More than 10 percent of workers in Queensland (QLD) tunnelling projects are at risk of developing silicosis or lung cancer in their lifetimes, according to a new study published in the April edition of the Annals of Work Exposures and Health by Oxford University Press.

The authors concluded, “in a cohort of around 2,000 workers who serviced the Queensland tunnel projects, it was estimated that between 20 and 30 cases of lung cancer and between 200 and 300 cases of silicosis would develop over their lifetime as a result of exposure to RCS [respirable crystalline silica].”

Given the secrecy surrounding more recent air quality readings, these figures are likely an underestimation of the unfolding health disaster facing tunnelling workers throughout the state and more broadly.