457 visor workers: employer prosecuted

AMWU
Jun 26, 2008

The employer of two Chinese 457 visa workers who were forced to work with broken hands on unsafe equipment is being prosecuted by WorkCover.

The two workers had sustained injuries while working and were forced back to work while their hands were in plaster, despite directions from their doctor not to do so.

The cases of Zi Hong Fu and Cheng Cai received public attention after they sought help from the AMWU in 2006.

National Secretary Dave Oliver says the union came to the assistance of the workers and notified WorkCover.

“It was really shocking when we heard what the two workers were made to endure,” he said.

The company, Lakeside Packaging, had given the workers jobs that still required them to use both hands, including working on their boss's home erecting steel beams while their hands were in plaster.

Just weeks after breaking a wrist falling off a ladder while performing unqualified electrical work, Mr Fu had to erect scaffolding on the un-railed factory roof, despite never having done it before.

Broadmeadows Magistrates' Court heard that while drilling into 8mm thick metal plates with his unbroken left hand using a two-handed drill - supported between his chin and right hand - he broke his left wrist.

Ten days later, he was told to come back to work at Lakeside Packaging to disassemble a machine while his left arm was still encased in plaster.

He was given a letter at the end of the day warning him of his job performance. Mr Fu, 50, was in so much pain he returned to hospital, where doctors gave him another three weeks of sick leave.

When he returned with his left arm in plaster and right arm in a splint, his boss Menol (Tom) Najdovski ordered him to do maintenance work on his property, including operating a drill and cutting steel.

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