The best system Victoria has to protect the public from dangerous city construction sites failed spectacularly on Wednesday, just three years after the Swanston Street wall collapse killed three people.

Safety authorities have come under fire over a potentially fatal incident in North Melbourne, where a brick wall crashed down onto the footpath less than 24 hours after the site was audited.

The wall – on the partly demolished site of the former Royal Park Hotel in North Melbourne – came down soon after 9am on Wednesday.

Falling bricks narrowly missed members of the public near the corner of Queensberry and Howard streets, including a female pedestrian pushing a pram, but no injuries were reported.