diff --git a/docs/changelog.md b/docs/changelog.md
index 95ea8978a..381f6abd6 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.md
+++ b/docs/changelog.md
@@ -4,6 +4,11 @@
 
 Requires libvips v8.9.1
 
+### v0.25.3 - TBD
+
+* Ensure libvips is initialised only once, improves worker thread safety.
+  [#2143](https://github.com/lovell/sharp/issues/2143)
+
 ### v0.25.2 - 20th March 2020
 
 * Provide prebuilt binaries for Linux ARM64v8.
diff --git a/src/sharp.cc b/src/sharp.cc
index 00b259b06..ae15648b6 100644
--- a/src/sharp.cc
+++ b/src/sharp.cc
@@ -21,8 +21,14 @@
 #include "utilities.h"
 #include "stats.h"
 
-Napi::Object init(Napi::Env env, Napi::Object exports) {
+static void* sharp_vips_init(void*) {
   vips_init("sharp");
+  return nullptr;
+}
+
+Napi::Object init(Napi::Env env, Napi::Object exports) {
+  static GOnce sharp_vips_init_once = G_ONCE_INIT;
+  g_once(&sharp_vips_init_once, static_cast<GThreadFunc>(sharp_vips_init), nullptr);
 
   g_log_set_handler("VIPS", static_cast<GLogLevelFlags>(G_LOG_LEVEL_WARNING),
     static_cast<GLogFunc>(sharp::VipsWarningCallback), nullptr);