Quick answer
No. Engineered stone is not banned in New Zealand, and you can specify a stone benchtop in an Auckland kitchen today. Australia prohibited the manufacture, supply, processing and installation of engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs from 1 July 2024, and made them a prohibited import from 1 January 2025. New Zealand did not follow. MBIE consulted on five options in early 2025, ranging from mandatory fabrication controls and licensing of the workplaces that cut it, through to a total ban or a partial ban on stone at 40 per cent crystalline silica or more. Submissions closed on 18 March 2025 and nothing engineered-stone-specific has been enacted since. What applies here are the general duties in the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, the workplace exposure standard for respirable crystalline silica that WorkSafe lowered to 0.025mg/m³ in November 2023, and WorkSafe guidance. The hazard is real, but it belongs to whoever cuts and polishes the slab — not to the finished top in your kitchen.
Key points
- Engineered stone remains legal to import, supply, fabricate and install in New Zealand — no ban, and no engineered-stone-specific licensing regime.
- Australia's prohibition began 1 July 2024 and defines engineered stone at 1 per cent crystalline silica or more; the partial ban New Zealand floated would have used 40 per cent.
- MBIE said it did not have evidence to recommend a full or partial ban, and the Workplace Relations and Safety Minister said the same thing publicly.
- Engineered stone runs up to about 97 per cent crystalline silica against roughly 2 per cent for marble, which is why it and not granite is the material under review.
- The real question is not whether you may buy it, but who fabricates it, whether they wet-cut with extraction, and whether the position could shift mid-programme.
Australia banned it. New Zealand did not follow.
It usually starts the same way. Someone reads Australian coverage on their phone — the ban, the silicosis stories, the fabricators in full-face respirators — and assumes New Zealand followed three months later, the way we tend to with Australian rules. Then they ring to ask whether they can still put stone in the twelve townhouses they have consented in Onehunga. The answer is yes, and it has been yes the whole time.
This covers one narrow thing: the legal status of engineered stone here as at July 2026, and what it means if you are specifying a benchtop. It is not a materials shoot-out — the comparison of engineered stone against laminate and solid surface handles wear and repairability. And if you cut stone for a living, WorkSafe's guidance is your document, not this.
What Australia actually did
From 1 July 2024 the Commonwealth and every Australian state and territory amended the model WHS Regulations, making it an offence for a business to carry out — or allow a worker to carry out — work involving the manufacture, supply, processing or installation of engineered stone benchtops, panels or slabs. From 1 January 2025 those products became prohibited imports as well.
Two details get mangled in the reprints. The definition is broad: engineered stone means an artificial product containing at least 1 per cent crystalline silica by weight, combined with other constituents such as resins or pigments. That 1 per cent is definitional, not a safety threshold — it is how they drew the boundary, and it caught almost every reconstituted product on the market. The ban is also forward-looking, with exceptions for the removal, repair, minor modification and disposal of tops installed before it started. Nobody over there is ripping out their kitchen.
What New Zealand actually did
We consulted. In early 2025 MBIE put out a discussion document on work with engineered stone and materials containing crystalline silica, and asked for views on five options. Submissions closed at 5pm on 18 March 2025. As at July 2026 nothing engineered-stone-specific has been enacted, and no summary of submissions or decision we can point you to has been published. That is the part the copied pages leave out.
| Option consulted on | What it would have meant | Status as at July 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 — Status quo | No change to regulatory settings; existing duties and WorkSafe guidance carry the load | Effectively what still applies |
| 2 — Mandatory controls | Specific compulsory requirements for engineered stone fabrication, such as wet-working, extraction and respiratory protection | Consulted on, not enacted |
| 3 — Licensing | Workplaces that cut, grind, drill or polish engineered stone would need a licence to do it | Consulted on, not enacted |
| 4 — Broader duties and monitoring | Increased general duties plus exposure and health monitoring across all workplaces exposing workers to respirable crystalline silica | Consulted on, not enacted |
| 5A — Total ban | A total ban on the importation or use of and work on engineered stone, similar to Australia's approach | Consulted on; MBIE said it did not have the evidence to recommend it |
| 5B — Partial ban | A partial ban prohibiting the importation or use of engineered stone containing 40 per cent or more crystalline silica | Consulted on; MBIE said it did not have the evidence to recommend it |
Set 5B beside the Australian definition and you can see how far apart the two countries were even in contemplation. Australia drew its line at 1 per cent and caught everything. The partial ban New Zealand floated would have drawn it at 40 per cent, pushing manufacturers towards low-silica formulations rather than off the shelf. MBIE was blunt: on the evidence available, it would not have evidence to recommend a full or partial ban. Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden said she did not believe there was currently evidence to support a full ban.
