diff --git a/src/ReTestItems.jl b/src/ReTestItems.jl
index f9ab37a6..4fd25e33 100644
--- a/src/ReTestItems.jl
+++ b/src/ReTestItems.jl
@@ -499,8 +499,7 @@ function manage_worker(
         ch = Channel{TestItemResult}(1)
         if memory_percent() > memory_threshold_percent
             @warn "Memory usage ($(Base.Ryu.writefixed(memory_percent(), 1))%) is higher than threshold ($(Base.Ryu.writefixed(memory_threshold_percent, 1))%). Restarting worker process to try to free memory."
-            terminate!(worker)
-            wait(worker)
+            close(worker, :high_memory)
             worker = robust_start_worker(proj_name, nworker_threads, worker_init_expr, ntestitems)
         end
         testitem.workerid[] = worker.pid
@@ -554,8 +553,7 @@ function manage_worker(
             # Handle the exception
             if e isa TimeoutException
                 @debugv 1 "Test item $(repr(testitem.name)) timed out. Terminating worker $worker"
-                terminate!(worker)
-                wait(worker)
+                close(worker, :timeout)
                 @error "$worker timed out running test item $(repr(testitem.name)) after $timeout seconds. \
                     Recording test error."
                 record_timeout!(testitem, run_number, timeout)
diff --git a/src/workers.jl b/src/workers.jl
index 94f01521..2b116514 100644
--- a/src/workers.jl
+++ b/src/workers.jl
@@ -82,12 +82,12 @@ function terminate!(w::Worker, from::Symbol=:manual)
         empty!(w.futures)
     end
     signal = Base.SIGTERM
-    while true
+    while !process_exited(w.process)
+        @debug "sending signal $signal to worker $(w.pid)"
         kill(w.process, signal)
         signal = signal == Base.SIGTERM ? Base.SIGINT : Base.SIGKILL
         process_exited(w.process) && break
         sleep(0.1)
-        process_exited(w.process) && break
     end
     if !(w.socket.status == Base.StatusUninit || w.socket.status == Base.StatusInit || w.socket.handle === C_NULL)
         close(w.socket)
@@ -107,8 +107,9 @@ end
 
 # gracefully terminate a worker by sending a shutdown message
 # and waiting for the other tasks to perform worker shutdown
-function Base.close(w::Worker)
+function Base.close(w::Worker, from::Symbol=:manual)
     if !w.terminated && isopen(w.socket)
+        @debug "closing worker $(w.pid) from $from"
         req = Request(Symbol(), :(), rand(UInt64), true)
         @lock w.lock begin
             serialize(w.socket, req)
@@ -211,7 +212,7 @@ function redirect_worker_output(io::IO, w::Worker, fn, proc, ev::Threads.Event)
             end
         end
     catch e
-        # @error "Error redirecting worker output $(w.pid)" exception=(e, catch_backtrace())
+        @debug "Error redirecting worker output $(w.pid)" exception=(e, catch_backtrace())
         terminate!(w, :redirect_worker_output)
         e isa EOFError || e isa Base.IOError || rethrow()
     finally
@@ -246,7 +247,7 @@ function process_responses(w::Worker, ev::Threads.Event)
             end
         end
     catch e
-        # @error "Error processing responses from worker $(w.pid)" exception=(e, catch_backtrace())
+        @debug "Error processing responses from worker $(w.pid)" exception=(e, catch_backtrace())
         terminate!(w, :process_responses)
         e isa EOFError || e isa Base.IOError || rethrow()
     end
diff --git a/test/workers.jl b/test/workers.jl
index 40b0e802..35dac221 100644
--- a/test/workers.jl
+++ b/test/workers.jl
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ using Test
     @testset "clean shutdown ($w)" begin
         close(w)
         @test !process_running(w.process)
+        @test w.process.termsignal == Base.SIGTERM
+        @test w.process.exitcode == 0
         @test !isopen(w.socket)
         @test w.terminated
         @test istaskstarted(w.messages) && istaskdone(w.messages)