Twenty-five public schools in the Australian Capital Territory will remain closed on Tuesday and nine Tasmanian Catholic schools will fully or partially shut their doors to students after fears over children’s play sand products that may contain asbestos.
More than 70 schools were shut on Monday in the territory after asbestos was detected in some samples of coloured play sand. An audit found use of the product was “widespread” across the ACT’s public schools.
At about 5pm on Monday, the territory’s education department confirmed 42 public schools would be able to reopen their doors on Tuesday but a range of closures and changes to learning environments were still required because of “regulatory operations”.
Another 16 schools would open for some students, with the department noting “the number of areas isolated means that we can’t accommodate all students on site”.
“ACT public school staff and families should keep an eye out for an email from your school,” the update read.
At about 6pm on Monday, Catholic Education Tasmania confirmed six schools would be fully closed from Tuesday “until further notice” and a further three would be partially closed to undertake removal, testing and cleaning of potential asbestos materials.
Its executive director, Dr Gerard Gaskin, said the body was taking “every precaution” to ensure school environments remained safe and acting “quickly, carefully and in alignment with professional guidance”.
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In a recall notice published on Sunday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said laboratory testing had detected asbestos in some samples of the recalled products.
It warned the products “may cause a risk to health” though the chance of children inhaling airborne asbestos from the products was low.
More than a dozen primary and preschools in the ACT were fully or partially closed last week after another range of children’s sand products, two supplied by local wholesaler Shamrock Australia and the other two by art supplies company Educational Colours, were recalled by the ACCC on Wednesday.
The latest recall was for Kmart Australia’s Active Sandtub 14 piece Sand Castle Building Set, sold at both Kmart and Target, and Magic Sand tubs in blue, green and pink, that were sold only at Kmart.
Coloured play sand products that are part of the recall. Photograph: ACCC Product Safety
Kmart and Target issued a voluntary recall for the products on Saturday.
Asbestos is a hazardous material that can cause terminal diseases and has been banned in Australia since 2003. It is not allowed to be imported into the country except in very limited circumstances.
The ACCC said respirable (airborne) asbestos had not been detected in any of the tested samples, and “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”.
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However, it advised consumers to stop using the products immediately and to follow safe asbestos disposal methods.
Its guidelines instruct customers to wear gloves, masks and disposable coveralls and place sand in a heavy-duty plastic bag, double tape it securely and store it away from children. The sand should be disposed of at an authorised facility.
The commonwealth government’s health department advice, published on Friday, said “national regulators and agencies are collaborating with multiple health authorities to ensure precaution, consistency and public safety across the country as the situation unfolds”.
It said there was a “low risk to human health” from the products and, based on current information, there was no need to go see a doctor after exposure to them.
“The recall is a precautionary action based on preliminary results and more comprehensive scientific testing is underway,” the advice said.
Staff and families at the closed schools were to be contacted with updates and a public school hotline was set up at 13 22 81.
In New South Wales, the department of education said no schools were closed in the state due to the sand. A safety alert was issued on Friday as a precaution for all public schools in the state “to immediately and safely remove these sand products if they have them”.
Multiple schools in New Zealand were closed on Monday as classrooms that used the Kmart sand products were tested for asbestos.