A Victorian building apprentice faced "appalling" bullying by his boss and colleagues who made him swallow methylated spirits, held hot drill-bits to his skin and scraped sandpaper over his face.

These abuses were just some of the systematic torment the teenager endured for more than two years at Geelong-based construction company Quality Carpentry and Building Maintenance.

A teen apprentice tells a Geelong court of the psychological torment he endured at work. Credit:Erin Jonasson

Since starting employment with the company's owner, Wayne Allan Dennert, at the age of 16, the apprentice suffered verbal, physical and psychological bullying that would result in severe emotional trauma.

A slew of serious instances of bullying – which were "encouraged" and "actively participated in" by Mr Dennert – included co-workers putting a live mouse down the apprentice's shirt, spraying liquid nails in his hair and ripping his work shorts.