If you’ve opened a newspaper or scrolled through your phone this year, you’ve probably seen the headlines. “Killer kitchens.” “The new asbestos.” Calls for quartz worktops to be banned in the UK.
It’s enough to make anyone look at their kitchen a little differently. Especially if you’ve just spent a good chunk of money on a beautiful stone worktop, or you’re halfway through choosing one.
So let’s take a breath and look at what’s actually going on. Who’s at risk, what’s changed, and what it means for you and your kitchen.
Here’s the short version: a quartz worktop sitting in your kitchen isn’t going to harm you. The real problem is what happens in the factory when it’s cut. And that’s exactly where the rules have just been tightened.
1. What’s All the Fuss About?
Quartz worktops (or engineered stone, to give them their proper name) are made by binding crushed stone together with resins and pigments. A lot of that crushed stone is crystalline silica. Some traditional engineered stone products contain more than 90% of it.
On its own, sitting in a slab, silica is harmless. The trouble starts when the stone is cut, ground or polished. That creates a very fine dust, small enough to get deep into the lungs. Breathe in enough of it over time and it can cause silicosis, a scarring of the lungs that’s incurable.
This isn’t a new disease. Stonemasons, quarry workers and builders have known about silica dust for generations. What’s new is the scale. Engineered stone became hugely popular, and in some workshops it was being cut dry, without proper dust control.
A study in the medical journal Thorax looked at UK cases of worktop-related silicosis. The median age of the people affected was 34. Every one of them had been cutting stone dry without adequate dust control.
That’s the real story here. Young tradespeople getting seriously ill from doing their job, and it’s every bit as serious as the headlines make it sound.
2. Is My Quartz Worktop Dangerous to Live With?
No. And this is the bit the scarier headlines tend to skip over.
The risk comes from the dust created when the stone is being cut and shaped. Once your worktop is made, polished and fitted, it isn’t giving off dust. You can chop your veg on it, put the kettle on it, wipe it down and let the kids do their homework on it.
Cosentino’s own safety data for Dekton puts it plainly: the finished, undisturbed material “does not release any hazardous compounds during its intended use”. The Worktop Fabricators Federation says the same about engineered stone in general. The danger is in the making, not the living with.
There’s one sensible caveat. Don’t start cutting, drilling or grinding your worktop yourself. If you ever need it altered (a new hob cut-out, a different sink, an extra hole for a boiling water tap), get it done by a professional fabricator who uses wet cutting and proper dust control. That’s not one for a Saturday afternoon with an angle grinder.
3. What Has Actually Changed in the UK?
On 11th May 2026, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published new guidance on working with engineered stone. In HSE’s own words, dry cutting is now “unacceptable”.
The guidance isn’t a brand-new law, but it makes clear what the existing law already expects. Businesses that cut engineered stone need to:
- Switch to engineered stone with a lower silica content
- Use on-tool water suppression to keep the dust down
- Give workers the right respiratory protection
- Carry out regular health checks on their staff
HSE didn’t just publish a document and hope for the best, either. It started a programme of more than 1,000 inspections of fabricators across Great Britain, running over the following 12 months, with enforcement action for anyone not meeting the standard. Some workshops have already been told to stop work.
Over in Australia, they went further and banned engineered stone altogether from 1st July 2024. The UK hasn’t gone that far, and there’s still a lively debate about whether it should. For now, the UK approach is to make the cutting safe rather than ban the product.
4. What Does Cosentino Say About Silica?
As a Cosentino dealer, this is a question I’ve been keen to get a straight answer to. And to be fair to them, they’ve been working on it for a good few years, well before the headlines.
Silestone is Cosentino’s quartz-style worktop. Since 2023, every Silestone colour has been made with what they call HybriQ technology, which caps crystalline silica at a maximum of 40%. That’s well under half of what a traditional engineered stone can contain.
They’ve gone further with Silestone XM, a range made with a maximum of 10% crystalline silica. That covers a growing chunk of the Silestone colour range, including collections like Le Chic Bohème.
Cosentino’s view is that their surfaces are safe to fabricate as long as the fabricator follows the proper safety measures, and that lower silica makes it easier for workshops to keep exposure down. When Australia announced its ban, Cosentino argued that proper regulation of the cutting matters more than banning one type of product, because plenty of other materials (including natural stone) also contain a lot of silica.
You might not agree with all of that, and that’s fine. But it’s a manufacturer that’s been reducing silica across its whole range rather than waiting to be told to.
