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Royal Mail has today insisted it is doing everything it can to protect its staff and customers after a postman who felt ‘unprotected’ from Covid-19 killed himself.
Darren Beech was found dead by his two brothers at his Kidsgrove home on May 17 after struggling during coronavirus lockdown.
An inquest into his death at Stoke’s civic centre heard Darren had told his brother Brian Beech that he felt he was not adequately protected from Covid-19 while working at the Kidsgrove delivery office.
The 50-year-old was also feeling anxious about the state of his home, on Whitehill Road, and his finances.
Now Royal Mail says Darren was a much-valued member of the team and the unit had put in place a range of measures to protect their customers and colleagues.
A spokesman said: “Everyone at Kidsgrove delivery office was deeply shocked and saddened by our colleague’s death.
“He will be sorely missed by all his colleagues and friends at Kidsgrove. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this very sad time.
“Throughout this crisis, every decision we make puts the health of our people and customers first. The unit had put in place a range of preventive measures to protect both our customers and our colleagues.
“As well as encouraging good hand hygiene, standard ways of working have been revised to ensure that colleagues stay two metres apart at all times.
“All staff have been briefed about the social distancing measures jointly agreed by local management and the CWU. This has been supplemented with visible reminders such as posters and one-way floor markings.
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“In addition there is only one person permitted in a Royal Mail delivery vehicle at any one time. In order to protect further both our people and customers, we have made a series of adjustments to our parcel handling procedures.
“The vast majority of mail can be posted safely through the letterbox without any interaction with the customer at all. We are temporarily not handing over our hand-held devices to customers to capture signatures.
“To further highlight the importance of mental wellbeing, the unit deployed a mental health roadshow visiting 10 sites in the area which has been exceptionally well received by those in attendance.”
