A coroner has called on Hackney Council to take action to prevent future deaths after a woman died after falling from a balcony while clearing a blocked drain.

Sarah McGreevy fell from the balcony of her sixth-floor flat in Hackney, east London, on June 16 at around 09:40 BST.

The 37-year-old suffered fatal injuries and an inquest, which concluded on Wednesday, determined the medical cause of death was multiple injuries, trauma and a fall from a height.

The council offered its condolences to Ms McGreevy’s family and said it would review the coroner’s report and respond as “as quickly as possible”.

Sarah Bourke, deputy coroner for central North London, highlighted concerns that a similar incident could happen if action is not taken in a report on preventing future deaths sent to Hackney Council – the freehold of the premises.

According to the report, police officers came to the scene after Ms McGreevy fell and found a wooden box on the balcony and her mobile phone on a window ledge near the balcony, close to a drain pipe.

The pipe had previously been repaired with “resistant tape”.

Police were told of residents on the fifth and sixth floors of the property climbing onto their balconies to manually unblock pipes, particularly after heavy rains, according to the report.

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.

She added: “During the course of the investigation, the evidence revealed issues of concern.

“In my view, there is a risk that further deaths will occur if action is not taken.”

Ms Bourke raised concerns that several residents had reported people climbing onto balconies to clear blocked pipes and that the tenant said he was not aware of any work on the gutter or downspouts following Ms McGreevy’s death.

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

She said the council should take action to “prevent future deaths”.

Hackney Council has until January 1 to respond to the report.

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

“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 an incident like this doesn’t happen again.”