Fabricator Safety Initiative
Built by Fabricators. Focused on the shop floor. Meant to last.
How It Started
The Fabricator Safety Initiative began when it became clear that talk alone wasn’t protecting workers. Shops were being told what not to do but not being given realistic ways to do the work safer every day. Regulations were growing, enforcement was uneven, and too many decisions were being made without hearing from the people fabricating stone.
FSI was launched to fix that gap — by building practical, shop-tested safety solutions instead of finger-pointing or bans.
How It’s Evolved
What started as safety education and awareness has grown into a full industry-led system:
- Clear expectations for controlling silica dust
- Training that matches real fabrication work
- Focus on what inspectors and workers can actually see in a shop (air quality, dust control, work practices)
- Collaboration with regulators, researchers, and industry partners — including Occupational Safety and Health Administration, industry groups, and academic research partners such as Yale University
Each phase of FSI (FSI-1 through FSI-4) has built on the last — moving from awareness, to tools, to accountability.
Where We Are Today: Fabrication Shop Licensing
Our current and most critical initiative is the Fabrication Shop Licensing Program.
This program is designed to:
- Set clear, consistent safety expectations for fabrication shops
- Focus on how work is done, not just paperwork
- Support shops that want to do things right — and prove it
- Provide regulators with a credible, industry-built alternative to product bans or one-size-fits-all rules
Licensing is about raising the floor, not punishing good shops.
If you control the dust, train the people, and follow safe processes — the material name doesn’t matter.
How We’re Building It
We are actively:
- Recruiting fabricators, suppliers, and safety experts to serve on working committees
- Collecting real-world feedback to pressure-test requirements
- Raising funding to stand up the systems, staff, and audits needed to do this right
This work takes time, expertise, and money — but it’s the only path that protects:
- Workers’ health
- Shop owners’ livelihoods
- The future of our industry
Join the Work
FSI is not a finished product — it’s a working system built with the industry, not for it.
If your organization wants to:
- Participating in a committee
- Support the initiative through funding
- Help shape a licensing system that works
Contact us to learn how we can achieve this together. Strong shops. Safe workers. One united industry.