QBCC worker dies by suicide months after whistleblower speaks out over huge workload

A staff member has died by suicide at an embattled government department just a year after a whistleblower warned of a culture of toxicity and overwork.

EXCLUSIVE

A staff member has died by suicide at an embattled government department just a year after a whistleblower warned of mental health risks because of a culture of toxicity and overwork.

News.com.au can reveal that an employee at the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) tragically took her own life at the end of last year.

The woman’s family confirmed she had died by suicide but did not wish to be involved in an article so news.com.au has chosen not to name her.

Her funeral was held in December. She had been a Queensland civil servant for a long time and had worked in Human Resources for more than two years at the QBCC, a statutory government body that regulates the state’s building sector.

A colleague of hers told news.com.au that they were speaking out to “get justice” for their friend.

“It won’t bring (her) back, but something needs to change,” the current employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

The insider said they understood the now deceased worker had complained about “excessive workloads” and “high levels of psychosocial stress”.

They alleged the worker was “sidelined” by being put on a “special project” which is essentially a role “with no responsibilities or meaningful work”. The idea was to “wait it out until the employee resigns, even if it takes a year”. They said they believed the woman lasted six months before she resigned and then took her own life.

The whistleblower alleged this is a “common strategy” to handle staff at the QBCC.

A worker has died at Queensland’s state building regulator.

Customers of collapsed builder Porter Davis gather in Brisbane CBD in 2023. The QBCC has been handling a record number of cases in the last several years as building companies fall like dominoes and customers apply for money for the work still left to be completed. Picture: Richard Walker

News.com.au understands the employee submitted a WorkCover claim about her treatment before she ended her life.

It’s also understood someone else made a complaint about her treatment to the Office of Industrial Relations after learning of her suicide.

A QBCC spokesperson said in a statement to news.com.au “We are deeply saddened by this tragic news of the passing of a former colleague of the QBCC. We take the health and wellbeing of our people very seriously.

“We extend our deepest sympathy to our former colleague’s family, friends and loved ones during this difficult time.

“We do not propose to comment further.”

The QBCC came under fire last year from a staff member who claimed it has a toxic working culture and warned that some workers were on the brink of mental breakdowns and possibly even suicide.

“They (the QBCC) do not care about people,” Amber*, a single mother in her 30s, told news.com.au at the time. “Nothing will happen until someone takes their life.”

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A leaked survey from the QBCC last year raised concerns about workers’ mental wellbeing.

A leaked internal QBCC staff survey from last year, taken by 42 staff in Amber’s assessment officer team, revealed some scathing results.

Nine people said they had experienced workplace bullying, two said “yes” to sexual harassment, while three responded “yes” to workplace violence and aggression.

QBCC staff rated the organisation at less than 50 per cent for the general workload and for wellbeing support.

Of that, 33 per cent of staff said they weren’t proud to tell others they worked for the organisation, while 23 per cent said they wouldn’t recommend working there to anyone.

The QBCC identified work demands as one of their main areas of improvement.

Indeed, the whistleblower, Amber, said that she had over 100 cases on the go at her peak, and that she would be assigned cases if she was on sick leave or annual leave.

One time she worked when she had both Covid-19 and an eye infection and on another occasion, Amber said she worked until 3am because she was about to go on leave and if she didn’t do that to catch up on her work she would be told off.

Exhausted, the next day she had a car crash and had to write off the car, and also suffered from whiplash.

News.com.au first raised concerns about QBCC staff last year.

Amber said her workload was insane, with “no time to double check” anything, in turn forcing her to make rushed decisions which financially devastated customers.

Only three months into the job, Amber said she was responsible for more than 100 cases, while admitting: “I had no idea what I was doing”.

“Unexperienced temporary staff are making a decision on a claim when we’re not lawyers,” she said. “We’re making serious decisions on someone else’s major asset. And we’re not qualified.

“I hate that customers think it’s us. We’re genuinely worried about them. We’re just snowed under, it’s impossible to keep on top of things.”

A QBCC spokesperson said at the time they had hired 157 new staff since June last year amid growing demand and to “prioritise … the wellbeing of our people”.

News.com.au was told a lot of people want to leave the QBCC.

A QBCC worker tragically took their own life at the end of last year.

News.com.au understands the QBCC launched an internal review following this website’s articles last year but several staff have since accused the review of failing to change anything claiming it amounted to lip service.

The QBCC at the time rejected the claims and said in a statement in August, “The QBCC senior leadership team take our responsibilities to care for our people seriously, and we have worked very hard with them to improve our culture, processes and systems. Their wellbeing is paramount to us.”

In October last year, Queenslanders elected a Liberal National government headed by David Crisafulli, who announced they would be putting in place a new QBCC Commissioner.

The government said it was part of a change to “fix” and “reform” the organisation in a “full scale transformation” focusing on consumers, transparency and trust.

Angelo Lambrinos is the new commissioner and CEO of the QBCC and started in his new role earlier this month.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has vowed to transform the QBCC. Picture: NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

The tragic death of the QBCC employee follows two workers at the NSW and Victorian equivalents also dying by suicide recently, as workloads pile up amid a record high of building companies going insolvent.

News.com.au earlier revealed that an employee at the Building Commission NSW had killed themself just before Christmas.

Meanwhile, a staff member at the Victorian regulator, the Victorian Building Authority (VBA), took his own life in May 2022.

Rob Karkut, 55, a building inspector, killed himself because he felt overwhelmed with pressure to meet ambitious targets, according to his family.

The VBA’s board was dissolved last year in response and his suicide led to two independent inquiries into the toxic workplace.

The regulator was charged with recklessly engaging in conduct that placed another person at a workplace in danger of serious injury and for failing to provide or maintain a workplace that was safe and without risks to health.

The former charge was dropped. The VBA is due in the County Court on June 11 on the latter charge for a directions hearing.

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Originally published as QBCC worker dies by suicide months after whistleblower speaks out over huge workload