“Where a potential asbestos risk is identified, services are expected to take precautionary measures, which may include restricting access to affected areas, seeking advice from licensed asbestos professionals, and taking any necessary steps to protect children and staff.
“Services must also keep parents and whānau informed about any actions being taken.”
The education learning service has notified parents of the possible exposure and taken initial steps, an ERO spokesperson said. Photo / 123RF
Early learning services are expected to notify ERO when significant health and safety issues affect their operation and are responsible for ensuring their premises are safe for children, staff and visitors.
The potential asbestos issue was reported in the Ministry of Education’s Early Learning Bulletin on September 3.
The agency was following “due process” and could not comment more at this stage, the spokesperson said.
“ERO’s role is to regulate and monitor compliance with licensing requirements for early learning services.
“ERO works with services to ensure any risks to children’s health, safety, and wellbeing are appropriately managed.”
Earlier asbestos concerns
The closure comes amid wider concerns about asbestos contamination in products used by children.
Children’s play sand sold at retailers like Kmart and The Warehouse was recalled for asbestos contamination earlier this year.
The recall prompted the closure of at least 16 schools and seven early learning services around the country.
While MBIE initially said it was unlikely the asbestos could become airborne during normal use, an AUT study later found fibres could be released during play.
There is no known safe level of asbestos exposure, and related diseases can take decades to develop.
The findings raised concerns for parents whose children had played with the contaminated sand.
At least 20 brands, including Educational Colours, have recalled their play sand products since the initial asbestos detection. Photo / Supplied
Christchurch mother Elle Chrisp told NZME she was “devastated” by the results, but hoped the information would be used in a positive way.
“The most frustrating element personally is I had no experience or interaction with asbestos [before this] and I just wanted to learn and understand what I could,” she said.
“The kids were so happy and entertained with play sand … it was a really easy weekend activity, you know. I got to put washing on, prep dinner and smugly thought ‘They’re not on a screen, they’re playing with sand!’”.
It was revealed in July that supplier safety assurances about the risk of fibres being released had been adopted by MBIE without external verification.
This was despite concerns raised by WorkSafe NZ, which had detected asbestos in its own testing and challenged the recall notices in Australia “from the get-go”, according to internal emails reportedly seen by The Guardian.
A WorkSafe New Zealand spokesperson told the publication it had consistently advised that any potentially affected products “must be managed, removed and disposed of as friable asbestos-containing material until proven otherwise”, an approach The Guardian reported was not widely adopted.