Bill Would Block Sick Countertop Cutters From Suing

Lawmakers in DC are weighing a bill that would shield makers of trendy quartz countertops from worker lawsuits at the very moment California regulators are considering whether to ban cutting the material altogether. At issue is quartz, a form of engineered stone and a kitchen and bath favorite that can release heavy concentrations of silica dust when cut or polished. Inhaling that dust has left nearly 500 California countertop workers with incurable silicosis since 2019; more than 50 have needed lung transplants, and at least 27 have died, most of them relatively young Hispanic men, per NPR. Similar cases have surfaced in Texas, New York, Colorado, Washington, and now Massachusetts. California health officials say that despite tougher rules, many small and midsize fabrication shops still dry-cut stone and rarely use proper respiratory protection.

The industry's main US manufacturer, Minnesota-based Cambria, argues the product isn't the problem—unsafe fabrication is. Cambria's legal chief, Rebecca Shult, recently told a House Judiciary subcommittee that the company safely cuts stone in its own shops with wet-cutting techniques and ventilation systems and blamed "American sweatshops" that ignore safety standards. Cambria faces about 400 lawsuits from workers employed elsewhere, but Shult maintains "the wrong parties are being sued," because the company doesn't control those workplaces. Distributors say they, too, are being pulled into dozens of cases despite never cutting stone, and they want Congress to "refocus accountability" on shop-level safety and OSHA compliance.

Worker advocates counter that removing manufacturers' legal exposure would gut incentives to protect people handling their products. Former OSHA chief David Michaels called the proposal "a death sentence for workers," arguing that with too few inspectors and shrinking budgets, regulators can't police thousands of small shops on their own. In California, occupational health physicians are following Australia's lead and pushing for a ban on high-silica engineered stone, saying that evidence shows dangerous dust levels even in facilities that attempt controls. One specialist estimates that roughly 12% of the state's 4,000 countertop workers already have serious disease, a trend he calls "impossible to tolerate." Studies back up the urgency of the matter. The Texas Tribune has more.