diff --git a/spec/app/git-spec.coffee b/spec/app/git-spec.coffee
index 36ca195e1..04c5596fc 100644
--- a/spec/app/git-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/app/git-spec.coffee
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 Git = require 'git'
 fs = require 'fs'
+Task = require 'task'
 
 describe "Git", ->
   repo = null
@@ -212,3 +213,22 @@ describe "Git", ->
         expect(statuses[cleanPath]).toBeUndefined()
         expect(repo.isStatusNew(statuses[newPath])).toBeTruthy()
         expect(repo.isStatusModified(statuses[modifiedPath])).toBeTruthy()
+
+    it "only starts a single web worker at a time and schedules a restart if one is already running", =>
+      fs.write(modifiedPath, 'making this path modified')
+      statusHandler = jasmine.createSpy('statusHandler')
+      repo.on 'statuses-changed', statusHandler
+
+      spyOn(Task.prototype, "start").andCallThrough()
+      repo.refreshStatus()
+      expect(Task.prototype.start.callCount).toBe 1
+      repo.refreshStatus()
+      expect(Task.prototype.start.callCount).toBe 1
+      repo.refreshStatus()
+      expect(Task.prototype.start.callCount).toBe 1
+
+      waitsFor ->
+        statusHandler.callCount > 0
+
+      runs ->
+        expect(Task.prototype.start.callCount).toBe 2
diff --git a/src/app/git.coffee b/src/app/git.coffee
index 761084c57..b9f469b1c 100644
--- a/src/app/git.coffee
+++ b/src/app/git.coffee
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ class Git
 
   statuses: null
   upstream: null
+  statusTask: null
 
   constructor: (path, options={}) ->
     @statuses = {}
@@ -58,7 +59,11 @@ class Git
     @path ?= fs.absolute(@getRepo().getPath())
 
   destroy: ->
-    @statusTask?.abort()
+    if @statusTask?
+      @statusTask.abort()
+      @statusTask.off()
+      @statusTask = null
+
     @getRepo().destroy()
     @repo = null
     @unsubscribe()
@@ -130,8 +135,16 @@ class Git
     @getRepo().isSubmodule(@relativize(path))
 
   refreshStatus: ->
-    @statusTask = new RepositoryStatusTask(this)
-    @statusTask.start()
+    if @statusTask?
+      @statusTask.off()
+      @statusTask.one 'task-completed', =>
+        @statusTask = null
+        @refreshStatus()
+    else
+      @statusTask = new RepositoryStatusTask(this)
+      @statusTask.one 'task-completed', =>
+        @statusTask = null
+      @statusTask.start()
 
   getDirectoryStatus: (directoryPath) ->
     directoryPath = "#{directoryPath}/"
diff --git a/src/stdlib/task.coffee b/src/stdlib/task.coffee
index 3177e50be..eb3e2f3f5 100644
--- a/src/stdlib/task.coffee
+++ b/src/stdlib/task.coffee
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+_ = require 'underscore'
+EventEmitter = require 'event-emitter'
+
 module.exports =
 class Task
   aborted: false
@@ -49,3 +52,6 @@ class Task
     @abort()
     @worker?.terminate()
     @worker = null
+    @trigger 'task-completed'
+
+_.extend Task.prototype, EventEmitter