What applies here right now
The absence of a ban is not the absence of rules. It means the general regime does the work instead of a product-specific one. Five things stack up.
- The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. A business must eliminate risks from its work so far as is reasonably practicable, or minimise them so far as is reasonably practicable. For a fabricator that means a real risk assessment, not a dust mask and a hope.
- The workplace exposure standard for respirable crystalline silica, which WorkSafe lowered in 2019 and again in November 2023, when it came down to 0.025mg/m³. That is what an exposure measurement gets held against.
- WorkSafe guidance, run on the hierarchy of controls: substitute a lower-silica material, then wet-working and dust control such as local exhaust ventilation or on-tool extraction, then PPE last. Dry-cutting is the thing everyone is trying to stamp out.
- Health monitoring, plus the Accelerated Silicosis Assessment Pathway set up by ACC, the Ministry of Health and WorkSafe. Early silicosis often has no obvious symptoms, which is why monitoring exists.
- A voluntary accreditation scheme. The Respirable Crystalline Silica Accreditation Programme has run since 2019, developed with the New Zealand Engineered Stone Advisory Group. Voluntary is the operative word — it is not a licence.
One material is why the rules are under review.
The risk is real — it is just not where you think
Being accurate about the law is not the same as being relaxed about the hazard. Engineered stone runs up to about 97 per cent crystalline silica; marble and limestone sit near 2 per cent. That is why this one product got singled out while nobody talks about banning marble.
Cutting, grinding and polishing it throws off respirable crystalline silica — particles fine enough to be invisible and small enough to reach deep into the lungs. MBIE's consultation material describes accelerated silicosis as occurring after exposure to large amounts over a shorter period, typically three to ten years, and says it has been seen in workers from the engineered stone kitchen benchtop industry. The same material puts the median age at lodgement for assessment claims at 42. People in the middle of their working lives.
WorkSafe has had inspectors on this industry since 2019. Between June 2023 and October 2024 it visited 102 businesses and issued 131 enforcement actions to 67 of them — two thirds of the shops it walked into. Its own read is that dust management has improved overall, but that inspectors keep issuing enforcement actions where risks are not controlled effectively. Read it honestly: no ban, real hazard, patchy compliance.
| Benchtop material | Crystalline silica | Where the dust risk sits | NZ status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engineered stone | Up to about 97% | High, at the fabricator — cutting, grinding, polishing | Legal; the one under review |
| Granite | About 20–45%, typically 30% | Real but materially lower | Legal; not under review |
| Marble / limestone | About 2% | Low | Legal; not under review |
| Sintered stone / porcelain | Varies by product — ask the supplier for the safety data sheet | Depends on the product | Legal; not under review |
| Laminate (e.g. Melteca) | Not a crystalline silica product | None of this applies | Legal; not under review |
| Solid surface (acrylic) | Not a crystalline silica product | None of this applies | Legal; not under review |
Nobody has ever asked me what the silica content of their benchtop is. They ask what it costs and whether it'll chip. The fella in the mask out the back is the one the rule is actually about.
So should you still spec stone?
That is a different question from whether you are allowed to, and it is the one worth your time. Stone is a known step-up on laminate: the material costs more, templating and fabrication cost more, and the install is a separate visit by a different crew. On a bungalow in Mount Eden you will look at for fifteen years, a stone top earns its keep. The full cost-and-value comparison against laminate sets out where the line falls.
Put the same top in a rental in Manukau and you are spending money you will never see again at the rent review. A tenant does not pay more for stone. They pay for a kitchen that works. There is a reason the materials that hold up best in rentals are boring and repairable rather than beautiful, and the same logic runs through most build-to-rent kitchen specifications in Auckland.
What goes wrong
The failures here are almost never about the material. They are about people acting on a rule that does not exist, or ignoring the one that does — and underneath that, the ordinary stone problems that bite whatever any regulator decides. Stone is templated off installed cabinets, not drawings, so the difference between a plan measure and a site measure shows up as a gap against a wall that was never square. It also lands as a second lead time behind the cabinetry, which is why it needs its own line in the construction programme.
