A former manager at the Pike River Mine felt too much of his time was being taken up with crisis management in the months leading up to the disaster which claimed 29 lives.
The Royal Commission is now looking at the immediate cause of the explosions on 19 November 2010.
Pieter van Rooyen worked as the technical services manager at Pike River for nearly two years.
In a statement read out at The Commission, he said he was bogged down in crisis management because mine design was being carried out on the run.
Mr van Rooyen expressed concerns about the risk of an explosion at the mine and quit working there just two weeks before the disaster.
