Family distraught after apprentice dies in worksite employer Ai Group knew was unsafe
ABC News
15 Nov 2018
Dillon Wu's mother, sister, aunty cry at their dining table, while Dillon's dad stares at his phone.
Dillon Wu's family have been overcome with grief in the wake of his death.
"My son died for no reason, he didn't deserve to die like that."
Eyes bloodshot, Xiancong Wu's face is drained of colour. His wife, Guojuan, is slumped sobbing by his side, overcome by grief.
Just a few weeks have passed since their 20-year-old son, Dillon Wu, died while working at a Melbourne factory. He was found unconscious and alone at the bottom of a large metal tanker, overcome by fumes.
Dillon Wu was 20 years old when he died on his second week working as an apprentice.
Dillon had just started his dream job — a prestigious metal engineering apprenticeship with the training arm of The Australian Industry Group, one of the country's most powerful business groups.
"At the start of this job he was like, 'I'm going to do at least two years until I have enough money to buy my own house and everything, so my life can go a better way,'" said Dillon's sister, Xinlei Wu.
"Now he's not going to do any of those."
Now, Ai Group has been accused of sending him to work in a factory it knew was riddled with deadly safety hazards.
The lobby group, which represents some of Australia's biggest companies, was Dillon's direct employer. But his practical training began at Marshall Lethlean — a company in Melbourne's outer east that builds tanker trailers for transporting petrol, milk, chemicals and gas.
ABC Investigations has obtained a copy of a safety audit Ai Group carried out at Marshall Lethlean's factory as part of a WorkSafe Victoria initiative in August, a month before Dillon was deployed.
The report catalogued a litany of serious hazards, including the factory's lack of procedures for staff working in confined spaces, which it categorised under "High/Significant Risk, Almost Certain likelihood, Serious consequence".
Despite Ai Group identifying 11 high-priority safety hazards in a report delivered to Marshall Lethlean on August 24, its training arm sent Dillon Wu to begin his apprenticeship at the factory a month later.
A large silver tank with a ladder leading into it, with a brightly lit silver factory in the background.
Dillon Wu was found alone and unconscious inside this tank by his co-workers at Marshall Lethlean.
But Ai Group's chief executive, Innes Willox, defended his organisation and said the safety hazards outlined in the report would be common in most workplaces.
"These were issues that were identified more broadly and were not found or seen to be insurmountable, but needed work done and that would be done over time," Mr Willox said.
"All our indications were and continue to be that it was a safe place of work, but what occurred was a terrible tragedy, the details of which we don't know."
On October 4, Dillon died while working in a confined space.
By the time his family were allowed to see him later that day, his body was cold.
"He was all pale. His ears were purple. He went through lots of suffocation," said Xinlei Wu.
"He definitely suffered."
Dillon Wu's mother, wearing a black top, rests her head on a kitchen table, as a separate hand mops a tear off her eyes.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, which represents workers at the factory, said Marshall Lethlean made no changes to its safety procedures after the Ai Group audit.
"It's quite disturbing to know that not only the host employer knew about it, but that the direct employer knew about it," said Tony Mavromatis, the Victorian secretary of AMWU.
"We have these rules and regulations for a reason and it's just shameful what has happened here."
WorkSafe Victoria is yet to complete its investigation, so the exact circumstances of his death have not been officially confirmed.
Dillon's co-workers said he was working inside the tank alone, in breach of safety regulations, when he suffocated on argon gas accidentally released from a welding device.
"He's not supposed to be working alone inside the tank like that," Xinlei Wu said.
"He should have someone looking after him all the time.