5. What About Dekton and Natural Stone?
This is where it pays to be honest, because it’s easy to get the wrong idea.
Dekton is Cosentino’s ultra-compact surface. It’s made in a completely different way to quartz, by pressing and firing natural minerals at very high temperatures (a bit like a super-tough porcelain). According to Cosentino’s own safety data sheet, Dekton contains between 4% and 13% crystalline silica. So it’s lower, but it isn’t silica-free, and it still needs to be cut wet with proper dust control.
Natural stone isn’t silica-free either. Granite typically contains a fair amount of quartz, and some natural stones contain far more. The same rules about cutting apply.
In fact, almost every hard worktop material needs careful handling in the workshop. The question to ask isn’t “does it contain silica?” because the answer is nearly always yes. The question is “how much, and who’s cutting it?”
If you’re curious about what goes into each material, we go deeper on that in our guide to What are Dekton Worktops Made Of?.
6. Five Questions to Ask Your Kitchen Company
If you’re choosing a stone worktop right now, here’s how to make sure you’re buying from people who take this seriously. Ask them:
- What’s the crystalline silica content of the worktop you’re quoting? A good supplier will know, or find out.
- Who fabricates it? Is it their own workshop or a subcontractor?
- Do they cut wet? Since May 2026 that’s the expected standard. Anything else should ring alarm bells.
- Do they carry out any cutting in my home? Ideally all the cutting happens in the workshop. If any on-site work is needed, it should be wet-cut with dust extraction.
- Are they members of a trade body? The Worktop Fabricators Federation is the main one in the UK.
None of these are awkward questions. If a company squirms or can’t answer, that tells you something.
For what it’s worth, here’s how we do it. We use two fabricators, Prostone and PWS. Both are well-established, both are recommended by Cosentino, and both are regularly inspected on their safety procedures for cutting and fabricating quartz.
And your worktops are never cut or polished in your house. All of that happens in the workshop, so the only thing that arrives at your door is a finished worktop ready to fit.
7. The Takeaway
Quartz worktops have had a rough year in the press, and some of that is fully deserved. People have been seriously harmed because of how the stone was cut, and the industry needed a shake-up.
But if you’ve got a quartz worktop at home, you don’t need to rip it out. Once it’s fitted, it’s one of the most practical, hard-wearing surfaces you can put in a kitchen. The things that matter are how much silica it contains and how carefully it was made.
That’s why we’re comfortable recommending Cosentino. Low-silica Silestone, the even lower Silestone XM range, and Dekton give you the look and toughness you want, made by a manufacturer that’s been tackling this head-on.
If you’ve got questions about your worktop, or you’re weighing up the options for a new kitchen, get in touch. We’re always happy to have an honest chat.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Are Quartz Worktops Safe? - FAQs
Are quartz worktops safe to have in my home?
Yes. The health risk comes from the fine dust created when engineered stone is cut, ground or polished in a workshop. Once a worktop is made and fitted, it doesn’t give off dust in everyday use, so cooking, cleaning and living with it is safe. Just don’t cut, drill or grind it yourself.
Can you get silicosis from a quartz worktop?
Not from living with one. Silicosis is caused by breathing in large amounts of crystalline silica dust over time, which is a risk for workers who cut and shape the stone. That’s why HSE now says dry cutting is unacceptable and expects water suppression, dust control and health checks in every workshop.
Are quartz worktops being banned in the UK?
No, not as of November 2026. Australia banned engineered stone from July 2024, but the UK has gone down a different route. In May 2026 HSE published guidance that rules out dry cutting and pushes businesses towards lower-silica products, backed by more than 1,000 inspections of fabricators.
How much silica is in Silestone?
Since 2023 every Silestone colour has been made with Cosentino’s HybriQ technology, which caps crystalline silica at a maximum of 40%. The Silestone XM range goes further, with a maximum of 10%. Traditional engineered stone can contain more than 90%.
Is Dekton silica-free?
No. Cosentino’s safety data sheet puts Dekton’s crystalline silica content at between 4% and 13%. That’s much lower than traditional quartz, but it still needs to be cut wet with proper dust control. Once fitted, it’s perfectly safe in your home.
What should I do if my worktop needs altering?
Get a professional fabricator to do it, and check they use wet cutting and dust extraction. Never cut, drill or grind a stone worktop yourself. Ideally any reshaping is done back at the workshop rather than in your kitchen, which is how our fabricators always work.
