diff --git a/src/bin/pg_dump/parallel.c b/src/bin/pg_dump/parallel.c
index c914c26149f..4d045a52b0e 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_dump/parallel.c
+++ b/src/bin/pg_dump/parallel.c
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
  *		WRKR_IDLE: it's waiting for a command
  *		WRKR_WORKING: it's been sent a command
  *		WRKR_FINISHED: it's returned a result
- *		WRKR_TERMINATED: process ended
+ *		WRKR_TERMINATED: process ended (or not started yet)
  * The FINISHED state indicates that the worker is idle, but we've not yet
  * dealt with the status code it returned from the prior command.
  * ReapWorkerStatus() extracts the unhandled command status value and sets
@@ -381,7 +381,9 @@ ShutdownWorkersHard(ParallelState *pstate)
 
 	/*
 	 * Close our write end of the sockets so that any workers waiting for
-	 * commands know they can exit.
+	 * commands know they can exit.  (Note: some of the pipeWrite fields might
+	 * still be zero, if we failed to initialize all the workers.  Hence, just
+	 * ignore errors here.)
 	 */
 	for (i = 0; i < pstate->numWorkers; i++)
 		closesocket(pstate->parallelSlot[i].pipeWrite);
@@ -455,7 +457,7 @@ WaitForTerminatingWorkers(ParallelState *pstate)
 
 		for (j = 0; j < pstate->numWorkers; j++)
 		{
-			if (pstate->parallelSlot[j].workerStatus != WRKR_TERMINATED)
+			if (WORKER_IS_RUNNING(pstate->parallelSlot[j].workerStatus))
 			{
 				lpHandles[nrun] = (HANDLE) pstate->parallelSlot[j].hThread;
 				nrun++;
@@ -890,6 +892,7 @@ ParallelBackupStart(ArchiveHandle *AH)
 	if (AH->public.numWorkers == 1)
 		return pstate;
 
+	/* Create status array, being sure to initialize all fields to 0 */
 	pstate->parallelSlot = (ParallelSlot *) pg_malloc(slotSize);
 	memset((void *) pstate->parallelSlot, 0, slotSize);
 
@@ -931,17 +934,16 @@ ParallelBackupStart(ArchiveHandle *AH)
 		int			pipeMW[2],
 					pipeWM[2];
 
+		slot->args = (ParallelArgs *) pg_malloc(sizeof(ParallelArgs));
+		slot->args->AH = NULL;
+		slot->args->te = NULL;
+
 		/* Create communication pipes for this worker */
 		if (pgpipe(pipeMW) < 0 || pgpipe(pipeWM) < 0)
 			exit_horribly(modulename,
 						  "could not create communication channels: %s\n",
 						  strerror(errno));
 
-		slot->workerStatus = WRKR_IDLE;
-		slot->args = (ParallelArgs *) pg_malloc(sizeof(ParallelArgs));
-		slot->args->AH = NULL;
-		slot->args->te = NULL;
-
 		/* master's ends of the pipes */
 		slot->pipeRead = pipeWM[PIPE_READ];
 		slot->pipeWrite = pipeMW[PIPE_WRITE];
@@ -959,6 +961,7 @@ ParallelBackupStart(ArchiveHandle *AH)
 		handle = _beginthreadex(NULL, 0, (void *) &init_spawned_worker_win32,
 								wi, 0, &(slot->threadId));
 		slot->hThread = handle;
+		slot->workerStatus = WRKR_IDLE;
 #else							/* !WIN32 */
 		pid = fork();
 		if (pid == 0)
@@ -1003,6 +1006,7 @@ ParallelBackupStart(ArchiveHandle *AH)
 
 		/* In Master after successful fork */
 		slot->pid = pid;
+		slot->workerStatus = WRKR_IDLE;
 
 		/* close read end of Master -> Worker */
 		closesocket(pipeMW[PIPE_READ]);
@@ -1119,7 +1123,7 @@ GetIdleWorker(ParallelState *pstate)
 }
 
 /*
- * Return true iff every worker is in the WRKR_TERMINATED state.
+ * Return true iff no worker is running.
  */
 static bool
 HasEveryWorkerTerminated(ParallelState *pstate)
@@ -1128,7 +1132,7 @@ HasEveryWorkerTerminated(ParallelState *pstate)
 
 	for (i = 0; i < pstate->numWorkers; i++)
 	{
-		if (pstate->parallelSlot[i].workerStatus != WRKR_TERMINATED)
+		if (WORKER_IS_RUNNING(pstate->parallelSlot[i].workerStatus))
 			return false;
 	}
 	return true;
@@ -1528,7 +1532,7 @@ getMessageFromWorker(ParallelState *pstate, bool do_wait, int *worker)
 	FD_ZERO(&workerset);
 	for (i = 0; i < pstate->numWorkers; i++)
 	{
-		if (pstate->parallelSlot[i].workerStatus == WRKR_TERMINATED)
+		if (!WORKER_IS_RUNNING(pstate->parallelSlot[i].workerStatus))
 			continue;
 		FD_SET(pstate->parallelSlot[i].pipeRead, &workerset);
 		if (pstate->parallelSlot[i].pipeRead > maxFd)
@@ -1553,6 +1557,8 @@ getMessageFromWorker(ParallelState *pstate, bool do_wait, int *worker)
 	{
 		char	   *msg;
 
+		if (!WORKER_IS_RUNNING(pstate->parallelSlot[i].workerStatus))
+			continue;
 		if (!FD_ISSET(pstate->parallelSlot[i].pipeRead, &workerset))
 			continue;
 
diff --git a/src/bin/pg_dump/parallel.h b/src/bin/pg_dump/parallel.h
index 21739ca87c1..e7e6bd1be6a 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_dump/parallel.h
+++ b/src/bin/pg_dump/parallel.h
@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@ typedef enum
 	WRKR_FINISHED
 } T_WorkerStatus;
 
+#define WORKER_IS_RUNNING(workerStatus) \
+	((workerStatus) != WRKR_TERMINATED)
+
 /* Arguments needed for a worker process */
 typedef struct ParallelArgs
 {