. Which claims are available depends on how the exposure happened and who was responsible for it. Silica disease often gives rise to several entitlements at the same time.

• A court claim for damages. Brought against an employer, a manufacturer or supplier of the product, or a principal contractor or site occupier, who failed to take reasonable care. It is fault-based. It can cover pain and suffering, past and future loss of earnings and superannuation, medical and treatment costs, and care, including care provided by family.
• A statutory workers’ compensation claim. No-fault, and able to provide weekly payments, medical expenses and lump sums without proving negligence. In Queensland this includes lump sum compensation for latent onset conditions. In New South Wales, work-related dust disease is handled by icare Dust Diseases Care.
• A TPD claim and income protection through superannuation. Because many silica claimants are young, cover held through super is often an important source of support. Some policies have their own time limits and definitions.

One person can have all three running at once. Working out which apply, in what order, and how each affects the others is the first useful thing a lawyer does. Some statutory benefits must be repaid from a later court award, so the sequence matters.

Claims by families

Where a worker has died from a silica-related condition, a claim can generally be brought by the estate. People who depended on the worker financially may have a separate claim of their own. Statutory schemes generally provide benefits to dependants too. These claims follow the same evidential path, and they are run at a pace the family can manage.

Silicosis claims in each state

The firm runs silica claims nationally, as it does asbestos and mesothelioma claims. The state or territory where the exposure happened generally decides which rules apply.

“Provisional damages” means a person can be compensated now for silicosis, while keeping the right to return for more if a further condition, such as lung cancer, develops later from the same exposure. Where they are not available, a claim is generally resolved once and for all, and timing becomes a much bigger decision.

Time limits for silicosis claims

Silicosis is a latent onset condition. In Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the Northern Territory there is generally no limitation period for a court claim for a dust-related condition. Elsewhere, time limits usually run from diagnosis or knowledge rather than from the exposure, and courts can extend them in some circumstances. Statutory schemes and super policies have their own lodgement rules, which can be shorter. There is more in our guide to time limits for compensation claims.

Timing matters in a second way. Silicosis can worsen after exposure ends, and a settlement is ordinarily final. That makes the timing and structure of any resolution a real question rather than a procedural one. Resolving too early can leave future deterioration uncompensated. Waiting too long can mean evidence is lost. That balance is a conversation to have before anything is signed.

How the claim is built

The work is largely evidential, and it starts with reconstructing where the silica exposure happened.

Employment history. Superannuation records, tax records, payslips, union records and licensing records show who you worked for and when. Engineered stone workers often moved between several small fabrication businesses, so this step matters.

Workplace evidence. What the employer knew, whether cutting was wet or dry, what extraction and ventilation were in place, what respiratory protection was provided and whether it was fit-tested, and whether air monitoring and health monitoring were done. Regulator material and codes of practice are often relevant.

Product evidence. Which engineered stone products were used, what their silica content was, and what warnings came with them. This matters where a claim is also brought against a manufacturer or supplier.

Medical evidence. Imaging, lung function testing and specialist respiratory opinion, addressing the diagnosis and the likely future course, together with any rheumatology or kidney specialist evidence.

Occupational hygiene evidence. Independent expert opinion on the level of exposure, and on what a reasonable employer should have done at the time.

Who runs silicosis claims at the firm

Martin Rogalski, the firm’s principal, is a Queensland Law Society Accredited Specialist. He has run dust disease litigation since 2008, for dust exposure that occurred in every state and territory, and has also pursued claims in overseas jurisdictions including New Zealand. That work has run through the District and Supreme Courts of Queensland, the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the Dust Diseases Tribunal of New South Wales, and includes expedited trials, judge-alone and jury trials, and matters run to judgment and to the Court of Appeal in multiple jurisdictions. Where a worker is seriously unwell, courts can expedite a matter, and where someone is too unwell to travel, the firm travels to them.

Silica claims across Australia

Silicosis and silica disease claims are run nationally. The firm acts from Queensland for people in every state and territory, and where someone is too unwell to travel, the firm travels to them.

Engineered stone benchtop fabrication, tunnelling, quarrying, foundry work and construction all happen across the country, and a work history often crosses state borders. Because the law of the place where the exposure happened generally governs the claim, the time limits, the court and the statutory scheme change with it. How compensation works in each place is set out on the New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, ACT and Northern Territory pages.

The firm’s other claim types, such as workers’ compensation and CTP, are handled in Queensland only.

How the firm handles a silicosis claim

A silica claim often starts with a worker in their thirties or forties, or with a partner or parent making the first call on their behalf. Either is fine. The first step is a plain conversation about the work, the diagnosis and what you need to know next.

The firm keeps a low number of clients per solicitor, so you can reach the lawyer running your claim. Every claim is run no win, no fee*, and the firm does not use litigation funders. Legal costs can often be claimed in addition to compensation recovered, and interest is charged only on legal costs that remain unpaid. Disbursements are separate, and they are explained in writing before they are incurred.

Enquiries are generally returned the same business day. The first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing. You can request a free case review or call 1300 848 424.