diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index fa92485f..1c86bc98 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 27/9/16 started 8.4.2
 - small doc improvements
 - fix error message for metadata fetch type mismatch
+- resolve a race condition in thread shutdown, thanks Lovell
 
 1/5/16 started 8.4
 - many more wepsave options [Felix Bünemann]
diff --git a/libvips/include/vips/private.h b/libvips/include/vips/private.h
index af8bfa1b..84e46977 100644
--- a/libvips/include/vips/private.h
+++ b/libvips/include/vips/private.h
@@ -101,17 +101,8 @@ typedef struct _VipsBufferCache {
 	VipsBufferThread *buffer_thread;
 	GSList *reserve;	/* VipsBuffer kept in reserve */
 	int n_reserve;		/* Number in reserve */
-	struct _VipsBufferCacheProxy *proxy;
 } VipsBufferCache;
 
-/* A proxy object between the image and the cache. This has the lifetime of the
- * image and keeps a nullable pointer to the buffer cache. 
- */
-typedef struct _VipsBufferCacheProxy { 
-	VipsBufferCache *cache;
-	struct _VipsImage *im;
-} VipsBufferCacheProxy;
-
 /* What we track for each pixel buffer. These can move between caches and
  * between threads, but not between images. 
  */
diff --git a/libvips/include/vips/thread.h b/libvips/include/vips/thread.h
index a3a552a1..3ae7f4c6 100644
--- a/libvips/include/vips/thread.h
+++ b/libvips/include/vips/thread.h
@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@ void vips_g_cond_free( GCond * );
  */
 GThread *vips_g_thread_new( const char *, GThreadFunc, gpointer );
 
+gboolean vips_thread_isworker( void );
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif /*__cplusplus*/
diff --git a/libvips/iofuncs/buffer.c b/libvips/iofuncs/buffer.c
index 0e8c9740..99129adf 100644
--- a/libvips/iofuncs/buffer.c
+++ b/libvips/iofuncs/buffer.c
@@ -184,8 +184,8 @@ buffer_thread_free( VipsBufferThread *buffer_thread )
  *
  * - on thread shutdown, the enclosing hash is destroyed, and that will 
  *   trigger this via GDestroyNotify.
- * - if the image is closed, buffer_cache_image_postclose() fires and will call
- *   this
+ * - if the BufferCache has been allocated by the main thread,  this will be
+ *   triggered from postclose on the image
  *
  * These can happen in either order. 
  */
@@ -223,35 +223,26 @@ buffer_cache_free( VipsBufferCache *cache )
 	}
 	VIPS_FREEF( g_slist_free, cache->reserve );
 
-	cache->proxy->cache = NULL;
-	cache->proxy = NULL;
-
 	g_free( cache );
 }
 
 static void
-buffer_cache_proxy_image_postclose( VipsImage *im, VipsBufferCacheProxy *proxy )
+buffer_cache_image_postclose( VipsImage *im, VipsBufferCache *cache )
 {
-	g_assert( proxy->im == im );
+	VipsBufferThread *buffer_thread = cache->buffer_thread;
 
-	if( proxy->cache ) {
-		VipsBufferCache *cache = proxy->cache;
-		VipsBufferThread *buffer_thread = cache->buffer_thread;
-		VipsImage *im = cache->im;
+	/* Runs to clean up main thread buffers on image close.
+	 */
+	g_assert( cache->im == im );
+	g_assert( !vips_thread_isworker() );
 
-		g_assert( cache->im == im );
-
-		g_hash_table_remove( buffer_thread->hash, im );
-	}
-
-	g_free( proxy ); 
+	g_hash_table_remove( buffer_thread->hash, im );
 }
 
 static VipsBufferCache *
 buffer_cache_new( VipsBufferThread *buffer_thread, VipsImage *im )
 {
 	VipsBufferCache *cache;
-	VipsBufferCacheProxy *proxy;
 
 	cache = g_new( VipsBufferCache, 1 );
 	cache->buffers = NULL;
@@ -261,17 +252,14 @@ buffer_cache_new( VipsBufferThread *buffer_thread, VipsImage *im )
 	cache->reserve = NULL;
 	cache->n_reserve = 0;
 
-	proxy = g_new( VipsBufferCacheProxy, 1 );
-	proxy->im = im;
-	proxy->cache = cache;
-	cache->proxy = proxy;
-	
-	/* Free memory on image close. We can't do this on thread exit since
-	 * some buffers will be made from the main thread and that won't exit
-	 * until program termination.
+	/* VipsBufferCache allocated from worker threads will be freed when
+	 * workers shut down. This won't happen for VipsBufferCache allocated 
+	 * from the main thread, since (obviously) thread shutdown will never 
+	 * happen. In this case, we need to free resources on image close.
 	 */
-	g_signal_connect( im, "postclose", 
-		G_CALLBACK( buffer_cache_proxy_image_postclose ), proxy );
+	if( !vips_thread_isworker() )  
+		g_signal_connect( im, "postclose", 
+			G_CALLBACK( buffer_cache_image_postclose ), cache );
 
 #ifdef DEBUG_CREATE
 	g_mutex_lock( vips__global_lock );
diff --git a/libvips/iofuncs/threadpool.c b/libvips/iofuncs/threadpool.c
index 559feee8..860690c6 100644
--- a/libvips/iofuncs/threadpool.c
+++ b/libvips/iofuncs/threadpool.c
@@ -99,6 +99,10 @@ int vips__thinstrip_height = VIPS__THINSTRIP_HEIGHT;
  */
 int vips__concurrency = 0;
 
+/* Set this GPrivate to indicate that this is a vips worker.
+ */
+static GPrivate vips_threadpool_is_worker_private;
+
 /* Glib 2.32 revised the thread API. We need some compat functions.
  */
 
@@ -154,6 +158,16 @@ vips_g_cond_free( GCond *cond )
 #endif
 }
 
+/* TRUE if we are a vips worker thread. We sometimes manage resource allocation
+ * differently for vips workers since we can cheaply free stuff on thread
+ * termination.
+ */
+gboolean
+vips_thread_isworker( void )
+{
+	return( g_private_get( &vips_threadpool_is_worker_private ) != NULL );
+}
+
 typedef struct {
 	const char *domain; 
 	GThreadFunc func; 
@@ -170,6 +184,10 @@ vips_thread_run( gpointer data )
 	if( vips__thread_profile ) 
 		vips__thread_profile_attach( info->domain );
 
+	/* Set this to something (anything) to tag this thread as a vips worker.
+	 */
+	g_private_set( &vips_threadpool_is_worker_private, data );
+
 	result = info->func( info->data );
 
 	g_free( info );