diff --git a/kotlinx-coroutines-core/common/src/internal/LimitedDispatcher.kt b/kotlinx-coroutines-core/common/src/internal/LimitedDispatcher.kt
index 488331fc37..47cb0ccf48 100644
--- a/kotlinx-coroutines-core/common/src/internal/LimitedDispatcher.kt
+++ b/kotlinx-coroutines-core/common/src/internal/LimitedDispatcher.kt
@@ -65,7 +65,15 @@ internal class LimitedDispatcher(
         // `runningWorkers` when they observed an empty queue.
         if (!tryAllocateWorker()) return
         val task = obtainTaskOrDeallocateWorker() ?: return
-        startWorker(Worker(task))
+        try {
+            startWorker(Worker(task))
+        } catch (e: Throwable) {
+            // If we failed to start a worker, we should deallocate the worker slot
+            synchronized(workerAllocationLock) {
+                runningWorkers.decrementAndGet()
+            }
+            throw e
+        }
     }
 
     /**
@@ -107,21 +115,29 @@ internal class LimitedDispatcher(
      */
     private inner class Worker(private var currentTask: Runnable) : Runnable {
         override fun run() {
-            var fairnessCounter = 0
-            while (true) {
-                try {
-                    currentTask.run()
-                } catch (e: Throwable) {
-                    handleCoroutineException(EmptyCoroutineContext, e)
+            try {
+                var fairnessCounter = 0
+                while (true) {
+                    try {
+                        currentTask.run()
+                    } catch (e: Throwable) {
+                        handleCoroutineException(EmptyCoroutineContext, e)
+                    }
+                    currentTask = obtainTaskOrDeallocateWorker() ?: return
+                    // 16 is our out-of-thin-air constant to emulate fairness. Used in JS dispatchers as well
+                    if (++fairnessCounter >= 16 && dispatcher.safeIsDispatchNeeded(this@LimitedDispatcher)) {
+                        // Do "yield" to let other views execute their runnable as well
+                        // Note that we do not decrement 'runningWorkers' as we are still committed to our part of work
+                        dispatcher.safeDispatch(this@LimitedDispatcher, this)
+                        return
+                    }
                 }
-                currentTask = obtainTaskOrDeallocateWorker() ?: return
-                // 16 is our out-of-thin-air constant to emulate fairness. Used in JS dispatchers as well
-                if (++fairnessCounter >= 16 && dispatcher.safeIsDispatchNeeded(this@LimitedDispatcher)) {
-                    // Do "yield" to let other views execute their runnable as well
-                    // Note that we do not decrement 'runningWorkers' as we are still committed to our part of work
-                    dispatcher.safeDispatch(this@LimitedDispatcher, this)
-                    return
+            } catch (e: Throwable) {
+                // If the worker failed, we should deallocate its slot
+                synchronized(workerAllocationLock) {
+                    runningWorkers.decrementAndGet()
                 }
+                throw e
             }
         }
     }
@@ -132,4 +148,4 @@ internal fun Int.checkParallelism() = require(this >= 1) { "Expected positive pa
 internal fun CoroutineDispatcher.namedOrThis(name: String?): CoroutineDispatcher {
     if (name != null) return NamedDispatcher(this, name)
     return this
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}