A woman died after falling from her sixth-floor balcony while clearing a blocked drain, an inquest heard.

The coroner called on Hackney Council to take action following the death of Sarah McGreevy, 37, who allegedly worked as a fashion designer, on June 16.

She suffered fatal injuries when she accidentally fell over the balcony of her eastern apartment London around 9.40am after climbing onto a wooden box to clear the pipe, the inquest heard, which ended on Wednesday.

Sarah Bourke, assistant coroner for north London, wrote in a report into preventing future deaths that a similar incident could happen if the council – the freeholder of the premises – did not take action.

Police were told that residents on the fifth and sixth floors of the block climbed onto their balconies to manually unblock pipes, especially after heavy rains, according to the report.

Officers who attended the scene found a wooden box on Ms McGreevy’s balcony and her mobile phone on a windowsill close to the drain, which had previously been fixed with “duct tape”.

Photographs taken of Ms McGreevy’s hands showed dirt around her fingernails “consistent with carrying out a cleaning task”.

“We found that it was more likely that Ms McGreevy had climbed onto the wooden box to clear the pipe and accidentally fell over the balcony,” Ms Bourke said.

“In the absence of remedial work, the practice of residents unblocking the pipes themselves is likely to continue.

“In my opinion, action should be taken to prevent future deaths, and I believe that you and your organization have the power to take such action.”

Hackney Council must respond to the report by January 1 next year.

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A council spokesman said: “This is a tragic case and our thoughts are with the friends and family of Sarah McGreevy.

“The coroner detailed a number of issues for us to consider in her report to prevent future deaths.

“We don’t expect someone living in a Hackney Council house to clean their own gutter and, like the coroner, we want to make sure that such an incident does not happen again.

“We will carefully review her report and respond as quickly as possible.”