Silica has gone from a background worry to a front-page issue in Australian construction, and enforcement has followed. If you cut, grind, or drill concrete, brick, stone, or tile, this is now one of the most scrutinised hazards on any SWMS.
Why the attention
Respirable crystalline silica is fine enough to hang invisible in the air and scar the lungs over years. Silicosis has come back hard in the trades, and the response has been tougher rules, including a national prohibition on engineered stone benchtops.
What your SWMS has to show
Dust cannot be controlled with a paper mask and good intentions. A SWMS covering silica work has to follow the hierarchy:
- • Wet cutting or on-tool dust extraction as the primary control
- • M or H class vacuums, not dry sweeping
- • Correctly fitted respiratory protection as a backup, fit-tested
- • Isolating the dusty work so other trades are not in the cloud
Who this hits hardest
Concreters, tilers, bricklayers, and demolition crews. If your work involves cutting these materials, expect the dust controls to be the part of the SWMS a reviewer reads closest.
Cover it properly
Our concreting, tiling, and bricklaying SWMS put silica controls in hierarchy order automatically. Generate yours or read the hierarchy of controls guide.