Brisbane school shuts after asbestos-laced play sand found

A major Queensland childcare provider has revealed a coloured sand product containing asbestos is used at several of its centres.

C&K, which operates 320 childcare and kindergartens across the state, emailed parents on Friday evening to tell them a product, Educational Colours Rainbow Sand, had been recalled and was present at some of its centres. Kadink Sand and Creatistics Coloured Sand have also been recalled.

It follows a day when a school in Brisbane’s west was closed after one of the products was found, and campuses across Queensland were combed for the play items that could have been on the grounds for up to five years.

The Australian consumer watchdog issued a recall notice on Wednesday evening covering the brands of children’s play sand it suspected could contain the hazardous material.

In the email, C&K chief operating officer Dr Suzy Tamone said the risk to children was low, and the company was acting out of an abundance of caution.

“While the release of respiratory asbestos fibres from the sand is unlikely to occur in its current state, we are taking all precautions to ensure the safety of children and employees,” she said.

On Friday morning, Brisbane independent special school Mancel College issued a notice to parents it had located the sand on campus, where it had been used in sensory play activities.

“It has been used in some of the Junior School and we have now found some in the Senior School,” the notice read.

“While the advice is low risk and there are only minor traces, we are acting with an abundance of caution.

“We are therefore advising parents that with immediate effect we are closing the entire college today.”

Mancel College, in western Brisbane suburb Fig Tree Pocket, has almost 180 students enrolled and specialises in teaching children who have language disorders.

The Australia Competition and Consumer Commission detected tremolite asbestos, a naturally occurring asbestos, in some samples of the coloured play sand product following lab testing.

The sand – packaged in 1 to 1.3-kilogram batches – was sold between 2020 and 2025.

ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe said Officeworks was a major supplier, alongside educational supply stores Educating Kids, Modern Teaching Aids and Zart Art.

On Friday morning, 15 state schools in Canberra were closed following concerns the schools were using the contaminated products and testing began.

ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry said the decision to close schools was made on Thursday night, and the territory would decide whether to reopen affected campuses on Sunday.

Asbestos and Dust Diseases Research Institute chair Peter Tighe told 4BC the asbestos had likely been in the product from when it was mined.

“When you’re mining mineral sands, which coloured sands usually are, it’s very easy to come across a seam of what they call naturally occurring asbestos,” Tighe said.

He said companies could avoid asbestos seams by testing the ground first, and monitoring the seams to make sure they remained unbroken.

Tighe said the products being sold over a five-year period meant some schools had almost certainly come into contact with contaminated batches.

“Asbestos fibres that are in the sand themselves are the 100th, size of a human hair, so it just shows how difficult they are to detect,” he said.

But he added that exposure would not necessarily lead to an asbestos-related disease, and anyone who thought their family had been “excessively exposed” should seek medical advice.

In Brisbane, no additional schools had closed or reported finding the contaminated material by midday on Friday, although governing bodies were still performing checks across the region.

A spokesperson for the Queensland Department of Education said the state was “working closely with all state schools that may be impacted”.

There are more than 300 schools in the Brisbane City Council area, including about 240 primary schools.

With Elias Visontay and Emily Kaine

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