Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace said WorkCover Queensland had received 22 claims for compensation for silicosis from workers in the engineered stone benchtop industry in the past three weeks, making a total of 26 compensation claims.

Of those, Ms Grace described six cases as "terminal", with a life expectancy of three to five years, with those workers receiving diagnoses of progressive massive fibrosis.

Ms Grace said some of the workers were young, including a 27-year-old.

"WHSQ [Workplace Health and Safety Queensland] has advised further cases are likely," she said.

"In most cases, the workers had no symptoms, with the disease only being detected through health checks, by recently-trained B reader physicians.

"This is alarming and my heart goes out to those workers and their families."

Silicosis is an irreversible condition caused by breathing in tiny particles of silica dust.

In October 2017, WHSQ launched a compliance campaign in the engineered stone benchtop industry.

Ms Grace said it included an audit of 10 engineered stone benchtop manufacturers and uncovered poor work practices, including uncontrolled dry cutting and grinding, inadequate ventilation and a lack of personal protection equipment, such as respiratory masks.

Ms Grace said she received a briefing from senior WSHQ officers on Monday night about a "spike" in silicosis claims for workers in the engineered stone benchtop manufacturing industry.

"Engineered stone is a relatively new building product, which has exploded on the Australian market in the past decade," she said.

Engineered stone contains about 90 per cent crystalline silica, compared with about 5 per cent in natural marble stone.

Ms Grace said from Tuesday, all dry cutting of engineered stone was specifically prohibited, adding to current laws which require an employer to provide a safe workplace.

"Enforcement action will be taken against any employer who fails to adequately protect its workers," she said.

WHSQ will write to all Queensland-based manufacturers about safety controls and an urgent safety alert will be issued, along with guidelines for working with engineered stone.

In July, Fairfax Media reported at least six tradies who had worked on dry-cutting artificial stone benchtops had been diagnosed with silicosis.

It comes after an inquiry into the re-emergence of black lung raised questions about whether workers outside the mine industry could be suffering from lung diseases from inhaling silica dust.

Silicosis is an aggressive form of pneumocconiosis.

From this week, there will be 22 safety inspectors conducting audits, with 150 manufacturers to be audited by the end of 2018.

Ms Grace urged all current and prior workers in the industry to undergo urgent health screening, with WorkCover Queensland to fund checks for workers exposed to silica from engineered stone over an "extended period of time".

Chief health officer Jeannette Young said if people thought they had been exposed to the dust at home because they had cut, ground or polished the material they should see their GP or call 13 HEALTH.

"It's unlikely they'll have any consequences but if they wish to be certain they should go and seek advice," Dr Young said.

"Anyone in their own home should not do anything with this material, they should get the experts."

The government will also update regulations and Ms Grace wrote to the federal minister, Kelly O'Dwyer, to ask the Commonwealth to consider a national response, such as importation controls and new exposure standards.

Shine Lawyers dust disease national special counsel Roger Singh said the moves were a small step forward but there was much more to be done.

"We are in the process of drafting a proposed solution which might be adopted in legislation and we hope to share this with her minister's office in the coming weeks," he said.

"It's unfathomable that a disease from the 1940s is rearing its ugly head in the stonemason industry in 2018.

"I've called it the asbestos of today - every delay gives way for a new diagnosis."