diff --git a/queue_job/controllers/main.py b/queue_job/controllers/main.py
index b31b7a02b7..67fa347e83 100644
--- a/queue_job/controllers/main.py
+++ b/queue_job/controllers/main.py
@@ -13,11 +13,7 @@
 from odoo.service.model import PG_CONCURRENCY_ERRORS_TO_RETRY
 
 from ..job import Job, ENQUEUED
-from ..exception import (NoSuchJobError,
-                         NotReadableJobError,
-                         RetryableJobError,
-                         FailedJobError,
-                         NothingToDoJob)
+from ..exception import (RetryableJobError, FailedJobError, NothingToDoJob)
 
 _logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -26,42 +22,17 @@
 
 class RunJobController(http.Controller):
 
-    def _load_job(self, env, job_uuid):
-        """Reload a job from the backend"""
-        try:
-            job = Job.load(env, job_uuid)
-        except NoSuchJobError:
-            # just skip it
-            job = None
-        except NotReadableJobError:
-            _logger.exception('Could not read job: %s', job_uuid)
-            raise
-        return job
-
     def _try_perform_job(self, env, job):
         """Try to perform the job."""
-
-        # if the job has been manually set to DONE or PENDING,
-        # or if something tries to run a job that is not enqueued
-        # before its execution, stop
-        if job.state != ENQUEUED:
-            _logger.warning('job %s is in state %s '
-                            'instead of enqueued in /runjob',
-                            job.uuid, job.state)
-            return
-
-        # TODO: set_started should be done atomically with
-        #       update queue_job set=state=started
-        #       where state=enqueid and id=
         job.set_started()
         job.store()
-        http.request.env.cr.commit()
-
+        env.cr.commit()
         _logger.debug('%s started', job)
+
         job.perform()
         job.set_done()
         job.store()
-        http.request.env.cr.commit()
+        env.cr.commit()
         _logger.debug('%s done', job)
 
     @http.route('/queue_job/session', type='http', auth="none")
@@ -87,10 +58,23 @@ def retry_postpone(job, message, seconds=None):
             job.store()
             env.cr.commit()
 
-        job = self._load_job(env, job_uuid)
-        if job is None:
+        # ensure the job to run is in the correct state and lock the record
+        env.cr.execute(
+            "SELECT state FROM queue_job "
+            "WHERE uuid=%s AND state=%s "
+            "FOR UPDATE",
+            (job_uuid, ENQUEUED)
+        )
+        if not env.cr.fetchone():
+            _logger.warn(
+                "was requested to run job %s, but it does not exist, "
+                "or is not in state %s",
+                job_uuid, ENQUEUED
+            )
             return ""
-        env.cr.commit()
+
+        job = Job.load(env, job_uuid)
+        assert job and job.state == ENQUEUED
 
         try:
             try:
diff --git a/queue_job/exception.py b/queue_job/exception.py
index a3e7db0066..2a6e5ac6a2 100644
--- a/queue_job/exception.py
+++ b/queue_job/exception.py
@@ -14,10 +14,6 @@ class NoSuchJobError(JobError):
     """The job does not exist."""
 
 
-class NotReadableJobError(JobError):
-    """The job cannot be read from the storage."""
-
-
 class FailedJobError(JobError):
     """A job had an error having to be resolved."""
 
diff --git a/queue_job/jobrunner/runner.py b/queue_job/jobrunner/runner.py
index 4380316e2d..f0d7b9b863 100644
--- a/queue_job/jobrunner/runner.py
+++ b/queue_job/jobrunner/runner.py
@@ -224,8 +224,14 @@ def set_job_pending():
             cr.execute(
                 "UPDATE queue_job SET state=%s, "
                 "date_enqueued=NULL, date_started=NULL "
-                "WHERE uuid=%s and state=%s", (PENDING, job_uuid, ENQUEUED)
+                "WHERE uuid=%s and state=%s "
+                "RETURNING uuid", (PENDING, job_uuid, ENQUEUED)
             )
+            if cr.fetchone():
+                _logger.warning(
+                    "state of job %s was reset from %s to %s",
+                    job_uuid, ENQUEUED, PENDING,
+                )
 
     # TODO: better way to HTTP GET asynchronously (grequest, ...)?
     #       if this was python3 I would be doing this with