diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/ansible-force-handlers-1e00c9a88c29fe4f.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/ansible-force-handlers-1e00c9a88c29fe4f.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c8ef33114d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/ansible-force-handlers-1e00c9a88c29fe4f.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - When a task fails while executing a playbook, the default behaviour for
+    Ansible is to fail for that host without executing any notifiers. This can
+    result in configuration changes being executed, but services not being
+    restarted. OpenStack-Ansible now sets ``ANSIBLE_FORCE_HANDLERS`` to
+    ``True`` by default to ensure that all notified handlers attempt to
+    execute before stopping the playbook execution.
diff --git a/scripts/openstack-ansible.rc b/scripts/openstack-ansible.rc
index 3ee0eba3c2..c1a91b2955 100644
--- a/scripts/openstack-ansible.rc
+++ b/scripts/openstack-ansible.rc
@@ -47,3 +47,5 @@ export ANSIBLE_SSH_PIPELINING="${ANSIBLE_SSH_PIPELINING:-True}"
 
 export ANSIBLE_STRATEGY_PLUGINS="${ANSIBLE_STRATEGY_PLUGINS:-/etc/ansible/roles/plugins/strategy}"
 export ANSIBLE_CONNECTION_PLUGINS="${ANSIBLE_CONNECTION_PLUGINS:-/etc/ansible/roles/plugins/connection}"
+
+export ANSIBLE_FORCE_HANDLERS="${ANSIBLE_FORCE_HANDLERS:-True}"