Thanksgiving signals the start of the holiday season—a time for celebration, family gatherings, and well-deserved breaks. But for many organizations, it also marks one of the busiest, most high-risk periods of the year. Between increased travel, higher production demands, seasonal staffing, and unpredictable weather, November often brings unique safety challenges that can impact both workers and operations.

This year, companies across Mining, Manufacturing, Energy, Logistics, Construction, and Field Services are taking a more proactive approach to seasonal risk. With the right preparation—and the right safety tools—teams can stay safe, connected, and focused through the holiday rush. SafetyIQ helps organizations anticipate hazards, strengthen communication, and make safer decisions across every shift.

Here’s how to promote a safer Thanksgiving season across your workforce.

1. Plan Ahead for Holiday Travel Risk

Thanksgiving is one of the most heavily traveled weeks of the year. For organizations with mobile, remote, or lone workers, this increases exposure to:

• Fatigue from long-distance driving
• Poor visibility during early morning or evening travel
• Distracted driving
• Weather-related hazards
• Increased traffic and travel delays

Using a journey management system like SafetyIQ helps teams plan safe travel routes, monitor check-ins, and escalate when a worker misses a scheduled update. This ensures that supervisors have real-time visibility of where people are and can respond quickly if something goes wrong.

For teams with on-call or rotating schedules, encourage workers to:

• Plan breaks into long drives
• Avoid tight turnarounds between shifts and holiday travel
• Review emergency contacts and check-in procedures
• Use approved communication channels, not personal messaging apps

With clear travel protocols, you can reduce holiday-related transport incidents and keep mobile teams protected.

2. Address Fatigue Before It Becomes a Safety Hazard

Fatigue spikes during the holiday season—both on and off the job. Longer shifts, increased production demands, and personal obligations make November one of the highest-risk months for fatigue-related errors.

Organizations should:

• Reassess shift schedules leading into the holiday
• Identify high-risk roles where fatigue has greater impact
• Provide guidance on sleep, hydration, and time-off planning
• Remind supervisors to monitor workers returning from long travel

Tools like SafetyIQ’s Fatigue Management module help teams conduct quick self-assessments, identify fatigue factors early, and ensure supervisors can intervene before errors occur.

Even small steps—like reminding teams to take breaks or rescheduling high-risk tasks—can prevent serious incidents during peak workload weeks.

3. Strengthen Communication for Seasonal and Temporary Workers

Many industries rely on temporary or seasonal workers during Thanksgiving to manage increased demand. But with new workers comes new risk, especially when onboarding is rushed or inconsistent.

To ensure seasonal teams are equipped to work safely:

• Make training accessible via mobile devices
• Standardize orientation processes
• Provide short, role-specific micro-trainings
• Ensure supervisors know who is new and require additional support
• Use digital forms to track completed training and competencies

SafetyIQ’s Training Tracking and Document Management modules help organizations verify that every worker—temporary or full-time—meets the required safety competencies before they begin work.

Seasonal safety gaps often stem from inconsistent communication. Making information accessible and consistent reduces those gaps quickly.

4. Prepare for Winter Weather Before It Hits

Late November brings unpredictable conditions: rain, wind, fog, ice, and early snow depending on the region. Winter weather increases risk for slips, trips, falls, vehicle incidents, equipment failures, and slower emergency response times.

To prepare:

• Conduct pre-winter inspections on equipment, vehicles, and tools
• Review cold weather PPE requirements
• Reinforce communication protocols for extreme weather
• Schedule wellness check-ins for outdoor and remote teams
• Assign corrective actions for any identified hazards

SafetyIQ makes it easy to schedule and track these inspections while ensuring that corrective actions don’t fall through the cracks.

5. Reinforce Near-Miss and Hazard Reporting

With busier workloads, workers often skip reporting minor issues—exactly when reporting matters most. Thanksgiving week is the perfect opportunity to re-energize reporting habits.

Encourage teams to:

• Report hazards as soon as they appear
• Log near misses, even if no injury occurred
• Document equipment issues early
• Use digital forms instead of paper to simplify reporting

When reporting is simple and mobile-friendly, participation increases. SafetyIQ’s Incident and Observation tools help teams capture information quickly and make real-time improvements that keep the season safe.

6. Protect Lone and Remote Workers During Holiday Shifts

Some workers stay behind to maintain operations, monitor equipment, or cover essential services. Working alone during holidays presents increased risk due to reduced supervision and slower emergency response times.

SafetyIQ’s Lone Worker features help:

• Enforce regular check-ins
• Send automated alerts when workers miss updates
• Track worker locations (with user consent)
• Escalate emergencies instantly to supervisors

No one should feel disconnected or unsupported during holiday shifts. Digital monitoring keeps remote workers safe even when staffing is limited.

7. Close the Year Strong With a Safety Culture Reset

Finally, Thanksgiving offers a natural moment to acknowledge the team’s efforts and reinforce the importance of safety heading into December.

You can end the month by:

• Recognizing teams with strong reporting habits
• Sharing incident reductions or improvements from the year
• Reviewing key learnings from peak seasons
• Setting goals for December and Q1
• Reinforcing that safety is a company-wide responsibility

With tools like SafetyIQ, organizations can measure trends more clearly and celebrate progress with confidence.

A Safer Thanksgiving Starts With Preparation

Thanksgiving may be a time of celebration, but it’s also a high-risk period for many industries. With the right planning, communication, and technology, organizations can keep workers safe, reduce preventable incidents, and maintain strong operations through the holiday season.

SafetyIQ empowers teams to stay connected, visible, and proactive—no matter how busy the season gets.