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Bampot

Kitchen worktop stone ‘must be banned to stop deaths’ after safety alert (www.msn.com)

submitted 1 week ago by Bampot to c/dangerdust

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MPs and campaigners are demanding tougher measures to protect young tradespeople after the UK’s health and safety watchdog issued a major safety alert about a popular kitchen worktop material.

It the first official guidance for engineered stone, which has been linked to a new aggressive form of the deadly lung disease silicosis, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) warns employers they must prevent workers from breathing in toxic silica dust.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

Never understood the popularity of the hard stone tops.

“Resists scratches and heat!” But also, a stray spritz of lemon or a splash of the cleaning fluid for the coffee maker will leave permanent dull spots, so don’t forget to seal it regularly. It’s not the utility. Those desirable qualities are more fully realized by tempered glass anyway, which is safer and much cheaper.

Wood, stainless, aggregate, epoxy, stained concrete, and many other better options are available. They’re not just safer and cheaper but way less pedestrian and beige.

I can only assume the true desirability comes from a rapidly aging association of these stone tops with wealth and a resulting expectation of what future home buyers will pay more for, but the more disappointing explanation would be that it’s another difficult to acquire natural resource that must be mined and polished, like jewels. In that case the social cachet is bound up in the exploitation itself, like a fur coat or a conflict diamond, which is pretty fucking gross.