A COMPANY behind the installation of stone benchtops in homes throughout the state is being sued for failing in its care of duty to workers based in Sandgate.
SafeWork NSW is bringing the case against Edstein Creative Pty Ltd on behalf of Nicholas Twentyman due to his exposure to toxic dust on between 3,500 and 4,000 occasions.
Mr Twentyman worked for the company between January 2012 and November 2018 installing manufactured stone products, including cutting, grinding, drilling and polishing.
The manufactured stone he worked with contained crystalline silica (RCS), which Mr Twentyman inhaled while performing work as an installer, leaving him with the "serious illness" of accelerated silicosis, his claim says.
Edstein Creative failed to comply with its health and safety duty, by failing to take measures to eliminate, or minimise the risks to Mr Twentyman.
During an interview with SafeWork NSW in March 2021, Mr Twentyman said his work days generally started at Sandgate where he would load their 'jobs' for that day, before driving the installation vehicle to various job sites.
"I was scheduled to attend, install their benchtops and then move onto the next job returning back to Sandgate in the afternoon," Mr Twentyman said.
Those jobs included new homes and renovations, at homes and commercial sites, and he spent an average two to two and half hours per install.
"A single piece of stone in a client's home may take half an hour or 20 minutes, 10 minutes to clean up and go, another job may take three hours," he said.
"So depending on the size of the jobs and location three to four jobs a day."
As well as being an installer, Mr Twentyman was also a supervisor of installers of manufactured stone product.
SafeWork says that from about 2018 onwards, Edstein did take appropriate steps to minimise the exposure of Mr Twentyman to RCS, proving such steps were reasonably practicable before 2018.
Senior counsel for Edstein has queried the allegation that there should have been steps taken for the reduction of the generation of airborne RCS, asking rhetorically to what level it should be reduced.
The nature and development of silicosis and related respiratory diseases is that they are accumulative diseases, so that each exposure further damages lungs, the District Court has heard.
SafeWork has inspected the Taree premises of Edstein Creative and is satisfied with the "control of dust and RCS" there.
Justice Russell SC handed down his decision to allow the matter to proceed to the district court's work health and safety list after seeking further information regarding particulars.
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