diff --git a/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/workers.py b/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/workers.py
index 1573a06..de33b82 100644
--- a/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/workers.py
+++ b/earwigbot/wiki/copyvios/workers.py
@@ -60,8 +60,7 @@ def globalize(num_workers=8):
 
     _global_queues = _CopyvioQueues()
     for i in xrange(num_workers):
-        worker = _CopyvioWorker(_global_queues)
-        worker.start("global-{0}".format(i))
+        worker = _CopyvioWorker("global-{0}".format(i), _global_queues)
         _global_workers.append(worker)
     _is_globalized = True
 
@@ -134,16 +133,19 @@ class _CopyvioQueues(object):
 class _CopyvioWorker(object):
     """A multithreaded URL opener/parser instance."""
 
-    def __init__(self, queues, until=None):
+    def __init__(self, name, queues, until=None):
         self._queues = queues
         self._until = until
 
-        self._thread = None
+        self._thread = thread = Thread(target=self._run)
         self._site = None
         self._queue = None
         self._opener = build_opener()
+        self._logger = getLogger("earwigbot.wiki.cvworker." + name)
 
-        self._logger = None
+        thread.name = "cvworker-" + name
+        thread.daemon = True
+        thread.start()
 
     def _open_url(self, source):
         """Open a URL and return its parsed content, or None.
@@ -195,42 +197,44 @@ class _CopyvioWorker(object):
 
         return handler(content)
 
-    def _dequeue(self):
-        """Remove a source from one of the queues."""
+    def _acquire_new_site(self):
+        """Block for a new unassigned site queue."""
         if self._until:
             timeout = self._until - time()
             if timeout <= 0:
-                return
+                raise Empty
         else:
             timeout = None
 
-        if self._queue:
-            self._logger.debug(u"Popping source from existing queue ({0})".format(self._site))
+        self._logger.debug("Waiting for new site queue")
+        site, queue = self._queues.unassigned.get(timeout=timeout)
+        if site is StopIteration:
+            raise StopIteration
+        self._logger.debug(u"Acquired new site queue: {0}".format(site))
+        self._site = site
+        self._queue = queue
+
+    def _dequeue(self):
+        """Remove a source from one of the queues."""
+        if not self._queue:
+            self._acquire_new_site()
+
+        logmsg = u"Fetching a new source URL from site queue {0}"
+        self._logger.debug(logmsg.format(self._site))
+        self._queues.lock.acquire()
+        try:
             source = self._queue.pop()
-            self._logger.debug(u"Got URL: {0}".format(source.url))
-            with self._queues.lock:
-                if not self._queue:
-                    self._logger.debug(u"Destroying site {0}".format(self._site))
-                    del self._queues.sites[self._site]
-                    self._queue = None
-        else:
-            self._logger.debug("Waiting for unassigned URL queue")
-            site, queue = self._queues.unassigned.get(timeout=timeout)
-            if site is StopIteration:
-                return StopIteration
-            self._logger.debug(u"Got queue: {0}".format(site))
-            source = queue.pop()
-            self._logger.debug(u"Got URL: {0}".format(source.url))
-            with self._queues.lock:
-                if not queue:
-                    self._logger.debug(u"Destroying site {0}".format(site))
-                    del self._queues.sites[site]
-                else:
-                    self._logger.debug(u"Saving site {0}".format(site))
-                    self._site = site
-                    self._queue = queue
+        except IndexError:
+            self._logger.debug("Queue is empty")
+            del self._queues.sites[self._site]
+            self._queue = None
+            self._queues.lock.release()
+            return self._dequeue()
+        self._queues.lock.release()
+
+        self._logger.debug(u"Got source URL: {0}".format(source.url))
         if not source.active():
-            self._logger.debug(u"Inactive source; trying again")
+            self._logger.debug("Source is inactive")
             return self._dequeue()
         return source
 
@@ -245,21 +249,15 @@ class _CopyvioWorker(object):
             try:
                 source = self._dequeue()
             except Empty:
+                self._logger.debug("Exiting: queue timed out")
                 return
-            if source is StopIteration:
+            except StopIteration:
+                self._logger.debug("Exiting: got stop signal")
                 return
             text = self._open_url(source)
             if text:
                 source.workspace.compare(source, MarkovChain(text))
 
-    def start(self, name):
-        """Start the worker in a new thread, with a given name."""
-        self._logger = getLogger("earwigbot.wiki.cvworker." + name)
-        self._thread = thread = Thread(target=self._run)
-        thread.name = "cvworker-" + name
-        thread.daemon = True
-        thread.start()
-
 
 class CopyvioWorkspace(object):
     """Manages a single copyvio check distributed across threads."""
@@ -284,8 +282,8 @@ class CopyvioWorkspace(object):
         else:
             self._queues = _CopyvioQueues()
             for i in xrange(num_workers):
-                worker = _CopyvioWorker(self._queues, until)
-                worker.start("local-{0:04}.{1}".format(id(self) % 10000, i))
+                name = "local-{0:04}.{1}".format(id(self) % 10000, i)
+                worker = _CopyvioWorker(name, self._queues, until)
 
     def _calculate_confidence(self, delta):
         """Return the confidence of a violation as a float between 0 and 1."""