Silica dashboard

Silica dust is a major hazard for workers in NSW and can lead to the serious, and often fatal, lung disease -silicosis.
The dashboard highlights the work being done to help minimise, and work towards eliminating, this risk across NSW.

Latest news
Tunnelling Dust Safety Taskforce meeting

The newly formed Tunnelling Dust Safety Taskforce met for the first time on 8 April 2025 to discuss key issues surrounding silica-related work health and safety in tunnelling projects. Attending was the Hon. Sophie Cotsis MP who urged Taskforce members to use their expertise in the following key areas for action:

  • better use of data and more transparent access
  • improved health monitoring
  • best practice work health and safety controls
  • enhanced compliance.

Find more information about the meeting at the SafeWork NSW website.

FY25 snapshot

Data is from 1 July - 31 March 2025.

47
Silicosis cases 1,2
156
Silica related notices issued

SafeWork NSW compliance activities

The following information relates to SafeWork NSW’s silica workplace visit program that commenced in 2018. Data is from 2018 to 31 March 2025.

4921
Workplace visits

Silica-related

2781
Construction workplace visits
490
Other industries

Includes tunnelling, manufacturing, foundries and stonemasons.

1696
Manufactured stone visits
161
Presentations

Silica-related presentations to workplaces

Notices

2390
Improvement notices

Any silica-related improvement notice

180
Prohibition notices

Issued for uncontrolled exposure to silica dust

32
On the spot fines

Issued for uncontrolled dry cutting

Workplace exposure standard (WES) notifications

The workplace exposure standard (WES) for respirable crystalline silica (RCS) in Australia is 0.05 mg/m³. This is based on an 8-hour time-weighted average. There’s also an adjusted WES for longer shifts, like 12-hour shifts.

For any air monitoring conducted after 1 September 2024, it is compulsory to lodge a notification to SafeWork NSW outlining any air monitoring results that exceed the WES. One notification may include one or more exceedance.

Since the WES notification system was introduced in September 2024, SafeWork has received the following notifications³:

2025

 Qtr1 
IndustryJanFebMar2025 Total
Tunnelling99927
Construction99927
Other Services----
Non-Tunnelling671023
Construction54615
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services-112
Manufacturing-1-1
Other Services1124
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing--11
Grand Total15161950

2025

 
Qtr1
 
Industry
Jan
Feb
Mar
2025 Total
Tunnelling
9
9
9
27
Construction
9
9
9
27
Other Services
-
-
-
-
Non-Tunnelling
6
7
10
23
Construction
5
4
6
15
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services
-
1
1
2
Manufacturing
-
1
-
1
Other Services
1
1
2
4
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
-
-
1
1
Grand Total
15
16
19
50

NOTE:  This data excludes notifications from the mining industry.

2024

 Qtr3Qtr4 
IndustrySepOctNovDec2024   Total
Tunnelling31113532
Construction31112531
Other Services--1-1
Non-Tunnelling154818
Construction12249
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services---22
Manufacturing-1214
Other Services-2-13
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing-----
Grand Total416171350

2024

 
Qtr3
Qtr4
 
Industry
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
2024   Total
Tunnelling
3
11
13
5
32
Construction
3
11
12
5
31
Other Services
-
-
1
-
1
Non-Tunnelling
1
5
4
8
18
Construction
1
2
2
4
9
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services
-
-
-
2
2
Manufacturing
-
1
2
1
4
Other Services
-
2
-
1
3
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
-
-
-
-
-
Grand Total
4
16
17
13
50

NOTE:  This data excludes notifications from the mining industry. 

Silicosis cases identified

Where volume of data is low, data has been grouped into categories to allow reporting while maintaining privacy principles.

Graph represents the annual silicosis diagnosis notifications to SafeWork NSW.

1 July 2024 - 31 March 2025

47 cases1

35 silicosis cases were notified to NSW Health & the National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry by icare. 47 cases are male. 

Silicosis sub-type

Chronic                                                 45
Accelerated<5
Acute0
Not identified0

Region of Birth

Australia/New Zealand                 17
Europe<5
Asia<5
Middle East<5
Not identified24

Age groups

Under 21                                               <5
21-4010
41-7033
71-90<5
90+<5
Not identified<5

By industry (ANZSIC)

Manufactured/Engineered Stone (2090)                  20
Construction – site prep/heavy civil (3109/3212)14
Other<5
Not identified<5

By occupation (ANZSCO)

Engineered Stone processors (7111)11
Bricklayers and stonemasons (3311)15
Construction – site prep/heavy civil (7212/8219)   9
Tunnelling (7219)<5
Other8
Not identified<5

Historical information

115 cases and 10 deaths
2023-24

NSW Dust Disease Register Annual Report 2023-24 (PDF 728.25KB)

57 cases and 7 deaths
2020-21

NSW Dust Disease Register Annual Report 2020-21 (PDF 1.42MB)

9 cases
2017-18

Prior to commencement of the NSW Dust Disease Register (data derived from icare).

65 cases and 9 deaths
2022-23

NSW Dust Disease Register Annual Report 2022-23 (PDF 822.4KB)

107 cases
2019-20

Prior to commencement of the NSW Dust Disease Register (data derived from icare).

64 cases and 10 deaths
2021-22

NSW Dust Disease Register Annual Report 2021-22 (PDF 542.96KB)

40 cases
2018-19

Prior to commencement of the NSW Dust Disease Register (data derived from icare).

Resources

Footnote:

  1. Due to the transition to the National Occupational Respiratory Disease Register, silicosis cases data ceased to be reported by NSW Health. Data for the period 1 July 2024 to the 30 September 2024 has been extracted from the national register, reviewed against historical notifications to remove duplication and aligned with previous data requirement to ensure consistency.
  2. Due to the transition to the National Occupational Respiratory Disease Register, data on silicosis deaths is currently unavailable for the period of 1 July 2024 to 31 December 2024, and will instead be published annually.
  3. WES data was correct at the time it was collected however may change due to the progression of data and the application of regular data quality reviews.
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