HSE is Shutting Down Engineered Stone Fabricators — Here's What's Happened So Far
We wrote back in May about HSE's new guidance on engineered stone dust, which made clear that dry cutting was no longer acceptable and that water suppression was the standard businesses would be expected to meet. At the time, the message was: guidance is out, and more than 1,000 inspections are coming. Several months on, we now know what happens to the businesses those inspections find falling short and it isn't a warning letter.
The enforcement so far
By the end of May 2026, HSE had served prohibition notices on four fabricators after inspectors found a lack of controls to protect workers from respirable crystalline silica (RCS). A prohibition notice is about as blunt an instrument as HSE has: it requires the business to stop the relevant work immediately, on the spot, until the failures are put right. Since then, more firms have been added to the list, including Creative Quartz, Stone Affairs Ltd, Pyramid Granite Ltd and Marble & Granite Designs Ltd, each cited for failing to adequately control the spread of silica dust. HSE has confirmed that multiple businesses have now received enforcement action as the inspection programme continues, with more than 1,000 visits planned across the sector through 2026/27.
Harvey Wild, Head of Operations at HSE, was direct about the reasoning: silicosis is incurable, but entirely preventable, and putting workers at risk of it is unacceptable. It's worth remembering why HSE moved so quickly on this: the guidance followed the deaths of young workers from silicosis, an irreversible lung disease caused by breathing in fine silica dust released when engineered stone is cut, drilled or polished.
What counts as “inadequate controls”
HSE's May guidance set out a fairly specific package of expectations, and it's this that inspectors are now checking against:
• Working with the lowest crystalline silica content stone practical for the job.
• On-tool water suppression when cutting, rather than dry cutting.
• Controlling the resulting water mist, which still carries crystalline silica.
• Respiratory protective equipment: powered air purifying respirators (PAPR) with an assigned protection factor of at least 20 for processing, cleaning and machine maintenance.
• PPE, including coveralls that don't retain dust and offer water protection.
• Regular health surveillance for anyone exposed to the risk.
Importantly, this isn't a new law or a formal ban on dry cutting in the strictest legal sense — it's COSHH guidance, and businesses can in theory use an alternative control if they can demonstrate it's equally effective. In practice, none of the firms served notices so far appear to have managed that, and the Federation of Master Builders has warned that many smaller builders may still be unaware of just how serious the consequences of falling short can be.
What fabricators and site contractors should check now
• Confirm dry cutting has actually stopped, not just been discouraged. If wet cutting equipment exists but isn't consistently used, that's still a failure waiting to be found.
• Check RPE is the right specification. A dust mask isn't the same as a PAPR with an APF of 20, and inspectors will know the difference.
• Review your COSHH risk assessment against the specific May 2026 guidance, not an older, more general version.
• Make sure health surveillance is actually happening, not just referenced in a policy document.
• Expect a visit. With over 1,000 inspections planned, HSE has been clear this isn't a one-off campaign it's the working assumption for the sector through 2026/27.
The bottom line
The gap between guidance and enforcement has closed fast. Four notices within weeks, and more since, tells fabricators and builders working with engineered stone that the strike rate on these inspections is not going to be zero. If your controls haven't been checked against the current standard, it's worth doing before an HSE inspector does it for you.