December & January Safety Topics (+Meeting Toolkit)

With the change of seasons, it becomes essential for businesses to enhance their safety awareness and situational preparedness. Naturally occurring hazards multiply in winter, and the potential for accidents heightens significantly. Statistics show that slip-and-fall incidents spike by roughly 25% during this season. While predictable with colder, more slippery conditions, this spike in incidents highlights the urgent need for robust safety protocols as we juggle the demands of year-end tasks alongside fresh initiatives for the new year.

December often sees teams racing against time to meet annual goals, while January usually brings new objectives that can divert attention from safety measures. However, this transition provides a valuable opportunity to reaffirm and reinforce commitment to workplace safety. It’s crucial to lay a strong foundation, mainly as winter introduces unique challenges, including severe weather, heating issues, and indoor hazards.

In addition to cold weather risks, businesses should also focus on broader safety topics such as fire prevention, cybersecurity, mental wellness, and safety measures for remote work. Prioritizing these areas will help cultivate a culture of safety across the organization, enabling teams to remain resilient and proactive against seasonal threats and potential risks throughout the year. By focusing on crucial December and January safety topics, businesses can sharpen their situational awareness and safety protocols, promoting a thriving culture of safety throughout the entire organization. Together, we can rise to meet the challenges of winter and foster a safe, productive workplace for all.

December Safety Topics

Regardless of your industry, there are essential factors every business must address during winter weather. Reflect on how you can implement these December Safety Month topics to actively involve your teams in minimizing the seasonal risks they will most likely encounter.

1. Communicating during extreme weather

Your business can’t control the weather or the wintertime hazards you may encounter. However, you can develop and implement a winter weather communications plan to ensure safety leaders and employees know what to do when bad weather hits.

Guiding questions

1. Where do you store employee contact information?
2. What kind of extreme weather would you need to communicate about?
3. Which employees would be affected by which weather event?
4. Which communication channels will be most effective during inclement weather?

Extreme weather communication tips

• Use an emergency mass notification system to send messages and track receipts and responses.
• Draft winter communication templates for expected weather-related situations, such as office closures or winter storm warnings.

2. Preparing for snow weight danger

Every year, snow causes immense structural damage. As it accumulates, the snow weight can damage structures such as wood and metal roofs. Fortunately, you can minimize this risk.

Guiding questions

1. What is the shape of your structure’s roof? Is it highly angled to allow snow to slide off easily, or is it flatter?
2. How much snow accumulated in your area last year? On the roof?
3. What material is the roof made of?
4. How old is the roof? When was the last time it was inspected by a professional?

Tips to protect your structure from snow weight

• Keep gutters and water drainage systems clear. When the snow melts or rain falls on top of the snow, a poorly drained roof retains that water, which can re-freeze into ice, trapping even more moisture in the future.
• Hire a certified inspector to identify signs of roof damage. Usually, roofs will not catastrophically fail due to weight load without previous signs of damage.

3. Slip, trip, and fall prevention

A personal injury lawyer’s bread and butter is perhaps the most apparent danger during cold months: slips, trips, and falls. Employers could be liable if they don’t take reasonable action to prevent employees and visitors from injuring themselves on icy walkways or slippery stairs. Luckily, this is often an easy problem to solve for.

Guiding questions

1. What parts of your space expose employees to the elements?
2. How do people get to your workplace? (Via car, bike, public transportation, etc.)
3. What material is used for your interior and exterior walkways?
4. What slips, trips, or falls have occurred in the workplace over the past year, if any?

Tips to keep everyone standing in slippery conditions

• Use proactive snow removal (whether with a snow blower or snow shoveling), deicing salt, handrails, grip tape, drying floor mats, and other tools to decrease the prevalence of ice and water and provide additional support methods to walkers.
• Deploy targeted “slippery when wet” signage to encourage careful walking in slippery areas.
• Encourage employees to wear proper slip-resistant footwear to minimize the safety risks in icy conditions.

4. Avoiding unsafe passwords

October might be Cybersecurity Awareness Month, but safe password maintenance is a year-round topic that should receive regular attention. It’s especially crucial in December because cyberattacks are known to surge during the holiday season, and easy-to-guess or reused passwords are one of the easiest ways for criminals to access your systems.

Guiding questions

1. What are your current employee password policies and best practices?
2. When did you last require employees to update their passwords for a particular system?
3. How will you communicate with everyone if a cyberattack impairs one or more of your systems?
4. What data is at risk of cyberattack?

Tips to support cyber safety

• Use a single sign-on system to help your employees keep track of their passwords and remind them when to update them. Two-factor authentication will further strengthen the security of their accounts.
• Perform regular backups of crucial data so a successful cyberattack against your business would have a limited impact on continued operations.

