diff --git a/src/bun.js/web_worker.zig b/src/bun.js/web_worker.zig
index 87982931a9..950f93d71b 100644
--- a/src/bun.js/web_worker.zig
+++ b/src/bun.js/web_worker.zig
@@ -690,9 +690,18 @@ const WebWorkerLifecycleHandle = struct {
     }
 
     pub fn requestTermination(self: *WebWorkerLifecycleHandle) void {
+        if (self.requested_terminate.load(.acquire)) {
+            return;
+        }
+
         self.ref();
         self.mutex.lock();
-        self.requested_terminate.store(true, .monotonic);
+
+        if (self.requested_terminate.swap(true, .monotonic)) {
+            self.mutex.unlock();
+            self.deref();
+            return;
+        }
 
         if (self.worker) |worker| {
             self.worker = null;
@@ -701,6 +710,7 @@ const WebWorkerLifecycleHandle = struct {
             worker.deref();
         } else {
             self.mutex.unlock();
+            // Let the reference counting system handle deinitialization
             self.deref();
         }
 
@@ -713,7 +723,7 @@ const WebWorkerLifecycleHandle = struct {
         if (self.requested_terminate.swap(false, .acquire)) {
             // we already requested to terminate, therefore this handle has
             // already been consumed on the other thread and we are able to free
-            // it.
+            // it. Let the reference counting system handle deinitialization.
             self.mutex.unlock();
             self.deref();
             return;