Investigators have narrowed in on the source of asbestos found in garden beds at two Canberra schools earlier this year, and have begun testing other sites.
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Work Safety commissioner Greg Jones said results had come back negative for more asbestos so far, though testing was continuing at a number of areas supplied by the same "likely landscaper".
As an intensive operation to remove the asbestos got underway over the school holidays, investigators began digging through 10 years worth of records to find the material's source.
This month, Mr Jones told an ACT Assembly hearing that the material had likely been supplied to the school in 2011 or 2012.
"We’ve identified the most likely landscaper ... and we're currently conducting some sampling of other material that was delivered to other areas, not schools, at about that same time," he said.
When pressed by Canberra Liberal leader Alistair Coe regarding when WorkSafe was notified, Mr Jones said the Education Directorate had organised its own assessor to test the material and informed him within "something like two days".
"The education directorate did all the right things as far as we're concerned," he said.
Mr Coe questioned whether, under the law, the directorate should have informed WorkSafe as soon as the asbestos was suspected at the school but a WorkSafe spokeswoman later told The Canberra Times the watchdog was satisfied with the government's response.
"A suspected asbestos find is not necessarily a notifiable incident," she said.
"Other factors need to be taken into consideration."
Hundreds of tonnes of garden bed fill had now been removed from the Harrison School and a safety clearance issued for the site.
Principal Jason Holmes said while the asbestos discovery had been a scare, the disruption to the school had been limited thanks to the work of the directorate, WorkSafe and the school parents' group. The school recently celebrated its 10th birthday and was now busy planning fresh landscaping to replace the old garden beds.
"We thought about putting [the celebration] off but we thought 'it should be business as usual', and this term we've come back to school and it is," Mr Holmes said.
The school had called in an asbestos assessor after a parent raised the alarm about material in the garden beds, and the directorate then helped coordinate with WorkSafe.
It is still not clear if the asbestos found at the neighbouring Mother Teresa school, which has also been safely removed, is connected to the bonded material found at Harrison.
Assessor John Robson, who tested the samples, has previously said the material at Harrison was abestos cement sheeting, which had been crushed up and scattered in low quantities throughout the garden bed fill.
"It came from a recycling plant," he said.
Non-friable or bonded asbestos - meaning it cannot be pulverised, crumbled or reduced to power by hand - does not typically release fibres.
If breathed in, asbestos fibres can lead to a number of serious diseases, including cancer, but ACT chief health officer Paul Kelly has deemed the risk to be extremely low.
WorkSafe ACT did not provide further detail about the "range of other sites" now being tested but said investigations into the supply chain behind the asbestos were continuing.
