I just measured my balcony railing height. It is 82 cm. Visitors have commented about it being on the low and thus dangerous side.

Yup.

As a guide the minimum top rail height for scaffolding and fall protection for construction sites in the UK is 910mm.

150 / 470 / 910 (toe board / mid-rail / top rail).

Useful information for anyone erecting scaffolding in the UK.

Why the endless snide comments on here? Why? Personality disorder?

I posted it as a comparison, it's HSE guidance.

Where does it say anywhere that he was drunk?

It doesn,t ,but the fact remains that this city is partyland, as the song says, One night in Bangkok can make a hard man crumble, or is it humble. Either way its a city to get down, with the get down.

Can't help but think someone will try to tie this incident with the recent incident in India with the PM's wife there.

what incident?

I think a guy fell over a balcony at the shangri-la hotel

UPDATE:

Thai police rule out murder in death of Tata Motors' manager

BANGKOK: -- Thai police on Monday eliminated murder as the cause of death of Tata Motors' Managing Director Karl Slym, who fell from the 22nd floor of a Bangkok hotel over the weekend.

"We can rule out murder in this case," said Police Lieutenant Somyot Boonyakeow.

"We are still investigating his death."

Slym, 51, fell early Sunday morning from the 22nd storey of the Shangri-la Hotel, Somyot confirmed.

-- The Nation 2014-01-27

surprise! surprise !

This is the very reason why so many foreigners die here. What better place to bump off a farang where the police will immediately rule out homicide unless theres an axe sticking out of its head.

Cops here are lazy. No money involved ? then its back to the card game,

Sounds like someone maybe tried to put the pen in his hand to resign or told to take a leap of faith.

He was in Bangkok with his wife. He attended a Board of Directors meeting. Perhaps he was given some news at the meeting that contributed to the incident. It's not like that has never happened before.

"Gee thanks Bloggins for all the effort you've put into helping us turn the corner and become profitable again, but I have to promote my secretary's underachieving, unqualified brother or she's going to "cut me off", so I'm giving him your job. Too bad you left that other high-paying job to come work for me eh !"

What's more dangerous, being in a hotel, or being on it's perimeter?

This is what balconies look like at Shangri la BKK.

Hmm

This i certainly higher than most balcolny railings ,hard to just "fall" over these ,unless he was standing on the concrete part.

A fall?

There's a helluva lot of these ' unfortunate accidents ' and Pattaya must hold the world record.

Try reading before posting - nothing to do with Pattaya

Try seeing the connections between suspicious falls that occur here in droves, the police incompetence, and all despite most of these occurring at place where the railing follows international standars. You don't fall unless you are climbing, intending to jump, or getting a running start and jumping.

It is as effective as poisoning someone in the days when coroners couldn't detect it so easily.

Wonder if we'll start seeing key politicians jumping over the balcony band wagon soon, with all the political heat going on here.

UPDATE:

Thai police rule out murder in death of Tata Motors' manager

BANGKOK: -- Thai police on Monday eliminated murder as the cause of death of Tata Motors' Managing Director Karl Slym, who fell from the 22nd floor of a Bangkok hotel over the weekend.

"We can rule out murder in this case," said Police Lieutenant Somyot Boonyakeow.

"We are still investigating his death."

Slym, 51, fell early Sunday morning from the 22nd storey of the Shangri-la Hotel, Somyot confirmed.

-- The Nation 2014-01-27

How can something be ruled out, if they are still investigating?

...if you're paid enough as a Thai cop, you can rule out anything....for example: rich kids causing others death, chalerm's boys, perjury by Yingluck...on down the long list it goes.

They ought to have Nicholas Cage come back & do a sequel: Balcony Dangerous, based on the tips & tricks hit-men use to toss their master's opposition over the railing. That'd be more like a docu/shockumentary rather than Hollywood exaggeration, or a spoof on the Thai original

Someone was after his job,Is that salary for real ?

I think they are Company profits being quoted in these articles. No doubt he would have been on an excellent salary package.

"“Karl was beginning to make long-term changes at Tata Motors,” Vikas Sehgal, managing director for the automotive sector at Rothschild & Sons in London, said in a telephone interview. “His loss will be felt deeply by Tata Motors.”

I never like reading about Rothchilds' involvement in these mysterious types of deaths.

Someone was after his job,Is that salary for real ?

I think they are Company profits being quoted in these articles. No doubt he would have been on an excellent salary package.

"“Karl was beginning to make long-term changes at Tata Motors,” Vikas Sehgal, managing director for the automotive sector at Rothschild & Sons in London, said in a telephone interview. “His loss will be felt deeply by Tata Motors.”

I never like reading about Rothchilds' involvement in these mysterious types of deaths.

I don't much care to hear about anything that swindling Mafia family has ever done. If their judgement day comes, the world will be a better and much richer quality world (by an estimated 200-400 trillion). They dwarf the acts of Thai mafia, and even of Thaksin!

Even if you are drunk, you wouldn't fall from these balconies - instincts are stronger.

Unless you are being pushed.

If you do a simple free body diagram (remember physics?), you can see that it's very possible to lean over and get your center of gravity out over the railing, and the only thing keeping you from falling is the static friction between your feet and the floor.

If that static friction changes due to sand, dirt, leaves, or water, over you'd go.

