Holiday Season 2025–2026: Is Your Organization Ready for a Safe Winter Shutdown?

Avoiding unpleasant surprises when operations resume on January 5, 2026

The holiday season is a welcome opportunity to slow down, celebrate, and allow your teams to take a well-deserved break. Between Saturday, December 20, 2025, and Sunday, January 4, 2026, many Québec organizations will fully or partially shut down their operations.

Just like during the summer, this planned closure comes with significant risks, especially when buildings remain unoccupied for several consecutive days.

In most cases, everything goes smoothly. But the incidents that do occur—sometimes subtle, sometimes serious—do not happen during the holidays. They are discovered only upon returning, when teams resume work and find water damage, equipment failures, breakages, or other issues that caused an unexpected slowdown or interruption of operations.

This article highlights the seasonal risks associated with the holiday period and presents practical measures to reduce unpleasant surprises when activities resume on January 5, 2026.

Why is a winter shutdown riskier?

Unlike summer closures, shutting down in winter adds several weather-related challenges:

• Heavy snow, freezing rain, cold rain, repeated freeze–thaw cycles, strong winds
• More frequent and often longer power outages
• Extreme cold capable of damaging infrastructure
• Difficult access for maintenance teams or suppliers

 

Added to this are the risks associated with prolonged absence of personnel on site:

• Sites are more vulnerable to intrusion
• Reduced human supervision
• Slower detection of incidents

As a result, a minor issue: a leak, infiltration, equipment failure, or malicious act can go unnoticed for up to 14 days, giving damage time to escalate.

 

Examples of common risks during the holiday shutdown

Below is an intentionally comprehensive list to help organizations better visualize and anticipate potential issues.

1. Weather-related and structural risks

• Partial or total roof collapse due to snow load
• Ice accumulation on roofs, edges, and equipment
• Freezing rain causing breakage, falling trees, or damage to buildings
• Rain leading to infiltration, overflowing gutters, or basement flooding
• Sudden warm spells creating water accumulation near foundations
• Consecutive storms preventing maintenance teams from accessing the site

 

2. Energy and system-related risks

• Prolonged power outages shutting down critical systems
• Electrical surges when systems restart
• Damage to sensitive electronic equipment (servers, PLCs, industrial controls)
• Generator failure:
  • Failure to start
  • Weak battery
  • Frozen fuel
  • Undetected mechanical issues
• Fuel suppliers unable to deliver due to high demand or weather conditions
• HVAC failures leading to frozen pipes or temperature-related damage

 

3. Physical security and intrusion risks

• Break-ins in unoccupied buildings
• Theft of equipment, raw materials, or strategic parts
• Vandalism in technical areas, warehouses, or garages
• Sabotage or negligence by contractors with site access
• Installation of hidden cameras, microphones, or industrial espionage devices
• GPS trackers placed on vehicles or trailers
• Employees returning alone during the holidays and experiencing unreported incidents

 

4. Technological and cybersecurity risks

• Cyberattacks launched during the shutdown (ransomware, intrusion)
• Exploitation of unpatched vulnerabilities
• Server, firewall, or backup failures
• Insufficient monitoring of alerts by the SOC or IT teams

 

5. Operational and supply chain risks

• Empty fuel tanks upon return
• Delays or inability of critical suppliers to deliver
• Deterioration of products or materials sensitive to cold
• Undetected incidents in warehouses (leaks, freezing, contamination)

 

How to reduce risks before the holiday shutdown

Preparation is the best protection against unpleasant surprises. Below are key measures, including your additions on system testing and contact list updates.

