The managers of an apartment building where a 19-year-old woman fell four storeys on Sunday are asking all residents to stay off their balconies until engineers investigate.

The 19-year-old woman was critically injured after she fell off her fourth-floor balcony at the Pleasant Park Place apartment building at 2035 Othello Ave., off Pleasant Park Road, at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday.

When paramedics arrived they found the teen lying at the bottom of a concrete loading dock. Her injuries included a fractured thigh bone and head and abdominal trauma.

Paramedics estimate the woman had fallen from a height of about 15 metres.

Osgoode Properties told CBC News they're co-operating with the police investigation into the fall, and that they've asked residents to stay off their balconies until engineers investigate.

Woman's condition improves

The woman was taken to The Ottawa Hospital's Civic campus trauma unit in critical condition early Sunday.

On Monday morning police said she had undergone surgery and that her life is no longer considered to be in danger.

This railing fell from the fourth-floor balcony. It wasn't immediately clear Sunday how the railing became dislodged. (Ashley Burke/CBC) Melanie Beland, who lives on the ninth floor of the apartment complex, told CBC News Sunday the incident is "very concerning."

"I don't want to point the fingers at anyone because it could be a simple mistake, but at the same time they should probably be doing more maintenance and checking the balconies way more often," Beland said.

She added that she's been living at the complex for less than a year, and that the problems she's had in her unit so far have all been dealt with promptly.

"It's sad. I hope she's going to be OK. It's a scary thing, and I know people who live in this building and you don't want any harm to be caused to anyone else. It's scary," she said.

The incident is not considered suspicious, police said.