I found that out when I leaned over my own apartment balcony to watch 2 birds attacking a 3rd on the patio below mine. It didn't dawn on me at first because I'm from nanny land where those "accidents looking for a victim" are engineered and regulated out of our life experiences.

Had my feet slipped, I was going over. Stone cold sober, middle of the day, with no help from anyone.

RIP

The Thai press (Daily News) reports that a suicide note was found in the room, written in English, talking about family problems. His wife is in a state of shock, unable to give evidence.

Tata Motors MD left 'suicide note': Thai police

BANGKOK, January 27, 2014 (AFP) - A top executive of India's Tata Motors who plunged from the 22nd floor of an upscale Bangkok hotel left an apparent suicide note, Thai police said Monday.

Tata Motors managing director Karl Slym, 51, died early Sunday at the Shangri-La Hotel in the Thai capital where he was attending a board meeting, the company has confirmed.

"Initially, we can only assume that he committed suicide", Thai Police Lieutenant Somyot Boonnakaew told AFP.

"The window was small and he had to try hard to get through it."

The apparent suicide letter, found at the scene, has been sent for analysis to confirm it was written by Slym, he said.

Police believe his wife was in the room at the time of his death but said she was too "shocked" to answer questions on Monday.

"She still cannot accept what has happened," said Somyot, adding the executive's body was with forensic scientists.

Slym's body was found by staff on a fourth floor balcony at the five-star $200-a-night hotel, which said the "circumstances of the accident are under review by authorities."

On Sunday the carmaker said he had died in a fall, while Indian press reports said Slym may have lost his balance and plunged to his death.

The Briton had been Tata's managing director since joining the country's leading car making group in 2012.

In November Tata Motors, part of the giant steel-to-software Tata Group, said its quarterly net profit surged by 71 percent on the back of booming sales of its British luxury marque Jaguar Land Rover.

Slym had led Tata's operations in India and international markets, excluding the Jaguar and Land Rover businesses.

At midday trading in Mumbai, the stock was down 16 rupees to 354.50 rupees, a fall of 4.32 percent while the main Bombay Stock Exchange index was down 356.75 points at 20,776.81.

Explaining the stock drop, an analyst in Mumbai said the death of the Stanford University graduate could raise fears over the "timeline for new projects."

"In addition, the market is down today in general. So the stock is getting hammered," said an analyst who did not wish to be named.
Slym had previously been executive vice president of SGMW Motors, China, a General Motors joint venture, and been president of General Motors in India.

In a statement late Sunday Tata chairman Cyrus P Mistry paid tribute to "valued colleague" Slym.


-- (c) Copyright AFP 2014-01-27

RIP

Now the big mystery is why.

So, he fell from a small window, not the balcony?

So, he fell from a small window, not the balcony?

I am a farang and have previously overdosed, never once thought of falling from a cliff or building.

The man was clever enough to know how to kill himself in a painless way.

So, he fell from a small window, not the balcony?

I am a farang and have previously overdosed, never once thought of falling from a cliff or building.

The man was clever enough to know how to kill himself in a painless way.

Farangs rarely jump to their death!

I just measured my balcony railing height. It is 82 cm. Visitors have commented about it being on the low and thus dangerous side.

don't worry,you are completely safe with your 1.45m.............

Drunken handstand balcony rail syndrome. Common as Pad Thai hereabouts.

So, he fell from a small window, not the balcony?

I am a farang and have previously overdosed, never once thought of falling from a cliff or building.

The man was clever enough to know how to kill himself in a painless way.

Farangs rarely jump to their death!

I dealt with three in one day a few years back in the UK, so actually it does happen, although the occurrence seems to be significantly higher for males in Thailand.

RIP. again another death from Belcony

RIP. again another death from Belcony

Slym’s room has no balcony and has a wide window, which can’t be opened, that has views of the Chao Phraya river, and a small window next to it, which can be opened to let in fresh air, Somyot said. Slym may have fallen from the smaller window, he said.

“It would be difficult to force him out of such a small window,” Somyot said.

One article says his room had no balcony. So, only a small window that could be opened to let in some air, that would be difficult to accidentally fall from..

A fall that involves a "significant" person. Wonder how this will be investigated!

Probably just as thoroughly as they did for David Carradine. 555

Jeez, with all the people slipping and falling off balconies, I think it's about time for a craqkdown on those as well

I think we have to keep waiting to get the story for this one. At least since foreign press and a major company are involved, questions will keep getting asked. It took a whole day for the police to say it was a room with no balcony? A whole day before they realized they had a note? Until someone besides a Thai policeman sees the note - it doesn't exist.

Condolences to the guy's loved ones.

I suspect a balcony railing lower than he was expecting. Many places I've stayed in Thailand have balconies significantly lower than any back home, including my own apartment.

Anyone know why the OP file photo of this Tata guy has a Chevy in it?

It's a file photo. I believe he used to work for General Motors.

I think we have to keep waiting to get the story for this one. At least since foreign press and a major company are involved, questions will keep getting asked. It took a whole day for the police to say it was a room with no balcony? A whole day before they realized they had a note? Until someone besides a Thai policeman sees the note - it doesn't exist.

Why would they release any of that information in an ongoing investiagation? Can't see why the Thai police are at fault here.

They certainly wouldn't in the western world until sure of their facts.

This probably leaked first and that is why it is released now.