Assemblywoman Luz Rivas has introduced Assembly Bill (AB) 3043, to protect artificial stone fabrication workers from contracting silicosis, a fatal long-term lung disease caused by breathing in respirable crystalline silica (RCS), a natural mineral found in certain types of stone, rock, sand and clay.
Workers who cut, grind and polish the artificial slabs produced at fabrication businesses are at a high risk of contracting silicosis due to prolonged exposure to silica dust.
They typically produce artificial stone countertops, a cheaper product that contains a much higher silica concentration – up to 95% silica as compared to granite (50%) and natural stone (2%).
“One of the reasons that I introduced this bill is because 60% of the reported cases of silicosis are in the San Fernando Valley,” said Rivas. “My assembly district, the Northeast San Fernando Valley, is most affected by this in the whole state of California.”
The San Fernando Valley is the epicenter of the disease, with clusters of these businesses, numbering over 100 of the approximately 285 fabrication facilities in Los Angeles, located in the industrial areas of Pacoima, Sun Valley, the city of San Fernando and Van Nuys.
According to Los Angeles County Public Health, inhaling silica dust causes lung inflammation and scarring, which can lead to severe lung disease, difficulty breathing and death.
“Essentially, it [silicosis] causes suffocation over time,” said Dr. Jane Fazio, pulmonary and critical care physician at Olive View UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar.
Rivas said workers have described the pain as feeling like their “lungs are filled with cement.”
The disease is cutting worker’s lifespans in half. California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) reported that the median age at death for workers with silicosis is 46 years, with a median of 15 years working in the industry.
“You get to know these families over a couple of years, and you get to know their wives, and you get to know children,” said Fazio about her experience treating patients. “Then you see them at their [patient’s] funeral.”
Silicosis can take 10 to 30 years to develop but can progress more rapidly if someone has a lot of exposure to silica dust, and most don’t seek treatment until it has developed to a later stage.
Fazio said there is no effective treatment once someone has silicosis. Once in an advanced stage, the only treatment they can offer is a lung transplant – a highly specialized, high-risk and expensive procedure, which typically only prolongs someone’s life by an average of six years.
Care becomes even more difficult for the patient demographic Fazio is treating, 50% of whom are listed as self-pay or MediCal restricted – often an indicator that someone is an immigrant or undocumented.
“The patients that I care for, and the majority of those in the State that are suffering from silicosis outside of Los Angeles County, are Latino immigrant men from Central and South America,” said Fazio.
A July 2023 Cal/OSHA investigation found that 51 of the 52 workers who were discovered to have developed silicosis from fabricating artificial stone countertops were Latino men.
California Department of Health (CDPH) reported the number of workers with silicosis increased to 100 in December. With an estimated 4,040 workers employed in California’s stone fabrication shops, Cal/OSHA expects that “between 500 and 850 cases of silicosis will occur among these workers, and between 90 and 160 will likely die of silicosis.”
Although silicosis is irreversible, it is a preventable disease.
AB 3043 enforces a statewide industry standard that prohibits dry cutting of artificial stones – reinforcing an emergency temporary standard initiated by Cal/OSHA in December – and requires workers to undergo a training curriculum to receive a certification to work with the materials.
The bill also requires the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) to establish a website that tracks businesses and their compliance with the new standards. This essentially creates the system to hold fabrication shops accountable in an industry that is currently highly unregulated.
Rivas’ bill comes at the heels of the LA County Board of Supervisors approving a motion put forth by Supervisor Lindsey Horvath in December 2023, which increased funding for silicosis prevention, education and outreach. The county contracted the grassroots community-based organization, Pacoima Beautiful, to provide silicosis awareness and outreach in the San Fernando Valley.
“No industry is worth sacrificing our workers,” said Rivas.
She added that the bill is designed to protect workers and to provide structure and education so that employers can follow practices that keep workers alive.
“We’re not trying to shut these businesses down. We’re trying to make them safe workplaces,” said Rivas.
The bill was only just introduced and still needs to go through months of legislation, but will possibly be heard in committee in March. If passed, fabricators would have to become compliant with regulations by 2026.
Fazio applauds the efforts to regulate the industry calling the legislation “a great first step,” but believes that the only way to truly prevent cases of silicosis is to ban the product – something Australia did last year.
“The more that I learned, the more than I read, the more that I take care of these patients, the more that I have no confidence that this material can be worked with safely,” said Fazio.
However, she is hopeful for the future and no longer feels alone in the battle.
“Two years ago, it was me sitting in a clinic alone dealing with this, and now it is the county of Los Angeles, it is Luz Rivas, it is the Department of Public Health. I have backup, I have resources, [I have] people that care,” said Fazio.