The director of an engineered stone installation company has been found guilty of serious workplace safety breaches after being discovered “covered in white dust” while illegally dry-cutting engineered stone benchtops at a Canberra construction site, creating potentially deadly silica dust hazards.
ACT Magistrate Ian Temby convicted both Sana Benchtop Installation Pty Ltd and its director Martin Mailei of failing to comply with health and safety duties under the ACT Work Health and Safety Act 2011, finding that Mailei “ought reasonably to have known of the health and safety risk posed by exposure” to respirable crystalline silica.
Dangerous Disregard for Safety
The offending occurred in early 2023 at a Coombs residential construction site where Sana had been engaged to install engineered stone benchtops into laundry cupboards across eight units. When the benchtops didn’t fit properly, the site foreman specifically directed Mailei to remove them from the site and cut them elsewhere.
Instead, Mailei returned to the site later that day and proceeded to cut the benchtops in each unit using an angle grinder—without water suppression, ventilation, or any dust control measures beyond wearing a respirator mask.
The Court heard that two plumbers discovered Mailei “covered in white dust” and entered one of the units to find a “haze of dust” that they “could immediately smell and taste” as silica dust.
Known Risks Ignored
Magistrate Temby emphasised that Mailei, as a professional stonemason and company director, should have been fully aware of the extreme dangers posed by silica dust from engineered stone, which contains hazardous concentrations of silicosis- and cancer-causing crystalline silica.
The Court heard that WorkSafe ACT guidance notes and the WHS Regulation specifically prohibited dry cutting of engineered stone with power tools unless water suppression or other control measures were in place. Additionally, Jason Marble & Granite, which engaged Sana for the work, had safety documents that Mailei had signed explicitly stating that no dry cutting was to be done onsite.
Despite claiming he hadn’t undertaken industry silica awareness training, Mailei’s status as a professional stonemason meant “he ought reasonably to have known of the health and safety risk posed,” the Magistrate found.
Serious Health Consequences
The Court heard that even short-term exposure to high levels of silica dust can lead to serious medical conditions, including the potentially fatal lung disease silicosis. The Magistrate found that the risk of other workers on the site entering the units and inhaling the dangerous dust “was a real one.”
By dry-cutting the stone benchtops without water suppression in rooms without ventilation, Mailei created units with high concentrations of airborne silica dust, exposing multiple workers to serious health risks.
Simple Controls Not Implemented
Magistrate Temby outlined three straightforward control measures that should have been adopted. First, Mailei could have simply removed the benchtops and cut them offsite as originally directed, completely eliminating the risk to site workers. The benchtops required no special equipment to remove and could have been carried manually.
Second, he could have used water suppression while cutting, with multiple water delivery options readily available. Finally, at minimum, he could have warned other workers not to enter the units where dry cutting had occurred, either verbally or through signage and barriers.
The Magistrate found that “the cost was not disproportionate to the risk” and that it was clearly reasonably practicable for the company to implement these basic safety measures.
Accountability and Sentencing
Both Sana Benchtop Installation and director Martin Mailei neither contested the charges nor provided any evidence in their defence. The case proceeded based on WorkSafe ACT’s investigation findings and witness testimony from the plumbers who discovered the dangerous conditions.
The conviction occurred before the nationwide ban on engineered stone benchtops, panels, and slabs commenced, though the hazards of working with these materials were well-established at the time of the offending.
Sentencing for both Sana and Mailei has been scheduled for a later date, with penalties expected to reflect the serious nature of the breaches and the potential for catastrophic health consequences from silica dust exposure.
This case serves as a stark reminder that company directors and PCBUs cannot plead ignorance of well-known workplace hazards, particularly when simple, cost-effective control measures are readily available and explicitly required by safety regulations.
