During the installation of air conditioning units in Queensland state schools under the government’s Cooler Schools program in 2019, there were 19 separate incidents of asbestos exposure and disturbances.
In November of 2019 at Sunnybank State High School contractors disturbed asbestos and it took the Education Department seventeen days to dispatch a clean-up crew to the site.
A teacher at the school reported the asbestos disturbance 3 times before the report was escalated to the Education Department, which was then immediately referred to Workplace Health and Safety.