Closed public schools in Canberra will not re-open until asbestos contractors have cleared the buildings

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Dozens of public schools are closed across Canberra today over concerns about possible asbestos contamination. The Australian Capital Territory Education minister says schools closed today, will not re-open until licensed asbestos contractors have cleared the buildings.

Transcript

00:00Well Kath, it's been very quiet across public schools just like this one right across Canberra

00:07today. 69 public schools are closed, only 23 public schools are open so as you can tell it will,

00:16these closures are certainly impacting thousands and thousands of Canberran families. Now these

00:23closures have been prompted by a national recall of decorative play sand. That sand is used as

00:29in these schools for sensory activities but also art and craft. We know that there was a recall last

00:36week of some of these sand products. That prompted the closure of 16 public schools here in the ACT

00:43on Friday. Over the weekend a new national recall was issued that was for some products sold at Target

00:51and Kmart stores. Now as a result of that the ACT government discovered that those products were

00:57more widely used in ACT schools and that means we're seeing, that's why we've seen so many closures

01:04today. Where I'm standing in front of Gold Creek School in Canberra's north is a bit unique. Right

01:11next to Gold Creek School which is one of the public schools that is closed today, right next to this

01:15school is a private school that's actually open right now. Right now across the ACT no independent

01:22or Catholic schools are closed so it's just the public schools that have been incorporated into

01:29these closures. When it comes to those schools reopening, the ACT education minister Yvette Berry says

01:36lots of work needs to be done. We know that there is inspections being undertaken across these schools

01:42today for exactly where this decorative sand is that we know contains asbestos and from there a licensed

01:51asbestos contractor needs to come in, clear the area, clear those contaminated areas and those that stand

01:59out of those schools before they'll be able to reopen and of course with so many schools

02:04incorporated into these closures it's likely going to be days before all these schools can reopen.

02:10Yeah Monty you mentioned the supply of this sand and schools in the ACT using that but do we know

02:16why the ACT has taken this widespread action whereas other states have not?

02:23Well Kaf we know that these products were sold right around the country they've been sold at major

02:28retailers in every state and territory and we know that other states and territories are saying that

02:33these sand products have been found in their classrooms. What is different here in the ACT is

02:41that there is some really robust and and quite stringent rules when it comes to work health and safety

02:49and the government says that it's following those laws and if it didn't close these schools it wouldn't

02:55be following the laws that are in place here. As I said we've spoken to the ACT education minister

03:02Yvette Berry today here's what she had to say about that. The risk is very low so I need to make that clear

03:09however our legislation here in the ACT requires us regardless of the risk to eliminate the risk as

03:16far as reasonably practical and so that's the work that we're doing now. We have obviously several

03:21thousands of children who may have been playing with this sand the health advice is that the risk

03:28again is very low so far our testing of airborne contaminants has come back negative we're still

03:35taking samples of the sand just to test through all of that as well but again I just have to

03:40emphasize the risk is low it is a risk nonetheless and we're managing it. So that was the ACT's

03:47Education Minister Yvette Berry there. When it comes to when we will know if any of these schools will

03:54reopen tomorrow Yvette Berry says that she'll have an update later this afternoon and many families were

04:00hoping that that you know their schools will be reopening but we'll certainly keep across if that's the case.

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