Asbestos found in Helsinki daycare yard after child brings pieces home

Asbestos-containing building debris was found in the yard of a Helsinki daycare after a child brought pieces home, Yle reported. The city says the material did not pose a health risk, but the child’s parent has questioned both the response time and the limited information shared with families.

The child, who attends Kamomilla daycare in Viikki, told their parent they had dug the rough-edged pieces out of a hole in the yard while looking for “treasures”. The parent and another daycare parent suspected the fragments might come from a Minerit construction board and could contain asbestos.

The parent, who is not named to protect the child’s health information, told the daycare and asked the child not to touch the pieces. The city informed parents in early November that samples contained asbestos, about three months after the initial report.

Helsinki says its construction services unit, Stara, did not find debris to sample during an initial visit in early autumn. The unit was asked to inspect again in late September, and samples were tested in October.

The daycare, which has about 80 children, was built in 2001. The city says an older building was previously demolished on the spot where the children play, and debris may have remained in the soil or arrived with fill material.

The yard has been raked and no further pieces have been found. Samples taken across the yard did not contain asbestos, but the city has begun additional checks, including digging test holes to see whether material is present deeper in the ground. It has not said when the section cordoned off for the work will reopen.

The city says the material had been in the soil for a long time and was damp, so it did not cause harm to children using the yard. The parent said the pieces found in the child’s pocket were dry. A city official said a health risk would require someone to break or rub dry pieces and then be exposed to asbestos dust over a long period.

The parent said the child may have been searching for “treasures” for as long as a year and asked for any exposure to be recorded in the children’s health records in case of future symptoms.