diff --git a/code/controllers/globals.dm b/code/controllers/globals.dm
index a491fc389b..4791f21c13 100644
--- a/code/controllers/globals.dm
+++ b/code/controllers/globals.dm
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ GLOBAL_REAL(GLOB, /datum/controller/global_vars)
 
 	var/datum/controller/exclude_these = new
 	gvars_datum_in_built_vars = exclude_these.vars + list(NAMEOF(src, gvars_datum_protected_varlist), NAMEOF(src, gvars_datum_in_built_vars), NAMEOF(src, gvars_datum_init_order))
-	qdel(exclude_these)
+	QDEL_IN(exclude_these, 0)	//signal logging isn't ready
 
 	log_world("[vars.len - gvars_datum_in_built_vars.len] global variables")