Asbestos found in over 1000 NSW schools, calls grow for ‘eradication’

Asbestos has been found in more than 1000 NSW schools, with experts warning students could be at risk. Find out if your school is on the asbestos register.

More than 500 schools are slated for asbestos inspections this year, but health advocates say authorities aren’t doing nearly enough to remove the near-invisible killer lurking in thousands of classrooms across the state.

Asbestos is an open secret in NSW’s schools, hidden within the walls, roofs, fencing or grounds of at least 1000 campuses listed on the state’s public register, but mesothelioma advocates say the deadly asbestos fibres are now breaking down and “endangering children’s lives”.

A statewide blitz by the Department of Education’s infrastructure arm aims to have 540 schools reinspected this year, doubling down on the 220 surveys carried out in 2022-23.

However, Asbestos and Mesothelioma Association of Australia spokeswoman Kimberley Crawford warned the government’s current approach to managing the lethal fibres is “not good enough”, and said the risks aren’t being taken seriously.

In many schools asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) are covered up rather than removed, including at Castle Hill High School, where seven years and a parliamentary inquiry after asbestos was first exposed, remediation works are still being undertaken as recently as last week.

Castle Hill High School has been granted a clearance certificate after an eighth round of asbestos remediation. Picture: John Grainger

Families were notified in June that during the winter break, skirting would be installed around demountables underneath which asbestos had been recently discovered and covered over with “specialist geotextile material”.

“We know now that just covering up and painting over asbestos doesn’t work, the fibres have an expiration date. If it’s ‘in situ’, after 50 years, it’s going to break down,” Ms Crawford said.

“Most public schools in NSW are over 60 years old and those fibres are breaking down in the fences, in the bitumen, and children are being exposed.

“Kids use it like chalk … if you’re six or seven years old you’re not thinking about the health risks.”

Documents obtained under freedom of information reveal the Department of Education was quoted just shy of $200,000 for remediation work at CHHS in May 2020. Removing all asbestos in the roofs would have cost “in the order of $5 million”.

However, former head of the federal government’s Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency Peter Tighe said leaving ACMs in situ is a “band aid solution”, and anything less than a planned program of removal and eradication is “tokenism”.

“It’s not high risk, but it’s not no risk,” Mr Tighe said.

“The general view is that we must have it removed from more critical areas. Places like schools and hospitals are of very high priority.”

Barry Robson, president of the NSW-based Asbestos Diseases Foundation of Australia, said parents “absolutely” have cause to be concerned that the material is being covered over rather than removed in many cases.

“The cost in health far outweighs the cost of removal in my opinion.”

Nationwide, mesothelioma kills 700 Australians each year and thousands more die from other lung diseases, often diagnosed decades after an asbestos exposure.

(File image) Asbestos-containing materials have been used extensively throughout NSW public schools, where they’re aging and decaying.

Samples must be analysed in the lab under 400 times magnification to even be able to spot the danger, Wagga-Wagga based occupational hygienist Juliet Duffy explained.

“Most of the time you can’t see asbestos fibres in the air, and from a health perspective the biggest risk is when they’re airborne because mesothelioma is a respiratory disease.

“There’s no immediate symptoms – it’s not like a chemical exposure, you won’t immediately feel unwell, you won’t feel sick.”

While conventional wisdom dictates than ACMs generally pose little risk unless disturbed, such as through construction activity, leading researcher Ken Takahashi believes the scientific consensus “needs revision”.

“We have identified fairly new ACMs that actually shed/release asbestos fibres from the surface,” Professor Takahashi, the former Asbestos Diseases Research Institute director said.

“We found evidence of this phenomenon in Indonesia and Colombia, so it may be due to harsh climatic conditions … but I would not rule out the possibility that ACMs in general, contrary to conventional thoughts, can release asbestos fibres in the vicinity.”

A Department of Education spokesperson said the health and safety of students and staff is their “highest priority”.

“The department follows recommendations made on a case-by-case basis by independent experts and relevant regulators for the appropriate course of action when managing asbestos in schools.

“It is appropriate that a SafeWork investigation under way at Castle Hill High School progresses.”