By Josh Robertson and Michael Atkin, ABC
Brisbane laboratory COHLABS used a rare, expensive transmission electron microscope to confirm the chance discovery. Photo: ABC / Curtis Rodda
Asbestos in children's play sand was discovered by chance in an Australian laboratory and was only reported to safety authorities after a lab manager mentioned the findings in a podcast interview.
The ABC can reveal the contamination of the coloured sand was unearthed in a lab that tested samples for staff training and machine testing, then sent them to another lab in Brisbane, COHLABS, to confirm the results.
In an interview for a podcast late last month, the lab's co-owner and manager Michael Shepherd mentioned the contamination findings to Robert McAllister, a director of the Faculty of Asbestos Management of Australia and New Zealand (FAMANZ), who alerted workplace safety authorities in NZ on November 5.
McAllister said this led to NZ authorities alerting Australian regulators, who compelled the Brisbane lab - which had been bound by client confidentiality - to share the positive asbestos tests.
"It was just by chance really that this was brought to light and obviously then subsequently communicated on to regulator," Mr McAllister told the ABC.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced a national safety recall for several brands of the children's sand on November 12.
Schools in the ACT, Queensland and South Australia were then closed.
McAllister said it was his understanding that Australian authorities did not know about the contamination until they were told by their NZ counterparts, "because immediately after they were informed, they went to the lab and requisitioned the information".
In a statement the ACCC told the ABC it also understood the original laboratory testing "was not done on suspicion of there being asbestos present in these products and was not commissioned by anyone: it was conducted for the purposes of internal training and machine testing".
It said the agency "first heard about the sand products in question through our involvement in a workplace health and safety and asbestos authorities working group".
"Once made aware, the ACCC and the workplace health and safety authorities involved moved quickly to make further enquiries of the Australian suppliers of these products, which led to the suppliers issuing voluntary recalls," it said.
Coloured sand samples across Australia are being tested for traces of asbestos. Photo: ABC / Cason Ho
NZ regulator alerted Australian authorities
McAllister's account is also backed by Corey Sinclair, the deputy chief executive of operations at WorkSafe NZ, who confirmed Mr McAllister told the agency of the "potential issue" with the contaminated sand on November 6.
"WorkSafe immediately alerted the Australian workplace health and safety authorities to this matter," Sinclair said.
NZ authorities then confirmed the product was also sold in that country and oversaw their own recall.
The ABC has approached WorkSafe Queensland for comment.
The sand products were imported from China by two Victorian suppliers and sold by major retailers, including Officeworks.
One of the suppliers, Education Colours, said in a statement that "product safety and quality are our top priorities".
"We are working closely with regulators and relevant government agencies as they respond to this industry-wide issue," it said.
"We remain focused on supporting our customers at this time."
The other supplier, Shamrock Australia, has not responded to requests by the ABC for comment.
The Brisbane laboratory is one of the few facilities in Australia that can identify certain forms of asbestos using a transmission electron microscope. Photo: ABC / Curtis Rodda
McAllister said he learnt of the contaminated sand at the end of an interview last month with Shepherd for the "Asbestos Still Kills" podcast produced by FAMANZ.
He said the episode happened to focus on "transmission electron microscopy" (TEM), which involved a rare, million-dollar microscope found in only universities and a handful of labs in Australia, including COHLABS, which was able to identify a form of asbestos called tremolite.
"We got onto a side subject, which essentially was materials that have been tested which we didn't think would have asbestos in it and they did," McAllister said.
"And Mike had identified to us … that he'd recently just tested some sand products, which are really designed for kids … and he'd found some asbestos contained within the sand product, which was in the form of tremolite.
"If I can be honest, it was a really scary proposition and very unsettling to me as well."
COHLABS was bound by client confidentiality about the details of asbestos findings until test results were released this month. Photo: ABC / Curtis Rodda
McAllister said when he asked whether anyone else had been informed, Shepherd said he had been "instructed by a client to test it and is bound by client privilege in relation to the lab and what they can release to public knowledge".
"So I asked if it would be OK if I went forwards and just done some legwork in relation to anyone I know who may have come across that, and he said that would be fine."
McAllister said he then raised it in a scheduled meeting on November 5 with an NZ WorkSafe official who was also "a little bit alarmed".
"We met again the next morning and I think the gravity of the situation had really sunk in to me and to [NZ] WorkSafe - that this is a product that is predominantly used by children, it's used in educational facilities, it's used in private homes.
"So that obviously the consequence of that would be pretty substantial."
Asbestos removal teams spent Saturday cleaning Campbell Primary School in the ACT. Photo: ABC / Matt Roberts
Authorities in Australia, including NSW Education, have sought to reassure the public that the risks of harm are low and that the asbestos fibres in the sand are not in a "respirable" form.
But McAllister said he would "argue that the level of testing required to demonstrate that has not been done".
"In this particular case, you're talking about young children, who are highly susceptible to asbestos fibre, playing with this produce up close and personal," he said.
"So I think the regulator would take the view that that risk is too high just on that basis alone.
"Now the respirability of those set fibres would need to be determined by a disturbance test approach … to categorise whether children playing with it would release enough fibre to be hazardous to health.
"I know people are working towards that [but] that has not been done to date that I'm aware of."
The ACCC has urged the public to stop using any of the identified sand products immediately, tape them up in a secure bag, and dispose of them at an authorised facility or with the help of asbestos professionals.
- ABC
