Celsius Ballarat (‘Celsius’), a Bakery Hill heating and cooling company with 7-8 employees, last week pleaded guilty to breaching S21(1) & 21(2)(a) of the OHS Act over ongoing incidents of bullying and occupational violence towards a 1st year apprentice, including a hanging incident involving a noose. The offender pleaded guilty and was without conviction sentenced to pay a fine of $10,000 and $3,227 costs. It appears that if there had not been a guilty plea, Celsius would have been fined $20,000 without conviction.
In February 2023, Victoria Police notified WorkSafe of allegations of ongoing incidents involving a 1st year apprentice. It was found that the apprentice was subjected to a number of incidents, including:
- Physical assaults (including being spat on, headlocks, having hair grabbed and scuffed or manhandled, being hit, being shot at with a nail gun, having things thrown at him, being hung from a noose).
- Inappropriate workplace behaviours including: sexually harassing comments and actions such as being hit on the groin area by fellow workers along with sexually charged comments.
- Other incidents of bullying including: having bucket of water mixed with paint thrown over the apprentice during a cold day onsite, having hair/clothes/body spray painted numerous times, cutting hair, verbally abused and/or torn down for making mistakes, being poked with a drill in the groin numerous times while on a ladder.
The apprentice was too frightened to report these behaviours to the directors but he went to Victoria Police following the incident where he was hung from a noose (on February 15, 2023). Worksafe determined that processes and procedures at the workplace were inadequate. For example: the employer had no comprehensive policy and procedure for the management and prevention of inappropriate behaviours, no formalised process for employees to report issues/allegations, no risk control measures in place, and more.
Source: WorkSafe Prosecutions Result Summaries