Hong Kong woman falls to death while cleaning 18th floor window

Domestic workers in Hong Kong cannot be asked to clean the outside of any window above ground level, as per law

This picture taken on 1 March 2023 in Hong Kong, said to be the world’s most skyscraper-laden metropolis, shows a scaffolder standing on bamboo scaffolding (AFP via Getty Images)

A 38-year-old domestic worker in Hong Kong fell to her death from the 18th floor of an apartment building while cleaning windows.

The unnamed woman, identified as Filipino by birth, was found lying unconscious on the podium of the seventh floor of the building in Cheung Sha Wan in Hong Kong on Monday.

Reports said she was rushed to the Caritas Medical Centre, the nearest hospital in Cheung Sha Wan, where she died.

It was not clear if the window the domestic worker was cleaning when she fell had a safety grille or not.

An unidentified source familiar with the incident was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post that “an initial investigation suggests the helper lost her balance and accidentally fell off the building while cleaning windows in her own bedroom”.

According to law, domestic workers in Hong Kong – known to be teeming with skyscrapers – cannot be asked to clean the outside of any window above ground level unless there is a safety grille attached.

In 2017, Hong Kong’s government introduced the law after a spate of incidents of domestic workers falling to their deaths while cleaning windows.

According to this legislation, all hired domestic help could not be asked to clean the outside of any window above ground level, unless the opening was fitted with a secured grille, and no part of their body except for their arms should extend beyond the ledge.

Police have, so far, not found anything suspicious in the Monday incident and an investigation is ongoing.

Betty Yung Ma Shan-yee, chairperson of the Hong Kong Employers of Overseas Domestic Helpers Association, was quoted in local media as saying that the number of such accidents had dropped after the ban came into effect in 2017.