diff --git a/awx/conf/settings.py b/awx/conf/settings.py
index d650fdeba9..17521526fd 100644
--- a/awx/conf/settings.py
+++ b/awx/conf/settings.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ from django.conf import settings, UserSettingsHolder
 from django.core.cache import cache as django_cache
 from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
 from django.db import transaction, connection
-from django.db.utils import Error as DBError
+from django.db.utils import Error as DBError, ProgrammingError
 from django.utils.functional import cached_property
 
 # Django REST Framework
@@ -74,10 +74,19 @@ def _ctit_db_wrapper(trans_safe=False):
                     logger.debug('Obtaining database settings in spite of broken transaction.')
                     transaction.set_rollback(False)
         yield
-    except DBError:
+    except DBError as exc:
         if trans_safe:
             if 'migrate' not in sys.argv and 'check_migrations' not in sys.argv:
-                logger.exception('Database settings are not available, using defaults.')
+                level = logger.exception
+                if isinstance(exc, ProgrammingError):
+                    if 'relation' in str(exc) and 'does not exist' in str(exc):
+                        # this generally means we can't fetch Tower configuration
+                        # because the database hasn't actually finished migrating yet;
+                        # this is usually a sign that a service in a container (such as ws_broadcast)
+                        # has come up *before* the database has finished migrating, and
+                        # especially that the conf.settings table doesn't exist yet
+                        level = logger.debug
+                level('Database settings are not available, using defaults.')
         else:
             logger.exception('Error modifying something related to database settings.')
     finally:
diff --git a/awx/main/management/commands/run_wsbroadcast.py b/awx/main/management/commands/run_wsbroadcast.py
index 31bfac87c0..5801f4e5d0 100644
--- a/awx/main/management/commands/run_wsbroadcast.py
+++ b/awx/main/management/commands/run_wsbroadcast.py
@@ -5,17 +5,19 @@ import asyncio
 import datetime
 import re
 import redis
+import time
 from datetime import datetime as dt
 
 from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand
+from django.db import connection
 from django.db.models import Q
+from django.db.migrations.executor import MigrationExecutor
 
 from awx.main.analytics.broadcast_websocket import (
     BroadcastWebsocketStatsManager,
     safe_name,
 )
 from awx.main.wsbroadcast import BroadcastWebsocketManager
-from awx.main.models.ha import Instance
 
 
 logger = logging.getLogger('awx.main.wsbroadcast')
@@ -91,6 +93,36 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
         return host_stats
 
     def handle(self, *arg, **options):
+        # it's necessary to delay this import in case
+        # database migrations are still running
+        from awx.main.models.ha import Instance
+
+        executor = MigrationExecutor(connection)
+        migrating = bool(executor.migration_plan(executor.loader.graph.leaf_nodes()))
+        registered = False
+
+        if not migrating:
+            try:
+                Instance.objects.me()
+                registered = True
+            except RuntimeError:
+                pass
+
+        if migrating or not registered:
+            # In containerized deployments, migrations happen in the task container,
+            # and the services running there don't start until migrations are
+            # finished.
+            # *This* service runs in the web container, and it's possible that it can
+            # start _before_ migrations are finished, thus causing issues with the ORM
+            # queries it makes (specifically, conf.settings queries).
+            # This block is meant to serve as a sort of bail-out for the situation
+            # where migrations aren't yet finished (similar to the migration
+            # detection middleware that the uwsgi processes have) or when instance
+            # registration isn't done yet
+            logger.error('AWX is currently installing/upgrading.  Trying again in 5s...')
+            time.sleep(5)
+            return
+
         if options.get('status'):
             try:
                 stats_all = BroadcastWebsocketStatsManager.get_stats_sync()
@@ -107,6 +139,7 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
                             break
                 else:
                     data[family.name] = family.samples[0].value
+
             me = Instance.objects.me()
             hostnames = [i.hostname for i in Instance.objects.exclude(Q(hostname=me.hostname) | Q(rampart_groups__controller__isnull=False))]