Tom McDonald, a Hazardous materials specialist and asbestos assessor from Safe Work and Environments, was asked to speak at Wednesday's council meeting regarding the Hume Park issue. 

Mr McDonald was contacted by the Yass Valley Council and was briefed on the background of the site. He found asbestos in the form of cement fragments and used in the infill; the extent of asbestos wasn't determined at the time. 

He investigated the five areas of concern; the embankments, car park area and other pockets. 

"It was intrusive soil under investigation, as well as air monitoring. We used an excavator and marked out each area of environmental concern quite comprehensively,” Mr McDonald said. 

The soil was tested to the depth of a metre, according to the legal standards; deeming that with natural soil anything below a metre was not a safety concern. 

The process took over two days. 

“The main error of concern... was in an embankment or built up garden area, opposite a cabin. There were scattered ruminant fragments on top of the site,” he said.

The results were analysed by a lab and the recommendations were to finish up the asbestos cleanup by the report. 

“Chicken picking the fragments is  the general rule of thumb, you shouldn't be finding fragments as it is a human health hazard. "Any area where you can pick up and handle it, you want to avoid. The area where we found relatively high fragments, you would increase the risk to health by any form of removal process,” he said.  

“Given this particular concentration and form of asbestos, which is non-friable, there was no reason to remove it, but rather cap it."

Mr McDonald recommended that the site should be under management of an asbestos firm and that no further cross contamination can happen and no work that would expose workers to asbestos should be undertaken. 

Councilor Jasmin Jones questioned whether the council should be closing the park. Mr McDonald stated that it wasn’t necessary as the material was non-friable. 

“There will be air monitoring, but will be a good idea to limit work around the area and keep it as a low site usage,” he said.

Councillor Geoff Frost questioned whether an emu pick will get the larger pieces. 

“How confident are you that the smaller pieces will be broken down?” Cr Frost said. 

Mr McDonald validated the competency of the steps in the removal project. 

“An assessor goes over it. The critical step is getting the assessment plan in place. It's not realistic for it to be a completely asbestos free site, but it can be managed. You can have a helpful plan but if it's not followed and set aside, of course there could be problems."

He said the preferable option was to dig it up and dispose of it, however, that would be costly and involve closing the park.