The government of New South Wales (Australia) has announced that, amid growing fears of asbestos exposure, they will search two thousand public schools to determine whether staff and students at each particular school are at risk for exposure to the deadly material.

According to an article posted on News.com Australia, the Department of Education and Training (DET) for New South Wales will begin to accept bids next month for a multi-million dollar contract to search every school building in the vicinity that was built prior to 1988. Though asbestos wasn’t officially banned in Australia until 2003, its use in public buildings had ceased by 1988.

Officials say that charts showing the location of asbestos materials in primary and secondary schools will be created for each school so that teachers, staff, or parents do not disturb the material by hammering or drilling into it.

It’s been reported that $3 million has been set aside for this project, but that figure does not include any remediation that might be deemed necessary after the search. Officials say that could cost in the tens of millions of dollars. The article notes that more than $19 million has already been spent in the last four years on asbestos safety measures at 287 schools across New South Wales.

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