December is a time when many people prepare to celebrate the holidays. In the spirit of the season, we have 12 toolbox talks of holiday safety to help you with your safety talks for December. Our four winter and holiday safety toolbox talk topics also give a good mix of both on- and off-the-job safety topics to help you create toolbox talks including winter slips, trips and falls, snow removal, and of course, holiday decorating and gift safety. 

One additional issue that affects almost everyone during the holiday season is stress, and it’s something that should be talked about within your workplace.

Holiday stress

Holiday stress is a very real thing and in December holiday fatigue can go into overdrive and leave you feeling all of the stresses. While the symptoms (fatigue, headaches, depression, anxiety, irritability, difficulty concentrating or making decisions) might look similar to the stress you face daily, the additional states that accompany stress during the holidays can increase the toll it takes.

Stress and the mental states that go along with it are human factors, and organizations can address them through training and communication. Holiday safety talks need to provide information about the different ways stress will affect people over the holidays, how workers can recognize it within themselves and each other, and what they can do to manage it. (All of this is much easier to do, and much more effective, if you’ve already implemented human factors training to build skills and awareness among your workers.)

Stress + Rushing

If you’re working up to/during the holidays, it may increase your feeling of not having enough time to get everything done—which is ever-present during the holiday season. The overwhelming feeling of having a never-ending checklist of things to do and not enough time to do them all is not only a major cause of stress but it will also lead to rushing (which is known to cause injuries). Stress and rushing increases the chances of experiencing other states like frustration and complacency. Check out these tips to get ahead of holiday rushing and other subsequent states.

Stress + Worry

Financial worries around the holidays are a common trigger for stress. Family dinners and social gatherings can amplify existing issues like a tight budget when you’re expected to be the host. Worry can also come from countless other issues over the holidays, including weather, travel and illness. When expectations are set to spend holiday time together, an external interference with your plans can turn a small amount of worry into a big amount of stress. This article on self-care can provide the solutions you need to combat stress and worry this holiday season.

Stress + Fatigue

Many holiday safety campaigns focus on alcohol impairment because the number of drunk driving crashes increases significantly over the holidays. But fatigue is an impairment that has similar effects to alcohol (being awake for more than 20 hours is the same as being drunk). While a lot of people are conscious of the number of drinks they can have over a certain amount of time before driving, fatigue is not something you can control as easily. Talking to employees about how to recognize fatigue is the first step in helping them manage it. Here are some tips on how to overcome holiday fatigue.

Stress + Frustration

Some people may think stress and frustration are the same thing. And in many ways they do overlap, making each a much more dangerous presence during the holidays. Here’s an example—you’re at the shopping mall for a big sale. You’ve prepared yourself to encounter a lot of people (a stressor in itself) but you didn’t prepare for the item on your shopping list being scooped up before your very eyes by the person you held the door for mere minutes before reaching the item. The anger that erupts from you is frustration, and the way you feel about it after is stress—and both can be avoided this holiday season. Develop your toolbox talk from the blog post entitled How to Turn Frustrations Into Safety Preventive Measures.

Stress + Distraction

Stress can cause a person to become easily distracted. Pair that with any number of the other states mentioned above and it’s almost a guarantee that at some point safety risks won’t be on your radar to the extent that they should be. The good news is we have six resources you can reference to ensure you’re covering the topic of distraction to help mitigate the risks.

International Day of Epidemic Preparedness

Speaking of stress, how stressful was the arrival of COVID-19? Did you feel like you were ready for something like that in your workplace? December 27 is recognized as International Day of Epidemic Preparedness and it’s an opportunity for you to help workers be even more prepared should we face another pandemic, epidemic or outbreak in the future.

The coronavirus is now an established and ongoing health issue, and it remains a problem among workers and poses a threat in workplaces.  6 Human Factors Made Worse by Pandemics Like COVID-19 outlines what you can do to address human factors in a high-stress situation. It’s also a good idea to reinforce all of the preventive measures that have been put in place to stave off the flu. 

This December, deliver a toolbox talk that helps your organization stay healthy and be ready for anything that might happen in the new year.