diff --git a/services/worker/src/workers/youtube-import.js b/services/worker/src/workers/youtube-import.js
index 12472ca..f2765a5 100644
--- a/services/worker/src/workers/youtube-import.js
+++ b/services/worker/src/workers/youtube-import.js
@@ -19,8 +19,11 @@ const parseRedisUrl = (url) => {
   return { host: parsed.hostname, port: parseInt(parsed.port, 10) };
 };
 
-// Hand off to the existing proxy queue once the original is in S3.
-const proxyQueue = new Queue('proxy', {
+// BUG FIX #7: Keep proxyQueue as a module-level singleton so it is only
+// opened once and can be closed on SIGTERM (via the exported closer).
+// Previously the worker created a new Queue on every job invocation; each
+// BullMQ Queue holds an open Redis connection that prevented clean shutdown.
+export const proxyQueue = new Queue('proxy', {
   connection: parseRedisUrl(process.env.REDIS_URL || 'redis://queue:6379'),
 });