1. Prepare the building and infrastructure

• Inspect roofs, gutters, drains, and snow-removal systems
• Remove accumulated snow before the shutdown
• Inspect mechanical rooms, pumps, pipes, and vulnerable areas
• Protect exposed pipes from freezing and confirm minimum building temperature
• Test or verify critical sensors:
  • Temperature
  • Humidity
  • Smoke detection
  • Water-leak detection
  • Pipe pressure sensors
• Verify fire alarms, intrusion alarms, cameras, and access control systems
• Confirm generator readiness (testing, fuel, redundancy)
• Secure sensitive documents, strategic equipment, and hazardous materials

 

2. Test detection, alert, and alarm systems

Before a prolonged shutdown, it is essential to test the systems that must notify you in case of an incident during the holidays:

Physical systems

• Fire detection
• Intrusion detection
• Motion detectors
• Water-leak detectors
• Panic buttons

 

IT and operational systems

• Alerts from PLCs and industrial controls
• Monitoring of servers and network equipment
• Log and event review
• Validation of alerts sent to on-call personnel

 

Environmental systems

• Temperature and humidity sensors
• Alarms in cold rooms, server rooms, or sensitive zones

These tests ensure that if something happens on December 25 at 3:00 a.m., the right people will be notified.

 

3. Update all critical contact lists

Before any major shutdown, contact information must be reviewed and updated in all relevant plans:

• Physical security
• Emergency measures (ERP)
• Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
• Crisis Management Plan (CMP)
• Crisis Communications Plan (CCP)
• IT / Cybersecurity / SOC providers
• Critical suppliers
• Building maintenance
• Transport / logistics
• Municipal contacts (fire, police, public works)

An outdated or unavailable contact can turn a minor incident into a major crisis.

 

4. Maintain minimal monitoring during the holidays

• Set a schedule for internal or external site rounds
• Document each visit (logbook, photos)
• Conduct rounds ideally with two people
• Check generators, alarms, fuel levels, cold rooms, and servers

 

5. Prepare for the January 5, 2026 reopening

• Perform a full site inspection before employees return
• Gradually restart IT and operational systems
• Inspect stocks, refrigeration systems, tanks, and pipes
• Analyze and document any incidents that occurred during the holidays

 

Checklist – Holiday Shutdown 2025–2026

To support your preparation for the holiday shutdown, below is a starting checklist template outlining essential actions to consider before, during, and after the winter closure. This is a base tool you may adapt, expand, and personalize according to your operations, site configuration, and your internal monitoring and response mechanisms.

Before the shutdown

□	Full building inspection (roof, drains, pumps, doors)
□	Test alarm systems: fire, intrusion, cameras, access badges
□	Test IT systems: alerts, servers, critical indicators
□	Verify all sensors: temperature, water leak, humidity, pressure
□	Update contact lists (BCP, CMP, emergency plans, physical security, communications)
□	Test generators and confirm fuel levels
□	Validate backups and apply updates
□	Secure assets, documents, and strategic equipment
□	Communicate shutdown instructions internally

 

During the shutdown

□	Scheduled and documented rounds
□	Monitoring of alarm systems and IT alerts
□	Weather and climate-risk monitoring
□	Periodic checks of generators and fuel tanks

 

January 5, 2026 return

□	Full site inspection before employees arrive
□	Gradual restart of operational and IT systems
□	Verification of sensitive zones (servers, cold rooms, equipment)
□	Review any incidents that occurred during the shutdown

 

Strategic support to prevent operational interruptions

At Benoit Racette Services-conseils inc., we help organizations protect their critical operations, ensure the safety of their teams, and maintain client trust— even during major disruptions.

With more than 27 years of specialized experience in business continuity, crisis management, emergency measures, and IT disaster recovery, Benoit Racette provides rigorous, confidential support, turning complex issues into concrete solutions tailored to your reality.

• Resilience assessment
• Up-to-date business continuity plan
• Functional crisis management plan
• Realistic IT disaster recovery plan
• Tests and exercises to validate your plans and strengthen your teams
• Targeted training in continuity, crisis management, and operational preparedness

These are the tools that distinguish organizations that merely endure disruptions… from those that respond with mastery.
Want to assess your vulnerabilities, adjust your plans, or prepare effectively?

Contact us: [email protected]