Danger Dust

Over five years, he was exposed to large amounts of silica dust from cutting sandstone and says there were little or no safety measures to protect workers.

After experiencing pain in his hands and feet, Mr Walters was diagnosed with the auto-immune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a condition he said is linked to silicosis.

Poor health and pains in his joints forced Mr Walters to stop working as a stonemason around 1995.

The father-of-one was not diagnosed with silicosis until 2016 and now requires full-time care while in a wheelchair and struggling to breathe.

Mr Walters said his silicosis diagnosis was “a shock” but did not surprise him after decades of chest infections, adding that the SLE has come from the silicosis.

“I’m always in pain. I’ve developed a very high pain tolerance, but I don’t sleep a full night. I maybe sleep a couple of hours, then wake up in pain.”