Jack Tame: Schools shouldn't be punished for trusting a reputable retailer

There’s an issue burning away at the moment, affecting thousands or tens of thousands of us that I don’t think is getting anything like the attention it deserves. 

Three additional coloured sand products tested positive for asbestos contamination this week. Two on Monday, another on Thursday. Additional brands sold at discount shops around the country to add to the products already announced in the recall earlier this month. 

I’ll put my cards on the table: our 8-year-old is at a school that has been affected by the recall. They tested and found traces of asbestos and a number of classrooms have been affected. 

Even though the testing found no traces of asbestos in the air, for at least the remainder of the year, the school has been thrown into a situation where they’re trying to teach the same number of kids in far fewer classrooms. It means ad-hoc, cramped learning spaces. In two classrooms they’re going to have to remove all the carpet, wall coverings, and soft furnishings. Other classrooms require professional deep-cleans. It’s not clear if the work will be finished in time for term one next year and the clean-up is going to cost tens-of-thousands of dollars. 

But as we were informed in a letter home this week —surprise, surprise— no one wants to pay for it. The school’s insurance won’t cover it. The Ministry of Education won’t cover it. Kmart, which in the school’s case had sold the dangerous product, has directed them to the manufacturer in China. As it stands, the school is expecting to have to cover the cost of the clean-up. Money that should have been spent on educating children will not be repaid. 

How many New Zealand schools face a similar situation? All we know is that as of yesterday, nine schools or early learning centres had tested positive for asbestos. 129 were still waiting to confirm testing results, although the Ministry of Education says it’s just a voluntary reporting system at the moment (which seems inadequate!), so the number could be higher. 

You can hardly blame the schools for the situation. They weren’t negligent. It’s not like they knowingly painted their classrooms with lead paint. They bought a children’s product that should have been ideal for creative learning from reputable retailers with an entirely reasonable expectation that it would be safe. 

And now that this has been discovered, it’s not like they can just ignore it. Schools that are testing are doing the right thing. Even if the risk is super low, what parent would allow their child to be taught in a classroom that was testing positive for asbestos? What teacher would teach in it? 

In my view it would be a great injustice if the schools that are doing the right thing in handling this crisis ended up significantly out of pocket. Surely under our consumer guarantee and product safety laws, retailers can’t simply abdicate all responsibility and palm off the affected schools to distant manufacturers in China? And even if legally they can, then surely there is a moral responsibility to do the right thing. 

One obvious measure I think would help the affected schools is a collective legal effort, so they’re not all fighting for redress or compensation in isolation. It’s the sort of thing you’d reasonably expect the Ministry of Education to help with coordinating once testing results are confirmed everywhere. 

There’s no telling where this whole thing will end up. 

But while at least their classrooms will be safe, if schools end up footing the bill for all the testing and clean-up of a product they reasonably trusted, at the end of the day it’ll be our kids who pay the price. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks that Be.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
So there's an issue that's kind of burning away at
the moment, affecting thousands of honestly, probably tens of thousands
of us, that I don't think is getting anything like
the attention it deserves. Three additional colored sand products tested
positive for asbestos this week, so two on Monday and

(00:34):
then another one on Thursday, all of them additional brands
sold at discount shops around the country, to add to
the products that have already been announced in the colored
sand recall earlier this month. Now, I'll put my cards
on the table. Our eight year old is at a
school that has been affected by the recall. They had

(00:55):
to shut the school down for a day they tested
and found traces of asbestos. A number of classrooms have
been affected, and even though the testing found no traces
of in the year, for at least the remainder of
the year, the school has been thrown into a situation
where they are trying to teach the same number of

(01:16):
kids as always, but in far fewer classrooms. So it means,
you know, kind of ad hoc cramp learning spaces in
two classrooms. They're going to have to rip out all
of the carpet, rip off all of the wall coverings,
get rid of all of the soft furnishings, do it
all with asbestos protocols in place. Other classrooms require professional

(01:38):
deep cleans. It's not clear if the work's going to
be finished in time for term one next year, and
the cleanup is going to cost tens of thousands of dollars.
But as we were informed in a letter home this week,
surprise surprise, no one wants to pay for it. The
school's insurance won't cover it. The Ministry of Education won't

(01:59):
cover it. Kmart, which in the schools case, had sold
the dangerous product, has directed them to the manufacturer and China.
As it stands, the school is expecting to have to
cover the cost of the cleanup. Money that should have
been spent on educating children will not be repaid. How
many New Zealand schools and early learning centers face a

(02:23):
similar situation. Well, all we know is that as of yesterday,
nine schools or ecees had tested positive for asbestos. One
hundred and twenty nine was still waiting to confirm their
testing results. Although the Ministry of Education says, it's just
a voluntary reporting system at the moment, which honestly seems
inadequate to me. But the number theoretically could be higher. Right,

(02:47):
and think about it from the school's perspective, I mean,
you can hardly blame the schools for this situation. They
weren't negligent. It's not like they knowingly painted their classrooms
with lead paint or something stupid like that. They bought
a children's product that should have been ideal for creative
learning from reputable retailers with an entirely reasonable expectation that

(03:11):
it would be safe, And now that this has been discovered,
it's not like they can just ignore it. Right, schools
that are testing instead of just quietly getting rid of
the products, I mean, clearly they are doing the right thing,
even if the risk is super low. What parent would

(03:32):
allow their child to be taught in a classroom that
was testing positive for asbestos? What teacher would teach in it?
In my view, it would be a great injustice if
the schools that are doing the right thing and handling
this crisis ended up significantly out of pocket. I mean,
surely our consumer guarantee and product safety laws retailers can't

(03:57):
simply abdicate all responsibility and palm off the affected schools
to distant manufacturers, And even if legally they can, surely
there is a moral responsibility to do the right thing.
One obvious measure that I think would help the affected
schools is a collective legal effort so that they are

(04:17):
not all fighting for redress or for compensation and isolation.
It's the sort of thing you would reasonably expect the
Ministry of Education to help with in coordinating once the
test results are confirmed everywhere. I think at the moment
we're what three weeks in, There's no telling where this
whole thing is going to end up. But while at
least their classrooms will be safe, if schools end up

(04:41):
footing the bill for all of the testing, all of
the cleanup of a product they reasonably trusted, at the
end of the day, it'll be our kids who pay
the price.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
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