Silicosis Awareness
The Engineered Stone Crisis
A Hidden Epidemic in the Stone Industry
Silicosis has re-emerged as one of the most devastating occupational diseases in the United States—driven largely by the rapid spread of engineered stone (quartz). With silica content that often exceeds 90%, engineered stone produces enormous concentrations of respirable crystalline silica (RCS) during cutting, grinding, and polishing. Workers are exposed to high levels of silica dust that can cause life-threatening lung disease in only a few years.
This crisis is not theoretical. It is happening now, in fabrication shops across the country, often affecting young workers in their 20s, 30s, and 40s—many of whom were never warned about the dangers they faced every day.
Why This Hazard Is So Severe
Engineered Stone Has Extremely High Silica Content
Unlike natural stones such as granite or marble, which contain lower levels of crystalline silica, engineered quartz slabs are manufactured from high content of ultrafine and nano-sized crystalline silica quartz aggregates bound with resin. When these slabs are cut dry or without adequate controls, they release massive amounts of microscopic, deadly dust.
Dust Is Invisible and Persistent
RCS particles are often too small to see. Once airborne, they can remain suspended for long periods, spreading throughout the shop, depositing on surfaces, and being redispersed by routine activities—even after work has stopped.
Even Short-Term Exposure Can Cause Permanent Disease
Silicosis is progressive, incurable, and irreversible. Many engineered stone fabricators have developed aggressive, acute, or accelerated silicosis after only a few years of exposure—something virtually unheard of before engineered stone dominated the U.S. market.
Systemic Failures Behind the Epidemic
The current wave of silicosis cases is not the result of worker error—it is the direct outcome of systemic misconduct at multiple levels of the industry:
Manufacturers Failed to Provide Adequate Warnings
For years, artificial-stone manufacturers and distributors did not simply fail to warn—they actively misled the very workers whose lives depended on the truth. Despite knowing that their products contained extraordinarily high levels of respirable crystalline silica and generated extreme dust concentrations during routine fabrication and installation, these companies chose to downplay, bury, or distort the hazards. Their marketing and technical materials portrayed engineered stone as safe, modern, and even natural, suitable for small fabrication shops, all while concealing the reality that their products posed a severe and well-documented risk of silicosis and other permanent lung diseases. By withholding critical safety information, issuing watered-down “warnings,” and promoting unsafe narratives that minimized the danger, manufacturers created the conditions for widespread overexposures and catastrophic harm. Their deception was not accidental—it was systematic, profit-driven, and directly responsible for workers being kept in the dark about life-threatening risks.
Distributors Profited by Selling to Unqualified “Dry Shops”
Rather than verifying that shops had the equipment or training needed to handle quartz safely, distributors routinely supplied slabs to operations that lacked the most basic dust-control systems.
Regulators Were Slow to Respond
While OSHA has a silica standard, enforcement has varied widely, leaving thousands of workers unprotected and uninformed.
The Human Impact
Silicosis is a devastating disease that destroys lung tissue and restricts breathing. Many victims face:
Chronic shortness of breath
Dependence on supplemental oxygen
Severe limitations on daily living
Lung transplantation in advanced cases
Premature death
What The Alpha Consulting Group Is Doing
We work to expose unsafe practices, inadequate warnings, and systemic failures that put workers at risk. Through expert analysis and litigation support, we help attorneys:
Reconstruct exposure scenarios
Identify manufacturer and distributor negligence
Understand the feasibility of wet-cutting and engineering controls
Evaluate failures in respiratory protection, training, and shop design
Strengthen the legal arguments needed to hold responsible parties accountable
Our goal is to bring clarity, technical insight, and accountability to an industry that has ignored the dangers of engineered stone for far too long.
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