Home / Sectors / Training and H&S evidence for stone and worktop fabricators
Cutting and grinding stone puts respirable crystalline silica into the air and vibration into operators' hands, and the slabs themselves are heavy enough to need mechanical handling. PHW's packs are built around those specific risks, not a generic workshop template.
In your own terms, not a generic hazard list.
Dry cutting, grinding and polishing stone and engineered worktops releases respirable crystalline silica, a known cause of silicosis and lung disease. Wet cutting, local exhaust ventilation and respiratory protective equipment are the controls, and health surveillance tracks the outcome over time.
Angle grinders, polishers and cutting tools put vibration into the hands and arms of anyone using them for extended periods, with a cumulative risk that builds across a working week, not just a single job.
A worktop or slab is heavy, awkward and often has to move through a workshop and onto a vehicle by hand at some point in the process. Manual handling technique and mechanical aids both matter here.
Where slabs move by counterbalance forklift or are lifted with slings, the operator needs assessed competence on that machine or duty, on top of the manual handling controls.
Named, not paraphrased into a claim.
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 treat respirable crystalline silica as a hazardous substance, requiring adequate control of exposure and, where indicated, health surveillance.
The Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 set exposure action and limit values for hand-arm vibration and require a programme of controls once the action value is reached.
The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 require an assessment of manual handling risk and the use of mechanical aids where reasonably practicable.
Where a counterbalance forklift moves slabs, PUWER 1998 regulation 9 applies; where slabs are lifted with slings, LOLER 1998 and its Approved Code of Practice L113 apply.
The employer still authorises each operator or member of staff in writing; PHW's certificates, records and packs are the evidence the employer relies on for that decision, not a substitute for it.
The machines and packs that fit this trade.
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