Recall of coloured sands containing asbestos
On 12 November, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) published recall notices for coloured sand products that may contain asbestos, and being sold at various retailers in Australia.
In South Australia, more than 500 public schools and pre-schools, and hundreds of non-government schools were affected by the recall.
A media release by the Office of the Premier of South Australia confirmed SafeWork SA advice: “Under SafeWork SA advice, the cleanup of the recalled sand needs to be undertaken by licensed cleaning services while air monitoring takes place. Sites where the sand was loose also requires lab-certified testing to be completed before students and staff can return to classrooms.”
Various media outlets covering this story published status lists of the coloured sands in South Australian education facilities.
The clean-up bill is expected to exceed $1.5 million and SA Education Minister Blair Boyer wrote to the Federal Government calling for an urgent national enquiry to find out how this contaminated sand was approved for import, and what steps can be taken to avoid it occurring again.
Alarmingly, the IEU office received communications from members advising that some schools were not following guidelines as noted by SafeWork SA.
If your school is still affected by this coloured sand recall, and you are not getting the assistance you should be from your employer, please contact our office ASAP – 8410 0122 or enquiries@ieusa.org.au
Information for clean up outside of your workplace (ie. home) can be found here:
https://www.asbestossafety.gov.au/about-us/news-and-announcements/recall-coloured-sands-november-2025 and via SafeWork SA here: https://www.safework.sa.gov.au/news-and-alerts/safety-alerts/incident-alerts/2025/asbestos-concerns-prompt-childrens-sand-recall
Sources
https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/customers-warned-of-recalled-children%E2%80%99s-sand-due-to-asbestos-risks
https://www.premier.sa.gov.au/media-releases/news-items/sand-cleanup-costs-revealed
https://www.premier.sa.gov.au/media-releases/news-items/national-inquiry-needed-to-prevent-sand-repeat