5. Fire prevention

Perhaps counterintuitively, most accidental fires occur in winter due to heating and electrical safety issues. Contributing factors include increased heating devices, such as personal space heaters and electric blankets; lights, holiday lights, and candles for festivities; and even the good ol’ fireplace. Take time this December to prevent such a disaster from occurring at your workplace.

Guiding questions

1. Is holiday decorating allowed at your workplace?
2. Do employees plug in personal space heaters and electric blankets?
3. If your workspace includes a place to burn fires safely, how are the ashes disposed of?
4. Do you have sufficient fire extinguishers, emergency fire exits, a fire alarm system, and carbon monoxide detectors?

Tips to support fire prevention

• Limit space heaters to one per electrical outlet, and use heaters that automatically shut off if tipped over. Keep at least three feet of space between a heat source and any flammable materials.
• Run regular fire drills so everyone knows how to increase their chances of safety if a fire breaks out.

6. Winter driving

Your people may encounter winter driving hazards daily on their commute or if offsite travel is a part of their responsibilities. Others may face the occasional business trip with car travel involved on unfamiliar roads and in unfamiliar conditions. Think of not just snow but also high winds, sleet, slush, and icy roads. The safety risks are real, and so are the opportunities to prepare your team to take extra caution.

Guiding questions

1. How many of your employees drive to work?
2. Does your city/town plow the roads and lay down salt?
3. Are there any alternative methods of transportation other than personal motor vehicles?
4. Does your organization support remote work for some or all employees?

Tips to keep winter driving safe

• Prepare for and allow remote work days for employees who cannot come to work without driving on unsafe roadways.
• Proactively communicate with your employees about winter weather conditions and let them know early in the morning (before anyone leaves for work) whether or not the office will be closed that day.

7. Winter facility hazard management

As winter sets in, the risk of facility hazards becomes increasingly prevalent, posing serious safety concerns for both employees and building management. Common winter hazards include building fires due to holiday decorations, carbon monoxide poisoning from improperly vented heating systems, and water damage from frozen pipes that can burst. It is imperative for organizations to address these issues proactively to ensure a safe working environment during the colder months.

Guiding questions

1. Are employees educated on fire safety protocols, including how to handle decorations and avoid overloading electrical outlets?
2. Does your organization conduct regular inspections of heating systems and ensure proper ventilation to prevent carbon monoxide buildup?
3. Have employees been informed about the risks of frozen pipes and provided with guidelines on how to report heating issues promptly?
4. Are there emergency plans in place for fire or carbon monoxide incidents during winter months?
5. Are employees prepared to recognize symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning and take immediate action?

Tips for managing facility hazards

• Host safety training sessions focused on winter hazards, including fire prevention and recognizing carbon monoxide symptoms, to ensure everyone is informed.
• Perform routine maintenance checks on heating equipment and ventilation systems to minimize the risk of fire and carbon monoxide poisoning.
• Insulate pipes in unheated areas to prevent freezing and consider maintaining a consistent temperature in these areas to reduce the risk of pipe bursts.
• Develop clear communication channels for employees to report any facility issues, such as heating problems or leaks, promptly.

By prioritizing winter facility hazard management this December and January, organizations can create a safe and secure environment for employees, mitigating risks associated with seasonal changes.

January Safety Topics

In January, many employees find themselves refreshed from a relaxing vacation and rearing to get the new year started. Channel some of that energy into your safety efforts. The following topics can help guide your priorities.

1. Mental health precautions

Many find the winter months and the associated ambiance comforting. Unfortunately, some people experience an intensification of specific mental health issues during the winter, such as seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Make sure to be there for your employees who might be experiencing these effects.

Guiding questions

1. What mental health benefits do your employees have, if any?
2. How do you identify which employees might be struggling with their mental health?
3. Do you think your employees have a good work-life balance? What do they think?
4. Does your organization’s safety culture include mental health awareness?

Tips to support employee mental health

• Require and allow all employees to take regular days off to focus on their mental health without fear of repercussions.
• Cover mental health care, including telehealth appointments, in your employee benefits package.

2. Risk of heart attack

The winter season not only brings inclement weather but also a heightened risk for heart attacks. Research indicates that Americans are about 30% more likely to experience a heart attack during the winter months compared to the rest of the year. This increased risk can be attributed to several factors, including the cold weather’s impact on blood pressure and the heart’s workload.

Guiding questions

1. What conditions put individuals at higher risk of heart-related incidents?
2. What signs and symptoms do employees need to be aware of to recognize potential heart attacks and other dangerous safety incidents?
3. What actions should employees take when they recognize warning signs and symptoms?
4. What first aid equipment and resources are available to employees to support heart health incidents?

