diff --git a/src/server.js b/src/server.js
index 728da524ed..5afb0fd248 100644
--- a/src/server.js
+++ b/src/server.js
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@ if (cluster.isMaster && (isDev || isProd)) {
   // Fork workers.
   _.times(require('os').cpus().length, function(){
     cluster.fork();
-  })
+  });
 
-  cluster.on('exit', function(worker, code, signal) {
+  cluster.on('disconnect', function(worker, code, signal) {
     var w = cluster.fork(); // replace the dead worker
     logging.error('[%s] [master:%s] worker:%s disconnect! new worker:%s fork', new Date(), process.pid, worker.process.pid, w.process.pid);
   });
@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@ if (cluster.isMaster && (isDev || isProd)) {
   app.use('/api/v1', require('./routes/apiv1').middleware);
   app.use('/export', require('./routes/dataexport').middleware);
 
+  app.use(utils.crashWorker(server));
   app.use(utils.errorHandler);
 
   require('./routes/apiv2.coffee')(swagger, v2);
diff --git a/src/utils.js b/src/utils.js
index 0fa0bcc68f..4ff8f2a895 100644
--- a/src/utils.js
+++ b/src/utils.js
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ var nodemailer = require('nodemailer');
 var nconf = require('nconf');
 var crypto = require('crypto');
 var path = require("path");
+var cluster = require("cluster");
 
 module.exports.sendEmail = function(mailData) {
   var smtpTransport = nodemailer.createTransport("SMTP",{
@@ -61,6 +62,23 @@ module.exports.setupConfig = function(){
   if (nconf.get('NODE_ENV') === 'production') require('newrelic');
 };
 
+module.exports.crashWorker = function(server) {
+    return function(err, req, res, next) {
+        if (!cluster.isMaster) {
+            // make sure we close down within 30 seconds
+            var killtimer = setTimeout(function() {
+                process.exit(1);
+            }, 30000);
+            // But don't keep the process open just for that!
+            killtimer.unref();
+            // stop taking new requests.
+            server.close();
+            cluster.worker.disconnect();
+        }
+        next(err);
+    };
+}
+
 
 module.exports.errorHandler = function(err, req, res, next) {
   // when we hit an error, send it to admin as an email. If no ADMIN_EMAIL is present, just send it to yourself (SMTP_USER)
@@ -76,5 +94,4 @@ module.exports.errorHandler = function(err, req, res, next) {
   var message = err.message ? err.message : err;
   message =  (message.length < 200) ? message : message.substring(0,100) + message.substring(message.length-100,message.length);
   res.json(500,{err:message}); //res.end(err.message);
-  process.exit(0);
 }