Zak’s Defence – Key Notes for Meeting (Apologetic Tone)

“I’ve been doing this job for 6 years — I know the process very well and I always follow it.”
“I’m 100% confident I pressed the button correctly, but if I didn't, I apologies for that. It was not misuse or recklessness.”
“Everyone knows these APNs are temperamental. They sometimes stop, restart, or switch off by themselves.”

“The CCTV shows the APN I left did not move. The collision happened because another APN failed to stop.”
“These machines are fitted with sensors that are meant to prevent this exact situation. If one still crashed into another stationary machine, that shows a system fault, not my fault.”
"When the machines crash like that, dont you have to restart them again anyway? How do you know I didnt press it and the APN stay stationary for no reason? That happens too"
“APNs have had collisions before — this isn’t the first time. That again shows it’s a machine reliability issue.”
“These APNs stop and start, switch off, and behave unpredictably. Everyone knows this.”
If asked why he didn’t raise it:
“Managers see this every day for themselves. It would be pointless raising the same issue every single day — it’s well known.”
If they say “but they don’t crash every day”:
“Exactly — that proves it’s a system issue, not me. If the machines act the same every day, and only once in 6 years has there been a collision, it cannot be my fault.”

If they say “careless behaviour” or “misuse,” respond:
“Can you please explain exactly what behaviour you believe was careless, or what action of mine was misuse? I want to be clear on what I’m accused of.”
Follow up with:
“Because all I did was follow the same process I’ve safely followed for 6 years.”

“Just to be clear, my phone use was separate to the incident. The CCTV shows the APN I left did not move — the collision was caused by another APN.”
“I’ve only ever used my phone for work purposes, to log pallet issues. I’ve done this openly for years, managers have seen it, and stock control rely on those notes.”
“I followed the same process as everyone else, including managers, and it’s no different to using the mobile scanners the company issues at the start of every shift.”
“If the company now want me to stop doing this, I will — but I want to be clear that my phone use had no bearing on the APN collision.”

“I understand the concern, and if using my phone in that way is now considered misuse, I apologise. That was never my intention.”
“Butas long as I can remember it has been accepted practice — I’ve only ever used my phone for work reasons, not personal ones.”
“It was in line with what colleagues and managers also do, and again, no different than using the scanners we’re all issued with.”
“If this is now a change in policy, I’ll follow whatever process the company decides going forward.”

“If this was seen as gross misconduct, I should have been taken off APNs immediately. Instead, I worked for almost 24 hours afterwards, on the same job. That suggests it wasn’t considered serious. Why is that?”
“If I had genuinely been unsafe, leaving me on the same role would have been a risk in itself.”

“I did not refuse to work. I refused one task — trailer tipping — because of my back problems.”
“I accept I was frustrated when that came up, and I apologise for how that may have come across.”
“But my frustration wasn’t meant as misconduct — I immediately carried on with pallet work and helped my team.”

“Exactly — that proves it’s a system issue, not me. The machines act the same way every day. If there have only been a few collisions in 6 years, it shows this was down to the machines, not my behaviour.”
“I did nothing different that day to what I’ve done safely for 6 years.”

“At worst, this may have been a small slip or a machine fault. If I didn’t press the button long enough, then I accept that and I apologise — but I’m confident I pressed it properly.”
“I did not act recklessly or deliberately break rules. I worked as I always have, and I carried on working afterwards.”