A 48-year-old stonemason said he has weeks to live after developing an incurable lung disease linked to kitchen worktops. He is taking legal action against his former employers.
Father-of-three Marek Marzec, who suffers from the lung disease silicosis, says the dust he inhaled while cutting trendy quartz kitchen worktops has left him ‘unable to breathe’ and ‘in total pain’.
Mr Marzec, who is too ill to undergo a life-saving lung transplant, has accused the brick manufacturers where he worked for a decade of “unsafe” working conditions.
On his deathbed, Mr Marzec, who lives in London, said he was demanding “urgent” security changes to prevent others avoid dying simply by ‘doing their job’.
A growing number of doctors have warned about the risks of dust particles from the stone, which can be seen in kitchens across the country.
Popular quartz countertops are made of 90 percent ground quartz and 10 percent resins and pigments.
When processed into their final worktop form, this results in the release of potentially harmful particles of fine silica dust into the air.
Once inhaled into the lungs, the particles can build up, causing internal scarring and inflammation of the lungs, known as silicosis.
Mr Marek Marzec became terminally ill at the age of 48, after working for ten years at a stone manufacturer with quartz worktops.
Mr Marzec claims his employer failed to provide safe working conditions and took no steps to minimize the harm from toxic particles.
This places the lungs at increased risk of infection, reduces their overall effectiveness and can potentially cause fatal organ failure.
There have been 11 cases in Britain in the past year, including one death from the progressive disease, caused by inhaling crystalline silica dust during production or assembly.
The only effective way to treat the condition is a lung transplant, which requires a certain level of physical fitness.
In August, doctors treating patients suffering from the disease wrote a report published in the Thorax publication of the British Medical Journal calling for worksheets to be banned.
Mr Marzec, who is originally from Poland, has worked for various artificial stone manufacturers in North London and Hertfordshire since 2012.
He was diagnosed with silicosis in April earlier this year, but his condition has unfortunately deteriorated rapidly since then.
Mr Marzec is currently being treated at Whittington Hospital in North London and is under the care of leading expert in occupational lung disease, Dr Jo Feary of the Royal Brompton Hospital.
He is now receiving end-of-life care.
Expensive quartz countertops are made from one of the hardest minerals on earth, which when processed results in the release of potentially harmful particulate matter.
“I arrived in Britain hoping to build a better life and ensure my young daughters were financially secure,” he said.
‘Instead, the work I was doing cutting quartz worktops left me unable to breathe and in terrible pain.
“I can’t tell you how angry I am that I was allowed to work under these conditions and that my life was shortened just for doing my job.
“I am not the only person whose life has been endangered by this deadly dust.
‘It is time for urgent action to end the dangerous working conditions I faced before other stone workers contract this terrible disease and die.’
Mr Marzec is represented by law firm Leigh Day, which says stricter safety measures are urgently needed to halt the growing number of cases of silicosis linked to cutting artificial stone.
Ewan Tant, Mr Marzec’s lawyer and partner at Leigh Day, warned that without these measures, further deaths could be expected in coming years.
“This is a tragic case, where my client is now receiving end-of-life care as a result of working with artificial stone, in what he claims are appalling conditions, totally unfit for purpose,” Mr Tant said.
“No one should have to face the bleakest of outcomes simply as a result of going to work.”
Precautions can be taken to reduce the impact of the toxic dust, including wearing special equipment and ‘wetting’ the stone to suppress the dust.