diff --git a/src/event.c b/src/event.c
index bc590fe5..9a8a3e3f 100644
--- a/src/event.c
+++ b/src/event.c
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 #include <string.h>
 #include <strings.h>
 #include <time.h>
+#include <errno.h>
 
 #include <X11/Xlib.h>
 #include <X11/Xutil.h>
@@ -294,7 +295,8 @@ void DispatchEvent(XEvent * event)
  */
 static void handle_inotify_events(void)
 {
-	ssize_t eventQLength, i = 0;
+	ssize_t eventQLength;
+	size_t i = 0;
 	/* Make room for at lease 5 simultaneous events, with path + filenames */
 	char buff[ (sizeof(struct inotify_event) + NAME_MAX + 1) * 5 ];
 	/* Check config only once per read of the event queue */
@@ -310,6 +312,11 @@ static void handle_inotify_events(void)
 	eventQLength = read(w_global.inotify.fd_event_queue,
 	                    buff, sizeof(buff) );
 
+	if (eventQLength < 0) {
+		wwarning(_("read problem when trying to get INotify event: %s"), strerror(errno));
+		return;
+	}
+
 	/* check what events occured */
 	/* Should really check wd here too, but for now we only have one watch! */
 	while (i < eventQLength) {