A heating and cooling contractor has been fined after a teenage apprentice fell victim to a tortuous bullying campaign by colleagues.
Celsius Ballarat Pty Ltd walked away with a $10,000 penalty over the purported months-long abuse, which saw their 17-year-old employee targeted with several torture-like attacks.
The first-year HVAC trainee was allegedly subject to numerous physical assaults at the Bakery Hill-based factory, including being hung from a noose, placed in headlocks, shot at with a nail gun, having buckets of water and paint thrown on him, spat on, and jabbed in the leg with a drill while balancing on a ladder.
A WorkSafe Victoria investigation also claimed he was verbally abused with sexually harassing comments and taunts about his deceased biological father.
The Heating and Cooling contractor faced court last week, pleading guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe working environment under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
However, despite the slew of sadistic abuse, the Ballarat Magistrates’ Court recorded no conviction, instead opting for the HVAC service provider to be slapped with a $10,000 fine plus costs.
Instead, three of the business’s employees have faced criminal proceedings. Two have pleaded guilty, while the third was found guilty of two charges at a contested hearing and will be sentenced in August.
The continued abuse first came to light in February last year, with the apprentice going to the police when he was allegedly being lifted into a noose hanging from a roof strut by two of his colleagues.
“The apprentice states that he was unable to breathe for a few seconds,” court documents read.
Company directors left unaware
During the sentencing, Magistrate Letizia Torres said the company’s directors should have been “far more” aware of this abuse despite being absent when incidents occurred.
“(The victim) was vulnerable due to age and lack of workplace experience,” she said.
“He was required to work in different locations without support from the owners.”
“He was bullied relentlessly and reported it after the hanging when he could no longer endure it.”
Celsius Ballarat PTY LTD says it was completely unaware of the workplace bullying until investigations began and has since taken steps to introduce staff procedures to address any future inappropriate behaviour better.
This includes managerial systems and formal processes for employees to report abuse and harassment, with a formal procedure to address it.
However, Ms Torres said the young worker’s vulnerability should have been “obvious” to Celsius Ballarat PTY LTD’s directors.
“The company was small enough that they should have been far more aware of what was happening,” she said.
After the hearing, WorkSafe health and safety executive director Sam Jenkin said in a statement the behaviour of the apprentice’s co-workers was “inexcusable”.
“This young man should have been able to rely on his employers and co-workers for support and guidance, instead, he has suffered an absolutely harrowing introduction to working life,” he said.
“It is up to employers to ensure there are proper procedures in place to prevent inappropriate workplace behaviours and to put a stop to it where it does occur.”
