‘I did this because of work’
WOMAN’S SUICIDE AFTER STRESS OVER OFFICE DESK MOVE
Stress at work led a Kent County Council employee to take her own life, an inquest heard.
Anne Tribe had battled depression and previously tried to commit suicide, but it was the stress of her working environment that was the final straw.
She was unable to cope with a desk change-around at her Maidstone office and took an overdose. Next to her body lay a note which simply said: “I have done this because of work.”
Speaking after the inquest, the 46-year-old’s sister Yvonne Turner said: “Our sister died over a desk. It is so incredibly sad and it’s unbearable to deal with. We will continue to push for answers and we want an apology. If we don’t do this, it will happen to someone else.”
In August last year popular head teacher Mark Geadah was found hanged at home after suffering depression because of stress at work.
A formal complaint has been made against Kent County Council after one of its employees committed suicide due to stress at work.
Anne Tribe, who was an administration officer for the authority for more than 15 years, was found dead at home in January.
She had taken an overdose of anti-depressants after a turbulent period at work, in which she had been unable to cope with changes in her office at County Hall, Maidstone.
A suicide note found next to her body said: “I have done this because of work”.
At an inquest into the 46-yearold’s death, mid Kent and Medway coroner Patricia Harding heard she suffered two brain haemorrhages – one in 2005 and a second in 2012 – which left her with severe mental fatigue.
Occupational health therapists said she needed a desk at the edge of the office and against a wall, to minimise the effects of it.
This was provided, but last June Miss Tribe took an overdose after the breakdown of her marriage.
In the following months, she suffered from severe depression.
A statement read at Maidstone’s Archbishop’s Palace on Wednesday, from one of her four sisters, Yvonne Turner, said on returning to work her sister’s job role had changed and her desk was in the middle of the office.
She said: “Anne said she involved Unison as she was concerned about the impact of the move on her mental fatigue. She felt so stressed she had to take a further six weeks off.”
During this time the court heard Miss Tribe seemed extremely positive and was planning for the future. Miss Turner said by the November, her sister’s demeanour drastically improved and it was as if “she could see the light at the end of a dark tunnel”.
However, when she returned to her office in January, her mental fatigue worsened.
Family members told the coroner Unison representatives believed the seating position and strain put on Miss Tribe was unacceptable.
The court heard she was given the option to wear headphones while working or move to a separate room to reduce the aggravating factors.
But Miss Tribe, of First Avenue, Gillingham, told her family she was exhausted and could not deal with it any more.
More than 200 different tablets were found at her home and a toxicology report revealed fatal levels of anti-depressants in her blood. Mrs Harding recorded a verdict of suicide.
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