All customers who bought the Cottage Mulch garden product between March and November last year should assume it may have asbestos in it, the company which sold it said.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"It should be assumed that all sales of Cottage Mulch during the notifiable period may be contaminated with asbestos," Jack Amey, General Manager, of the Stonehenge Beltana garden centre in Pialligo said.
The warning came as WorkSafe ACT said another site which has mulch potentially mixed with asbestos had been identified. The watchdog is not saying where the "affected residential complex" is.
"A prohibition notice remains active on this site and further testing is underway," a WorkSafe statement said.
WorkSafe has identified 20 potentially infected sites.
At the garden centre where the mulch was sold, Mr Amey said that up to 60 customers could have bought the material in the "notifiable period".
Mr Amey said that the garden centre was "working around the clock to assure the health and safety of all customers in light of the possible asbestos contamination in cottage mulch".
"We are confident this is affecting less than 60 customers across trade and retail over the period, and we have today notified all our customers who did purchase the product that we had details for," he said.
"It's also important to remember that contamination is a possibility at this stage, and we do urge any of our customers who have purchased Cottage Mulch, to follow the instructions from WorkSafe ACT which is to not disturb or try and remove it, and to isolate it so far as is possible, then contact WorkSafe ACT for assistance with identifying and remediating."
The garden mulch potentially contaminated with asbestos has been linked to more than 40 affected sites in New South Wales. It was then confirmed that it had been available in the ACT.
Stonehenge Beltana, in Pialligo, sold the product that was supplied from Greenlife Resource Recovery Facility, a south-west Sydney business. The facility had been linked to multiple contamination sites across Sydney.
"At this time it is thought that the risk of ACT government facilities, such as schools, having sourced and used the affected mulch is low. This will be further explored in coming days," an ACT government spokesperson said earlier in the week.
The ACT government also said the public health risk posed by bonded asbestos was low.
Work Health and Safety Commissioner Jacqueline Agius said on Thursday: "We are endeavouring to contact all identified businesses and households as soon as we can. We understand that people are concerned, but the important thing to remember is that the safest place for the mulch right now is for it to remain undisturbed on the ground."
"To date, WorkSafe ACT inspectors have contacted 20 potentially contaminated sites and issued verbal prohibition notices to ensure the mulch is not disturbed, handled or disposed of until testing can be completed. WorkSafe ACT has also directed that the mulch is isolated. Isolation could be done through barricading or taping off the mulched area."
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
