THE former manager of a mine that suffered a ‘gas blow-out’ resulting in the death of a workers has been questioned over its staff cutback policy.

Dave Williams, who supervised the underground running of ICL UK, in Boulby, near Saltburn, until last month, appeared at an employment tribunal involving a senior manager who was made redundant after being given a poor safety audit.

Production manager, Gary Todd, claims bosses at the firm, known locally as Cleveland Potash Limited, engineered a “subjective” scoring system so they could dismiss him after 36 years of service.

Mr Todd was promoted to his senior position in 2007 after the East Cleveland works became the world’s first and only polyhalite mine.

However, a round of redundancies in January 2016 saw 11 management staff put at risk of losing their jobs and subjected to a selection process designed to rate their safety records, quality of work and skills.

The employment tribunal hearing in Middlesbrough heard no formal action was taken despite Mr Todd’s quality of work being assessed at just one out of ten.

Former mine manager Mr Williams claimed Mr Todd had risked the safety of mine workers after switching off a ventilation fan – known as a booster fan – inside the mine without a permit.

He said: “We discussed Gary’s score for quality of work. He asked me for an example to reflect the score of one that was given.

“I reminded him of the booster fan incident which was a basic error that could have had severe consequences.

“As a manager, Gary should have been aware of this. He denied any wrongdoing and was adamant that he had made a call to seek authorisation.”

However, Mr Williams later admitted the ‘near miss’ incident caused no immediate threat to life.

An investigation was launched earlier this year when mine worker John Alderson, 56, died in June after a ‘gas blow-out’ when he was around 1,000m below ground level.

During questioning, it was revealed Mr Williams quit as mine manager from September 1, weeks after it was announced 140 workers are set to lose their jobs by the end of the year.

In a statement, Mr Todd said: “I claim my dismissal was unfair and the procedure followed by [ICL UK] fell far short of that to be expected from a reasonable employer.

“If objective criteria and data had been used, I was not at any risk of being made redundant.

“I was one of the most highly-qualified managers in my selection pool with an excellent safety record and a proven performance record.

“[I] met 100 per cent of all of my 2015 objectives and having held the position of polyhalite production manager for nearly eight years with an unblemished disciplinary record.”

The tribunal continues.