diff --git a/atom b/atom
index e4c7513..20a83ad 100755
--- a/atom
+++ b/atom
@@ -1232,7 +1232,6 @@ encodeFile::vorbis() {
 
 worker() {
 	trap "kill -USR1 $masterpid" EXIT
-	set +e
 	while :
 	do
 		echo work
@@ -1546,6 +1545,7 @@ checkworkers() {
 			workers[key]=$!
 			eval exec $((100+key))'>"$tempdir"/worker${key}in'
 			eval exec $((200+key))'<"$tempdir"/worker${key}out'
+			(( ++failed ))
 		fi
 	done
 }
@@ -1570,7 +1570,6 @@ then
 fi
 getConfig
 
-set -e
 set +H
 if (( debug ))
 then
@@ -1993,7 +1992,7 @@ echo 'COMMIT;' >&3
 echo -e "\rCreated ${count:-0} tasks for $filecount files (${copies:-0} immediate copies)"
 
 masterpid=$$
-trap checkworkers USR1
+trap checkworkers USR1 ALRM
 rm -f "$tempdir"/worker*
 concurrency=$(( maxload / 2 ))
 (( concurrency )) || concurrency=1