Daily London
The sand has also been found in dozens of schools in South Australia, where some classrooms will be closed for cleaning while warnings for parents and product recalls remain in place across the rest of the country.
After the recalls widened to include products sold at Kmart and Target, ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry announced yesterday afternoon that most of the territory’s schools would be closed today.
Last night, the government said it had started auditing all public schools for the affected products, listing 71 that would be closed, with just 23 opening.
The announcement followed more closures on Friday.
Berry said “unfortunately, this could take days” for asbestos contractors to “test, remediate and clear the spaces for use again”.
In South Australia, 130 schools were reported to have the sand but it was still sealed in 88 of the education facilities, meaning loose sand was found at 20 schools.
The SA government said some classrooms would be closed today for cleaning but a list was not freely available. Parents were urged to watch for communication from their schools.
No schools were listed as closed in NSW, Victoria or Queensland.
“The products may cause a risk to health as asbestos has been detected in some samples after laboratory testing,” ACCC Product Safety said.
“Importantly, respirable asbestos has not been detected in any of the tested samples.
“The release of respirable asbestos fibres is unlikely to occur in its current state, unless the sand is processed by mechanical means such as crushing or pulverising.
“The risk that any asbestos found, that is likely to be airborne or fine enough for inhalation, is low.”
Customers have been told to stop using the products immediately and safely dispose of them.
“Wear disposable gloves and a mask and either return in the original tub or place the sand in a heavy-duty plastic bag and double tape it securely and keep it out of reach of children,” the recall notice said.
“Do not dispose of the products in general waste.”
