diff --git a/rq/worker.py b/rq/worker.py
index 0744a8da5..c52c21cc9 100644
--- a/rq/worker.py
+++ b/rq/worker.py
@@ -544,28 +544,7 @@ def monitor_work_horse(self, job):
         """
         while True:
             try:
-                _, ret_val = os.waitpid(self._horse_pid, 0)
-                if ret_val != os.EX_OK:
-                    job_status = job.get_status()
-                    if job_status is None:
-                        # Job completed and its ttl has expired
-                        break
-                    if job_status not in [JobStatus.FINISHED, JobStatus.FAILED]:
-                        self.handle_job_failure(job=job)
-
-                        # Unhandled failure: move the job to the failed queue
-                        self.log.warning(
-                            'Moving job to {0!r} queue'.format(
-                                self.failed_queue.name
-                            )
-                        )
-                        self.failed_queue.quarantine(
-                            job,
-                            exc_info=(
-                                "Work-horse process "
-                                "was terminated unexpectedly"
-                            )
-                        )
+                self._monitor_work_horse_tick(job)
                 break
             except OSError as e:
                 # In case we encountered an OSError due to EINTR (which is
@@ -577,6 +556,29 @@ def monitor_work_horse(self, job):
                 if e.errno != errno.EINTR:
                     raise
 
+    def _monitor_work_horse_tick(self, job):
+        _, ret_val = os.waitpid(self._horse_pid, 0)
+        if ret_val == os.EX_OK:  # The process exited normally.
+            return
+        job_status = job.get_status()
+        if job_status is None:  # Job completed and its ttl has expired
+            return
+        if job_status not in [JobStatus.FINISHED, JobStatus.FAILED]:
+            self.handle_job_failure(job=job)
+
+            # Unhandled failure: move the job to the failed queue
+            self.log.warning((
+                'Moving job to {0!r} queue '
+                '(work-horse terminated unexpectedly; waitpid returned {1})'
+            ).format(self.failed_queue.name, ret_val))
+            self.failed_queue.quarantine(
+                job,
+                exc_info=(
+                    "Work-horse process was terminated unexpectedly "
+                    "(waitpid returned {0})"
+                ).format(ret_val)
+            )
+
     def execute_job(self, job, queue):
         """Spawns a work horse to perform the actual work and passes it a job.
         The worker will wait for the work horse and make sure it executes