A woman died after falling from her sixth-floor balcony while she was clearing a blocked drainpipe, an inquest has heard.
The coroner has urged Hackney Council to take action following the death of Sarah McGreevy, 37, who reportedly worked as a fashion designer, on 16 June.
She suffered fatal injuries when she accidentally fell over the balcony of her flat in east London at around 9.40am after climbing onto a wooden box to clear the pipe, the inquest, which finished on Wednesday, heard.
Sarah Bourke, an assistant coroner for inner north London, wrote in a prevention of future deaths report that a similar incident could occur if action is not taken by the council – the freeholder of the premises.
Police were told residents on the fifth and sixth floors of the block of flats climbed onto their balconies to manually unblock pipes, especially after heavy rain, according to the report.
Officers who went to the scene found a wooden box on Ms McGreevy’s balcony and her mobile phone on a window ledge close to the drainpipe, which had previously been repaired with “heavy duty tape”.
Photographs taken of Ms McGreevy’s hands showed dirt around her fingernails “consistent with undertaking a cleaning task”.
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“I found that it was more likely than not that Ms McGreevy had climbed onto the wooden box to clear the pipe and had accidentally fallen over the balcony,” Ms Bourke said.
“In the absence of remedial works, the practice of residents unblocking pipes themselves is likely to continue.
“In my opinion, action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe you and your organisation have the power to take such action.”
Hackney Council must respond to the report by 1 January next year.
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A council spokesperson said: “This is a tragic case and our thoughts are with the friends and family of Sarah McGreevy.
“The coroner has detailed a number of issues for us to consider in her prevention of future deaths report.
“We do not expect anyone living in a Hackney Council home to clean their own guttering and, like the coroner, we want to ensure an incident like this doesn’t happen again.
“We will be carefully going through her report and responding as quickly as possible.”
