Cornish postie took his own life while under investigation by Royal Mail

[datasaint]

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornw ... er-9514260

A postie who was sent home and told he was under investigation by Royal Mail never returned to work again, taking his own life later that day. Andrew Paul Salmon, 51, from Truro, was discovered dead in Daubuz Moors, near his home, last year.

The father-of-two, who had worked as a postman in and around Truro for around 15 years, had suffered from depression on and off since the death of his mum in 2013 and the breakdown of his marriage in 2014, an inquest held at Cornwall's Coroner's Court, in Truro, heard on Wednesday, August 28.

In 2014, Mr Salmon, who was born and raised in the city, was spared jail having locked his wife and mother of his children in the shed and assaulted her for allegedly mocking his mother’s passing. He told police he was depressed and unhappy his wife of 19 years had not been supportive enough after his mum died and the relationship broke down as a result.

A hearing held today to establish the circumstances of his death heard that Mr Salmon went to work as normal on August 15, 2023, but was sent home and told he was subject to an internal investigation by Royal Mail. He was asked to attend work the following morning at 7am for an informal meeting but never did.

A colleague and friend gave evidence saying they were "shocked" by his death and that they were not aware of any mental health concerns. His landlord, who lived with Mr Salmon leading up to his death, said he went to work as normal on the day of his death and was not aware of any mental health issues, adding that he never saw any change in the lead-up to Mr Salmon's death.

The landlord said Mr Salmon returned home by 9am that morning, saying work had messed his shifts up. He changed his clothes and left again 30 minutes later.

Mr Salmon's general practitioner confirmed a diagnosis of depression in 2015 and some suicidal behaviour in 2021 but said there was no longstanding history of mental health issues or suicidal thoughts. Cornwall Partnership Trust provided evidence detailing how he had suffered an attempted overdose and some self-harming in 2021.

He was assessed and explained to medics that he had fallen into a "dark place" but said he regretted it and strongly denied thoughts to end his own life. He was signposted to support.

In a statement his sister provided for the hearing, she told the coroner how she received a phone call following her brother's death from a male telling her his brother had been "temporarily suspended" from his job on the morning of his death. She said while she was not very familiar with her brother's health, and had not been in regular contact, he had never made suicidal comments to her.

One of his colleagues at Royal Mail provided some additional information as part of the investigation. He said: "Andrew had not actually been officially suspended, although when he arrived at work on Tuesday at roughly 7am an informal meeting was held between him, myself and his manager to ask him to account for coming back with unopened mail. This had come from an ongoing internal investigation over the last couple of months."

He said Andrew did not give an account so was asked to leave for 24 hours and return the following morning on Wednesday, August 16, with a start time of 7am. The colleague walked Mr Salmon off the premises and noted that he did not turn up the following morning.

He said had he been officially dismissed he would have received safeguarding plans covering topics like mental health, support and other information. "However, Andrew had not formally been dismissed on the Tuesday when he left work and this was not put into place to my knowledge," he added.

Royal Mail also responded to some questions from the coroner following Mr Salmon's death. It said: "Royal Mail has carried out a wider review of wellbeing support for all employees, has in place significantly enhanced wellbeing resources, including unlimited mental health appointments for all, it is currently rolling out a company-wide mental health programme." It said this is not as a result from this case specifically but from a "wider desire" to improve mental health for all across the business.

It added that no "individual support" was provided for Mr Salmon but it was "made clear that he had not been suspended" and that he should return to work the following day. Emma Hillson, assistant coroner for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly said: "I find on the evidence that I've heard today, on the balance of probability, that Andrew took his own life and intended to do so." She recorded a conclusion of suicide.

[datasaint]

More heavy handedness by a so called caring organisation.

[enskied]

Such a sad report.

There isn't any support from royal mail. Yes they have these wonderful things in place on paper to show what a caring and compassionate company we work for. Thing is they are not available for the frontline workers.

[Jb1969]

For “coming back with mail”
Thr Manager involved with this should hang his head with shame, but will probably get promoted!

[Basildon Bond]

...his manager to ask him to account for coming back with unopened mail

So by that statement should we infer that we should be opening mail now before bringing it back? Rubbish and unclear reporting.

The posters on the wall are just a token nod to cover RM's ar*e in the event of a court case. The lawyers, accountants, and marketing team will have had a meeting and decided to print up a few posters on mental health.

The accountant will have been waving his arms about the cost; the lawyers would be calming the accountants down and explaining the cost is nothing compared to the defence you could mount about "caring" because the posters are already in place. The marketing team wouldn't care why posters are required, just daydreaming of how pretty the posters will look on the walls around the country (the same walls with peeling paint).

[Barnacle]

Very little consideration is given to the mental health of posties. They’ve been blaming us for everything that is going wrong and then wonder why we crack over something seemingly small.

Having to come back with mail: the buck stops with the manager and it is time they felt some heat.

[fb1969]

While being critical of managers in this situation, my own experience is that colleagues can be just as bad. There were only 2 or 3 managers at my DO, but the attitude and comments of half a dozen or so posties in their little "circle" could have had similar effects. I got out before it became too much, others may not last that long.

[NWpostie]

A much respected work colleague killed himself over some specials irregularity, nothing stolen or missing he got called in over it, the next day he didn't turn up for work.

It caused some bad feelings.

[postslippete]

Very sad to read this, particularly for the children he leaves behind.

The investigation appears to be the trigger in this mans death but sometimes negative emotions get the best of people and that applies to posties, managers and anyone else regardless of whether they have suffered depression in the past. And honestly, if Royal Mail's company-wide mental health programme was that good, why have so many people left?

[Hitbox]

The Concern is that if you have mental health issues, it's treated by RM at 1st like you're cured when you should be given yearly health check-ups.

Long term support is massively benefited quite alot of people according to mutliple studies with mental health surveys

this sad story should have been a warning to RM for to take proper action when it comes to health of their staff but they don't care......