Senior reporter Joe Duggan’s reporting on the deadly lung disease, silicosis and subsequent Killer Kitchens campaign has been nominated for the News Media Association’s (NMA) “Making a Difference” award.
The award, chosen by the public and can be voted for here, celebrates brilliant local and national media campaigns which have made a real impact. Last year, northern correspondent Steve Robson won the award for his work uncovering the Second Post Office IT scandal.
The Killer Kitchen campaign, spearheaded by Duggan, has shone a light on the scandal of kitchen revamp workers falling ill and dying from silicosis after inhaling dust while cutting quartz – or engineered stone – kitchen worktops.
In 2024, Duggan broke the story of the UK’s first silicosis cases in young stonemasons cutting high-silica quartz worktops that have become hugely popular in kitchen renovations, a condition not many had heard of.
Duggan’s two-year investigation has since prompted the most significant safety changes ever in the sector by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the kitchen stone industry – measures that will save lives.
His reporting, which includes heartbreaking accounts from workers whose lungs were shredded by toxic dust, led to HSE’s first regulatory guidance banning the “dry cutting” of quartz.
It also pressured HSE into a nationwide inspection blitz on 1,000 workplaces over 12 months to clamp down on firms exposing workers to lethal dust.
As a result, almost 400 enforcement notices have been served against companies for breaching health and safety law.
The Killer Kitchens campaign has been praised by MPs – and prompted the Government to consider changing benefit rules for seriously ill workers after Duggan exposed how sick and dying tradesmen were threatened with financial sanctions and eviction.
Ministers also praised the campaign for driving reform after the Government announced families of workers who died from silicosis will now receive higher compensation payouts.
Legislation is currently going through Parliament that includes banning the dry-cutting of the stone, creating a screening programme for silicosis and monitoring other disease-caused exposure to the dust.
In another campaign victory, Duggan’s reporting prompted a new kitemark scheme from the stone worktop industry to inform consumers that quartz had been cut without exposing workers to deadly dust. Retailers Wren and Howdens – the two biggest names in the UK kitchen market – have both joined the scheme.
The kitemark scheme was hailed as “important” and “significant” by HSE and the UK’s leading doctor treating quartz silicosis patients. The British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS) praised Duggan’s reporting for bringing change that will “save lives”.
Many sufferers of silicosis are men in their twenties and thirties and described being denied adequate protective equipment to prevent them inhaling dust.
Around 60 UK cases and four deaths have been detected, but doctors warn the true toll could be significantly higher, with action needed to prevent silicosis epidemics seen in other countries.
Launched in December 2024, the Killer Kitchens campaign demanded a ban on the dry cutting of quartz without water to dampen dust, and more resources for HSE to clamp down on rogue employers.
One story revealed Marek Marzec, a father of two dying of silicosis, spent months battling for benefits and government compensation, only to be informed on the day he died that he was eligible.
Marzec, who Duggan interviewed from hospital weeks before he died, was asked by the DWP to attend assessments despite receiving palliative care.
As a result of the article, the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council recommended cases of rapid progression silicosis from quartz should be fast-tracked for the industrial injuries disablement benefit.
Kevin Bampton, head of BOHS, said: “I can’t imagine the level of interest in Parliament, Government, HSE and industry, would have been anywhere near what it is without The i Paper campaign.”
How to vote
You can vote online here by visiting the News Media Association’s (NMA) Making a Difference website and selecting The i Paper‘s Killer Kitchen’s campaign.
Voting closes at 5.30pm on Friday 23 October, and the winners will be announced at a parliamentary reception on Monday 2 November, which will mark the launch of the NMA’s annual Journalism Matters campaign.