diff --git a/src/bin/pg_dump/parallel.c b/src/bin/pg_dump/parallel.c
index ba31ac8ed7..07821a0cfd 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_dump/parallel.c
+++ b/src/bin/pg_dump/parallel.c
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
  *
  * In the master process, the workerStatus field for each worker has one of
  * the following values:
+ *		WRKR_NOT_STARTED: we've not yet forked this worker
  *		WRKR_IDLE: it's waiting for a command
  *		WRKR_WORKING: it's working on a command
  *		WRKR_TERMINATED: process ended
@@ -76,11 +77,15 @@
 /* Worker process statuses */
 typedef enum
 {
+	WRKR_NOT_STARTED = 0,
 	WRKR_IDLE,
 	WRKR_WORKING,
 	WRKR_TERMINATED
 } T_WorkerStatus;
 
+#define WORKER_IS_RUNNING(workerStatus) \
+	((workerStatus) == WRKR_IDLE || (workerStatus) == WRKR_WORKING)
+
 /*
  * Private per-parallel-worker state (typedef for this is in parallel.h).
  *
@@ -417,7 +422,9 @@ 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);
@@ -491,7 +498,7 @@ 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++;
@@ -927,6 +934,7 @@ ParallelBackupStart(ArchiveHandle *AH)
 	if (AH->public.numWorkers == 1)
 		return pstate;
 
+	/* Create status arrays, being sure to initialize all fields to 0 */
 	pstate->te = (TocEntry **)
 		pg_malloc0(pstate->numWorkers * sizeof(TocEntry *));
 	pstate->parallelSlot = (ParallelSlot *)
@@ -976,13 +984,6 @@ ParallelBackupStart(ArchiveHandle *AH)
 						  "could not create communication channels: %s\n",
 						  strerror(errno));
 
-		pstate->te[i] = NULL;	/* just for safety */
-
-		slot->workerStatus = WRKR_IDLE;
-		slot->AH = NULL;
-		slot->callback = NULL;
-		slot->callback_data = NULL;
-
 		/* master's ends of the pipes */
 		slot->pipeRead = pipeWM[PIPE_READ];
 		slot->pipeWrite = pipeMW[PIPE_WRITE];
@@ -1000,6 +1001,7 @@ 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)
@@ -1044,6 +1046,7 @@ 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]);
@@ -1273,7 +1276,7 @@ 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)
@@ -1282,7 +1285,7 @@ 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;
@@ -1618,7 +1621,7 @@ 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)
@@ -1643,6 +1646,8 @@ 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;