Prosecutor will not press charges in Tikkurila balcony accident

A young woman fell from the seventh floor of an apartment building in 2023 and died. Two people involved in the balcony design were suspected of manslaughter.

The prosecutor will not press charges over a balcony accident that occurred in Tikkurila, Vantaa, in March 2023. A young woman fell onto the balcony glass, and the glass shattered. As a result, the woman fell from the seventh-floor balcony of an apartment building and died.

During the trial, two people involved in the design of the balcony structures were suspected of manslaughter.

According to the prosecutor, the extensive preliminary investigation was unable to determine with sufficient certainty the exact cause of the balcony railing structure and the glass breakage. There was also insufficient evidence that the balcony railing solution was in violation of the laws or regulations of the time.

The apartment building located on Unikkotie in Tikkurila was completed in the fall of 2020. According to the prosecutor, the structural solution used in the building’s balconies had been widely accepted in various construction sites before the accident.

Several building design and structural testing professionals were consulted as experts in the matter, whose views on both the guidelines and the building technical requirements differed, the prosecutor said.

“The failure of the structure in this case could have been due to numerous factors that cannot be determined with certainty in the preliminary investigation. For example, it cannot be ruled out that the glass was subjected to a significantly higher pressure than used in the glass durability tests when the human body leaned against the glass as a result of a possible strong wobble. It cannot be ruled out, for example, that the glass or the fastening structures had some manufacturing defect that weakened them or, for example, damage that occurred during the installation phase,” wrote State Prosecutor Mika Appelsin in his decisions not to prosecute.

According to the prosecutor, in the case of manslaughter, it would have been necessary to first prove that the incident involved a violation of some law, regulation or mandatory instruction related to construction safety. In addition, the act or omission would have had to have a sufficient causal connection to the woman’s death.

“Since it has not been possible to prove that the suspects acted in violation of the regulations, it is also not possible to prove any negligence on their part that would be causally linked to the death caused. There is therefore insufficient evidence in the case of unlawful action or otherwise intentional or negligent conduct”, so I will not press charges.

The prosecutor emphasized that in his decisions he does not take a position on whether the provisions concerning construction and, for example, the safety of balcony railing structures or the responsibility of the builder and the authorities to supervise are sufficient to guarantee the safety of building structures.

After the accident, the Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency (Tukes) announced that it had initiated an extensive investigation into the safety of balcony railing systems.

The preliminary investigation also investigated the reasons that led to the woman’s fall. According to the prosecutor, the investigation found no evidence that any other person had contributed to the woman staggering against the balcony glass or that the staggering itself was related to a crime.