The building industry in Australia is filled almost entirely with independent contractors. Mostly single people, working on a contract to the house builder/project manager. So there is little room for that.

But I agree, this would be good.

But I think the decision here is basically that, in practice, it's very difficult to actually get people to follow the required practices, in practice. As has been shown in practice.

In this case I guess the independent contractor ends up accepting the responsibility for not taking their own safety precautions seriously: they get silicosis.

I feel for the people who were early in the industry who had no idea this could happen to them, but now that it's known, if a contractor doesn't feel like taking appropriate precautions, then they get what they deserve.

Banning an entire industry because people cut corners is just dumb.

I wholeheartedly agree with you in theory.

But I, personally, am happy to accept the 'Human Factors' side of reality.

> then they get what they deserve.

It doesn’t just affect them. Everyone nearby gets exposed. People who come later to clean get exposed. Customers can get exposed.

asbestos was banned for similar reasons, or are you saying that it shouldn’t have been banned either because of “people cutting corners with ppe” - it too is perfectly safe when handled safely

Ya and the tax payer foots the medical bill. Show some humanity