Or the size of the particles. Cutting engineered stone has been shown to generate large quantities of extremely fine particles (< 1 µm). Cutting natural stone or driving on a dirt road, the typical particle sizes are much larger.
Yes, it is. There's an ABC article about this, they interviewed one particular business owner who has gone to great lengths to get good equipment which cuts engineered stone with wet saws which don't generate dust, and has worked hard to instill a culture of safety with his workers. Nobody working there has silicosis.
As per the rest of the comments here, it just seems that most tradies would rather literally die than implement any reasonable safety precaution.
> In February 2021, a WorkSafe Inspector attended the workplace and observed
an employee using a powered abrasive polishing tool to abrasively polish a slab
of white coloured stone which was from the brand Stone Ambassador. The tool
was being used without the required control measures in place. Instead, the
employee was applying water to the stone from a bottle with a small hole in the
lid when the tool was in use.
