diff --git a/scrapy/utils/log.py b/scrapy/utils/log.py
index 2013bfc43..0d17f6153 100644
--- a/scrapy/utils/log.py
+++ b/scrapy/utils/log.py
@@ -122,6 +122,9 @@ def configure_logging(
         install_scrapy_root_handler(settings)
 
 
+_scrapy_root_handler: Optional[logging.Handler] = None
+
+
 def install_scrapy_root_handler(settings: Settings) -> None:
     global _scrapy_root_handler
 
@@ -139,9 +142,6 @@ def get_scrapy_root_handler() -> Optional[logging.Handler]:
     return _scrapy_root_handler
 
 
-_scrapy_root_handler: Optional[logging.Handler] = None
-
-
 def _get_handler(settings: Settings) -> logging.Handler:
     """Return a log handler object according to settings"""
     filename = settings.get("LOG_FILE")