Asbestos has been confirmed at more sites in Sydney as three schools await results.
Domremy College in Five Dock in Sydney’s inner west became the fifth school to confirm the presence of asbestos after testing was carried out at several sites after asbestos was found in mulch at Liverpool West Public School earlier of February.
The university remains open Monday and the contaminated site is isolated and cordoned off.
Results are yet to be confirmed at three south-west Sydney schools: Edmondson Park Public School, Mount Annan Christian College in Currans Hill and Trinity Catholic Primary School in Kemps Creek.
“We understand this may be disturbing for these school communities, but these results are expected today,” the New South Wales Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in a statement on Monday.
In western Sydney, St Luke’s Catholic College in Marsden Park decided to close this week, while Penrith Christian School in Orchard Hills remains open with the contaminated site fenced off after discoveries of asbestos at the two schools were confirmed on Sunday.
Liverpool West remains closed and students are offered in-person learning at nearby Gulyangarri Public School, where Department of Education Secretary Murat Dizdar plans to visit on Monday.
An Aldi supermarket in Cobbitty, south-west of Sydney, will reopen once a contaminated site has been contained.
A site at the Riverstone Sports Center and an area of a shared path along the Parramatta light rail project at Telopea, in Sydney’s northwest, will also be contained on Monday.
Asbestos has been confirmed at three other sites that the EPA did not disclose for privacy reasons, saying they are not publicly accessible.
More than 40 sites, including schools, hospitals and parks, have been contaminated with asbestos contained within recycled mulch.
Fire and Rescue NSW crews inspected more than 120 sites identified by the agency over the weekend.
More than 90 per cent of the mulch identified as potentially containing asbestos had been tested, Premier Chris Minns told ABC Radio on Monday.
“We’re coming to the end, so I don’t want people to think there’s no end to this,” he said.
Asbestos has also been found in the topsoil of parks, a hospital and a school stretching from the CBD to Emu Plains at the foot of the Blue Mountains, and from Parramatta to Campbelltown.
The government is considering possible increases in fines.
“We will put systems in place to ensure that if sanctions are imposed, it is not just about the cost of doing business for these large companies,” Mr Minns said.
Parts of Sydney Olympic Park are being retested ahead of a big weekend of concerts at the entertainment venue.
The Prime Minister said this should not pose a threat to impending events, particularly Taylor Swift’s shows in the coming days.
The EPA is investigating a complicated supply chain as it investigates how the mulch became contaminated.
EPA Executive Director Tony Chapell said Sunday that the investigation would conclude with a full report for the public, but cautioned against prematurely attributing blame.
The agency had been asked to disclose a notice issued to Greenlife Resource Recovery preventing it from supplying more mulch, which it is currently complying with, Chappel said.
The company challenges the prevention order in court.
Greenlife’s mulch is independently tested by approved laboratories and the company was confident it had left its facilities free of contamination, it said in a statement on Friday.
Asbestos contamination confirmed at another Sydney school
