diff --git a/zerver/management/commands/process_queue.py b/zerver/management/commands/process_queue.py
index 23dd24fece..3ee3f7145d 100644
--- a/zerver/management/commands/process_queue.py
+++ b/zerver/management/commands/process_queue.py
@@ -9,10 +9,12 @@ from django.core.management import CommandError
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.utils import autoreload
 from zerver.worker.queue_processors import get_worker, get_active_worker_queues
+import os
 import sys
 import signal
 import logging
 import threading
+import subprocess
 
 class Command(BaseCommand):
     def add_arguments(self, parser):
@@ -35,6 +37,15 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
         logging.basicConfig()
         logger = logging.getLogger('process_queue')
 
+        def exit_with_three(signal, frame):
+            # type: (int, FrameType) -> None
+            """
+            This process is watched by Django's autoreload, so exiting
+            with status code 3 will cause this process to restart.
+            """
+            logger.warn("SIGUSR1 received. Restarting this queue processor.")
+            sys.exit(3)
+
         if not settings.USING_RABBITMQ:
             # Make the warning silent when running the tests
             if settings.TEST_SUITE:
@@ -56,8 +67,10 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
             logger.info('%d queue worker threads were launched' % (cnt,))
 
         if options['all']:
+            signal.signal(signal.SIGUSR1, exit_with_three)
             autoreload.main(run_threaded_workers, (get_active_worker_queues(), logger))
         elif options['multi_threaded']:
+            signal.signal(signal.SIGUSR1, exit_with_three)
             queues = options['multi_threaded']
             autoreload.main(run_threaded_workers, (queues, logger))
         else:
@@ -75,6 +88,7 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
                 sys.exit(0)
             signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, signal_handler)
             signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, signal_handler)
+            signal.signal(signal.SIGUSR1, signal_handler)
 
             worker.start()
 
diff --git a/zerver/worker/queue_processors.py b/zerver/worker/queue_processors.py
index 2476760b41..09cc18136c 100644
--- a/zerver/worker/queue_processors.py
+++ b/zerver/worker/queue_processors.py
@@ -2,12 +2,14 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 from typing import Any, Callable, Dict, List, Mapping, Optional, cast
 
+import signal
 import sys
 import os
 sys.path.insert(0, os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)), '../../api')))
 
 from bots_api.bot_lib import ExternalBotHandler, StateHandler
 from django.conf import settings
+from django.db import connection
 from django.core.handlers.wsgi import WSGIRequest
 from django.core.handlers.base import BaseHandler
 from zerver.models import \
@@ -91,6 +93,15 @@ def get_active_worker_queues(queue_type=None):
         return list(worker_classes.keys())
     return list(queues[queue_type].keys())
 
+def check_and_send_restart_signal():
+    # type: () -> None
+    try:
+        if not connection.is_usable():
+            logging.warning("*** Sending self SIGUSR1 to trigger a restart.")
+            os.kill(os.getpid(), signal.SIGUSR1)
+    except Exception:
+        pass
+
 class QueueProcessingWorker(object):
     queue_name = None # type: str
 
@@ -119,7 +130,9 @@ class QueueProcessingWorker(object):
             with lockfile(lock_fn):
                 with open(fn, 'ab') as f:
                     f.write(line.encode('utf-8'))
-        reset_queries()
+            check_and_send_restart_signal()
+        finally:
+            reset_queries()
 
     def _log_problem(self):
         # type: () -> None
@@ -363,6 +376,10 @@ class MessageSenderWorker(QueueProcessingWorker):
         server_meta['worker_log_data'] = request._log_data
 
         resp_content = resp.content.decode('utf-8')
+        response_data = ujson.loads(resp_content)
+        if response_data['result'] == 'error':
+            check_and_send_restart_signal()
+
         result = {'response': ujson.loads(resp_content), 'req_id': event['req_id'],
                   'server_meta': server_meta}