Wheelchair user barred from balcony throughout summer after Vantaa accident

Markus Kettunen, who uses a wheelchair, has been unable to use his balcony since a person fell through the railing of another apartment in a building in Tikkurila, Vantaa, on Midsummer Eve, Yle reports.

Following the accident, all balconies in the apartment building were closed. They will remain out of use until inspections have been completed and their safety confirmed, according to Reetta Räsänen, property director at Lähi-Tapiola’s property management division, which owns the building.

The inspections are expected to be completed by the end of October, Räsänen told Yle by email. The usage bans will be lifted separately for each property as inspections are completed and resident safety is verified.

Heat made conditions difficult

The handle has been removed from the balcony door in Kettunen’s apartment, so he cannot open it. During hot weather, the apartment could only be ventilated through two small windows.

“It has been unpleasant. The air circulates poorly in this apartment, and the sun shines on the same wall all day,” Kettunen told Yle in a message.

Kettunen has spent more time outdoors this summer, although he previously spent more time on the balcony. He does not know when he will be able to use it again.

He said he has not yet received any rent reductions. He has been promised compensation retroactively for the period during which the balconies have been unavailable.

The person who died after falling through the balcony railing in Tikkurila was a man aged about 30. The accident was probably caused by the fittings holding the balcony glass in place.

Balcony safety under scrutiny

After the Tikkurila accident, building control authorities in the Helsinki metropolitan area urged housing companies and other building owners to check the safety of balconies and terraces where glass structures had been used as fall protection.

Building owners were also asked to consider closing the balconies and terraces until the safety of their railings had been confirmed.

Rental housing companies Lumo and Sato have said they will inspect all their glass balconies. Both companies have about 10,000 such balconies.

Experts interviewed by Yle said the safety of all balconies with glass railings built before 2023 should be inspected.

Earlier this year, the Safety Investigation Authority warned against using cement fibre boards as balcony fall protection. Last September, a woman died after falling through a board in a fifth-floor balcony railing in Helsinki.