- Cancelling a spec for nothing. Someone reads an Australian article, panics, and value-engineers the stone out of a job where it was the right call. Changing a spec on a rumour buys a variation and a delay for no gain.
- Applying the wrong threshold. The 1 per cent figure is Australia's definition of engineered stone. The 40 per cent figure was New Zealand's consulted-on partial-ban trigger. Mixing them up produces confident nonsense.
- Never asking who cuts it. Most kitchen companies do not fabricate stone in-house; it goes to a specialist. If you have not asked who and how, you have assumed someone else asked the safety question.
- Cutting into an existing top yourself. Retrofitting a sink or hob into stone already in the house is a silica-generating job — the one homeowner scenario where this stops being academic.
- Treating a provisional sum as a price. Benchtops are the classic 'stone PS' line everyone reads as fixed. It is not, and the real figure lands after the slab is selected.
What to ask before you sign
- Who actually fabricates the stone — you, or a subcontractor? Name them.
- Is the fabrication wet-cut with extraction, and is anyone dry-cutting at any stage?
- Is the fabricator in the Respirable Crystalline Silica Accreditation Programme? It is voluntary, so the answer may be no — but how they answer tells you plenty.
- Does the benchtop get templated off installed cabinets, or off plans?
- Is the benchtop a fixed line in the quote, or a provisional sum?
- If a partial ban at 40 per cent ever did land mid-programme, what is the fallback spec and who wears the cost?
Frequently asked questions
Can I still buy an engineered stone benchtop in New Zealand in 2026?
Yes. Engineered stone can be imported, supplied, fabricated and installed here — there is no ban and no engineered-stone-specific licensing regime in force. MBIE consulted on options including a full and a partial ban in early 2025, but nothing has been enacted since submissions closed on 18 March 2025. Because the question has been actively considered, treat the position as current rather than permanent.
Is my existing engineered stone benchtop dangerous to have in the house?
No. A finished, installed benchtop is inert — the silica is bound up in the slab and there is no dust unless the material is machined. The hazard is created at the point of cutting, grinding or polishing, which is why the risk falls on fabrication workers rather than households. The exception is if someone cuts into the top in place, such as retrofitting a sink, and that work should be done wet with extraction.
Why did Australia ban engineered stone when New Zealand didn't?
Australia acted on a Safe Work Australia recommendation following expert advice about the rise of silicosis in engineered stone workers, prohibiting manufacture, supply, processing and installation from 1 July 2024. New Zealand took a different route: it lowered the exposure standard for respirable crystalline silica to 0.025mg/m³ in November 2023, published guidance and supported a voluntary accreditation programme, then consulted on going further. MBIE's view was that the available evidence did not support a full or partial ban.
What is the difference between Australia's 1 per cent figure and New Zealand's proposed 40 per cent?
They do completely different jobs, which is why copied content gets this wrong. Australia's 1 per cent is definitional — it decides what counts as engineered stone, and the ban then catches everything meeting that definition. New Zealand's 40 per cent was the trigger for a possible partial ban under Option 5B, which would have left lower-silica products available. A New Zealand page quoting 1 per cent as our threshold has been lifted from Australian material.
What should I specify in a rental or build-to-rent kitchen instead?
For most rentals a good laminate on a well-detailed carcass is the rational answer, and it has nothing to do with the ban — a tenant does not pay more rent because the top is stone. Laminate is materially cheaper, easier to replace between tenancies, and carries none of the fabrication complications. If you want the look without the silica conversation, acrylic solid surface is another non-silica option, with its own trade-offs on heat and scratching.
Get a straight answer on your job
The ban question has a one-word answer, and now you have it. The useful conversation is the one underneath — whether stone is right for the kitchen you are actually building, what it does to your programme, and who is cutting it. If you are weighing the look as much as the law, choosing a benchtop colour that will still read well in ten years is the harder question anyway.
Send us the unit count and the scope — a rough sketch is enough to start, and drawings sharpen it — and you will get a trade-priced number back inside 24 hours. We have manufactured out of our own East Tamaki workshop for 23 years, north of 2,000 kitchens, ten-plus a week out the door. Supply and install sit under one contract and one invoice, so there is no gap between kitchen company and installer for your programme to fall into. Tell us what you want on top and we will tell you straight what it costs and what it will do.