https://youtu.be/xrko6ASmqqI
Imagine being 20 years old and finding out your lungs have the quality of a 70 year old pack a day smoker.
Silicosis is an irreversible scarring of the lungs caused by cutting stone such as granite or composite concrete.
20% of stone masons in my state (QLD, Aus) have been diagnosed with silicosis, and 30% of any workers cutting engineered stone WILL develop silicosis. The mean age for diagnosis is 34 years old**.**
Many, if not most, of the people doing the brunt of this gruesome labor are:
- young men
- fresh from high school
- being paid 'apprentice wages' (little more than minimum wage)
- who have practically no experience with a boss-employee dynamic
- no guidance on how to exercise their workers rights,
- not equipped to understand the health risks they're taking.
Many of these work sites are not supervised for safety to the extent they should be, and provision of adequate PPE is not maintained according to standards. Most of these workers are not supplied with supplementary private health insurance, and a steady supply of worker's comp is incredibly difficult to come by. Life expectancy in the worst of cases is just 3 years**.** It is a horrible and cruel disease that leaves young men impoverished and crippled for the rest of their lives. Many of these men do not receive their comp before the disease kills them.
So why the fuck isn't is being talked about?
The PAY DOES NOT REFLECT THE RISK, at all. There is active attack on unionization from our government especially in blue collar jobs available to the working class. The states with liberal governments (meaning 'Conservative' in Australia) will not even launch a review on the amount of people affected by this disease.
It is blatant exploitation of the male body and it needs to be talked about. I really want to raise awareness for this because we need to stop the perpetuation of male disposability, especially among the working class.
If this is happening in a country with some of the most accessible modern medicine in the world, and high government regulation, what's happening to men in other countries?
- Short video showing scope of the issue: Silicosis: workers dying from making kitchen countertops
- Stats on silicosis: [Stonemasons with silicosis: Preliminary findings and a warning message from Australia - Newbigin - 2019 - Respirology - Wiley Online Library](https://onlinelibrary.wile
https://youtu.be/xrko6ASmqqI
https://youtu.be/F1qlKVDfHII
https://youtu.be/W6kHq2gE7Ac
https://youtu.be/W6kHq2gE7Ac
https://youtu.be/xrko6ASmqqI