Tips to support employee heart health and safety

• Encourage employees to dress warmly and appropriately for outdoor activities.
• Promote regular health check-ups, especially for those at higher risk for heart issues.
• Emphasize the importance of not overexerting themselves during physical activities, particularly in cold weather.

3. First aid safety training and materials

Many accidents at work—such as bruises and cuts sustained from tripping or burns given by heating equipment—can be helped by a bystander with the proper resources and training in workplace first aid. Here are some tips to help make sure your people can perform first aid duties at a moment’s notice.

Guiding questions

1. What first aid equipment do you have available?
2. Where are first aid emergency kits located? What about defibrillators (AEDs)?
3. Are your employees certified in CPR?
4. What injuries require hospital care, and which can be treated by first aid? Which might require both?

Tips to empower employees to perform first aid

• Partner with an expert, such as someone from your local fire department, who can help train your people in proper first aid treatment.
• Place clearly labeled and easily accessible first aid kits around the workplace.

4. Remote worker safety

According to our 2022 State of Employee Safety Report, 82% of employees believe that employers are responsible for the safety of their remote workers as well as those working onsite. While most organizations have established their working model, it’s clear that remote working is here to stay in one way or another, and those offsite workers are under your duty of care too.

Guiding questions

1. How do you keep in touch with your remote workers?
2. How often do your employees work remotely?
3. Where are your employees’ remote working locations?
4. What threats do your remote workers face?

Tips to enhance your remote workers’ safety

• Use technology, such as a threat intelligence system, to identify what might be affecting your remote workers at any time, anywhere. Using location data can further enhance this tactic.
• Encourage casual social interaction among remote employees to maintain morale and camaraderie, two factors that ward off mental illness, isolation, and burnout.

5. Phishing awareness and avoidance

Contrary to what we see in Hollywood movies, “hacking” doesn’t usually rely on techno-wizardry to break through firewalls and gain access to a system. Instead, it usually involves simple social engineering tricks to get people to give up their passwords unwittingly. It’s a widespread scam that businesses need to look out for throughout the year.

Guiding questions

1. What “red flags” can help identify a phishing message?
2. What methods are available to employees to report a phishing attempt?
3. What accounts/passwords are most attractive as phishing targets?
4. When was the last time someone at your company fell victim to a phisher?

Tips to avoid the phish from catching you

• Use two-factor authentication on employee accounts as an extra layer of security.
• Set up organization-wide email filters that block suspicious emails from reaching your people.

6. Outdoor cold-weather safety

While some jobs function behind a desk in a temperature-controlled room during winter, other occupations require workers to venture outside, such as construction workers, utility maintenance people, and some facility managers. In these cases, safety topics often take the form of toolbox talks. Here’s how you can ensure those who work outside stay safe in January and other cold months.

Guiding questions

1. Where do your outdoor workers perform their duties?
2. What cold temperature gear are they equipped with?
3. Do they work alone or in groups?
4. How do they keep in touch with HQ?

Tips to keep workers safe from cold-weather exposure

• Train your outdoor workers on the signs of cold stress (identified by OSHA safety guidelines) and signs of frostbite, such as red skin, numbness, and swelling. Deploy workers according to a “buddy system,” so there is a greater chance someone notices the signs of cold stress—and there’s someone to provide aid if needed.
• Provide adequate cold-weather clothing that keeps workers both warm and dry, as well as a set of spare warm clothing in case the primary set becomes wet.

7. Ergonomic safety

As anyone who frequents this blog knows, the threats we face at work can come from surprising places. For example, even your desk and chair could be harming you and your employees right now! That is, if they’re not set up correctly.

Ergonomic problems can lead to muscle strain, fatigue, carpal tunnel syndrome, and more. Here’s how to avoid that.

Guiding questions

1. What chairs and desks do your office workers use? Are they all the same, or is it a mix?
2. Are your people aware of the potential risks of poor ergonomics?
3. What options would a worker have if they wanted to change their desk setup?
4. What are the signs of bad ergonomics?

Tips to ensure ergonomic safety

• Provide adjustable work chairs and footrests for each employee to maintain proper posture (don’t forget remote workers).
• Lead daily stretching exercises so employees can release tension from typing. During these exercises, consider alleviating eye strain by instructing employees to look at a far wall for the duration.

Safety Never Sleeps

Whether your December and January safety topics cover winter-exclusive or broader issues, you must constantly reevaluate the threat landscape by performing regular threat assessments. Your business could be concentrated in one office in New York City or scattered among hundreds of locations throughout the country. In any case, continue the momentum from these winter safety talks, so you’re ready for every month of the year.