The Manchester Evening News reported that architectural technologist Lewis Jolliffe and his three friends were nearly hit by the two-metre beam last Monday lunchtime.

Jolliffe said: “We were walking back to the office when it landed about half a metre away from where we were stood.

“At first I didn’t think about it much, the adrenaline kicked in. But loads of RBS staff who had been near the building ran up to us and asked if we were OK – they said we were lucky to be alive.

“It has affected me more than I thought – if we had delayed a second or two we probably would be dead.”

Alan Blanchett, group SHEQ director, McLaren, told the MEN: “Following the incident on Monday, all works were immediately stopped in the area in question.

“On Monday afternoon and Tuesday a full investigation was carried out by safety managers from Heyrod and McLaren Management.

“The report’s conclusion is that the fault was the result of human error, rather than any structural safety issue.

“The operative involved in the incident has been disciplined and all operatives involved in the stripping operations have been re-briefed on risk assessment and method statements and given a related tool box talk.

“To further mitigate the chances of any accidents, an additional safety measure of double-guarding has been introduced on the outside of the scaffold, with further actions agreed upon, following a full review by our safety manager and management team.

“Works are now continuing as normal.

“This is the first time that such an occurrence has happened on one of their sites in 20 years of carrying out such operations.

“McLaren is committed to the highest standards of health and safety and enforces the most stringent working practices across all of its construction sites.”