diff --git a/brozzler/worker.py b/brozzler/worker.py
index 1049295..95b6cda 100644
--- a/brozzler/worker.py
+++ b/brozzler/worker.py
@@ -149,38 +149,51 @@ class BrozzlerWorker:
             self._disclaim_site(site, page)
             self._browser_pool.release(browser)
 
+    def _claim_site(self, q):
+        """Reads message from SimpleQueue q, fires off thread to brozzle the
+        site. Raises KeyError if no browsers are available, kombu.simple.Empty
+        if queue is empty."""
+        browser = self._browser_pool.acquire()
+        try:
+            msg = q.get(block=True, timeout=0.5)
+            site = brozzler.Site(**msg.payload)
+            msg.ack()
+            self.logger.info("brozzling site {}".format(site))
+            ydl = self._youtube_dl(site)
+            th = threading.Thread(target=lambda: self._brozzle_site(browser, ydl, site),
+                    name="BrowsingThread-{}".format(site.scope_surt))
+            th.start()
+        except:
+            self._browser_pool.release(browser)
+            raise
+
     def run(self):
         latest_state = None
         while not self._shutdown_requested.is_set():
-            with kombu.Connection(self._amqp_url) as conn:
-                q = conn.SimpleQueue("brozzler.sites.unclaimed")
-                q_empty = False
-                if len(q) > 0:
-                    try:
-                        browser = self._browser_pool.acquire()
+            try:
+                # XXX too much connecting and disconnecting from rabbitmq
+                with kombu.Connection(self._amqp_url) as conn:
+                    q = conn.SimpleQueue("brozzler.sites.unclaimed")
+                    q_empty = False
+                    if len(q) > 0:
                         try:
-                            msg = q.get(block=True, timeout=0.5)
-                            site = brozzler.Site(**msg.payload)
-                            msg.ack() # XXX ack only after browsing finished? kinda complicated
-                            self.logger.info("brozzling site {}".format(site))
-                            ydl = self._youtube_dl(site)
-                            th = threading.Thread(target=lambda: self._brozzle_site(browser, ydl, site),
-                                    name="BrowsingThread-{}".format(site.scope_surt))
-                            th.start()
+                            self._claim_site(q)
                         except kombu.simple.Empty:
                             q_empty = True
-                    except KeyError:
-                        if latest_state != "browsers-busy":
-                            self.logger.info("all {} browsers are busy".format(self._max_browsers))
-                            latest_state = "browsers-busy"
-                else:
-                    q_empty = True
+                        except KeyError:
+                            if latest_state != "browsers-busy":
+                                self.logger.info("all {} browsers are busy".format(self._max_browsers))
+                                latest_state = "browsers-busy"
+                    else:
+                        q_empty = True
 
-                if q_empty:
-                    if latest_state != "no-unclaimed-sites":
-                        self.logger.info("no unclaimed sites to browse")
-                        latest_state = "no-unclaimed-sites"
-            time.sleep(0.5)
+                    if q_empty:
+                        if latest_state != "no-unclaimed-sites":
+                            self.logger.info("no unclaimed sites to browse")
+                            latest_state = "no-unclaimed-sites"
+                time.sleep(0.5)
+            except OSError as e:
+                self.logger.warn("continuing after i/o exception (from rabbitmq?)", exc_info=True)
 
     def start(self):
         th = threading.Thread(target=self.run, name="BrozzlerWorker")