diff --git a/src/catch_unwind.rs b/src/catch_unwind.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..262b006
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/catch_unwind.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+use crate::worker::TaskExecError;
+use futures::future::BoxFuture;
+use futures::FutureExt;
+use std::future::Future;
+use std::pin::Pin;
+use std::task::Context;
+use std::task::Poll;
+
+pub(crate) struct CatchUnwindFuture<F: Future + Send + 'static> {
+    inner: BoxFuture<'static, F::Output>,
+}
+
+impl<F: Future + Send + 'static> CatchUnwindFuture<F> {
+    pub fn create(f: F) -> CatchUnwindFuture<F> {
+        Self { inner: f.boxed() }
+    }
+}
+
+impl<F: Future + Send + 'static> Future for CatchUnwindFuture<F> {
+    type Output = Result<F::Output, TaskExecError>;
+
+    fn poll(mut self: Pin<&mut Self>, cx: &mut Context<'_>) -> Poll<Self::Output> {
+        let inner = &mut self.inner;
+
+        match catch_unwind(move || inner.poll_unpin(cx)) {
+            Ok(Poll::Pending) => Poll::Pending,
+            Ok(Poll::Ready(value)) => Poll::Ready(Ok(value)),
+            Err(cause) => Poll::Ready(Err(cause)),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+fn catch_unwind<F: FnOnce() -> R, R>(f: F) -> Result<R, TaskExecError> {
+    match std::panic::catch_unwind(std::panic::AssertUnwindSafe(f)) {
+        Ok(res) => Ok(res),
+        Err(cause) => match cause.downcast_ref::<&'static str>() {
+            None => match cause.downcast_ref::<String>() {
+                None => Err(TaskExecError::Panicked(
+                    "Sorry, unknown panic message".to_string(),
+                )),
+                Some(message) => Err(TaskExecError::Panicked(message.to_string())),
+            },
+            Some(message) => Err(TaskExecError::Panicked(message.to_string())),
+        },
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 418938e..4be5de4 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ pub use task::{CurrentTask, Task, TaskId, TaskState};
 pub use worker::Worker;
 pub use worker_pool::{QueueConfig, WorkerPool};
 
+mod catch_unwind;
 pub mod errors;
 mod queries;
 mod queue;
diff --git a/src/store.rs b/src/store.rs
index 390d375..24637e3 100644
--- a/src/store.rs
+++ b/src/store.rs
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ pub mod test_store {
 
     #[derive(Default, Clone)]
     pub struct MemoryTaskStore {
-        tasks: Arc<Mutex<BTreeMap<TaskId, Task>>>,
+        pub tasks: Arc<Mutex<BTreeMap<TaskId, Task>>>,
     }
 
     #[async_trait::async_trait]
diff --git a/src/worker.rs b/src/worker.rs
index d1c37d0..a59bf44 100644
--- a/src/worker.rs
+++ b/src/worker.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+use crate::catch_unwind::CatchUnwindFuture;
 use crate::errors::{AsyncQueueError, BackieError};
 use crate::runnable::BackgroundTask;
 use crate::store::TaskStore;
@@ -10,7 +11,6 @@ use std::future::Future;
 use std::pin::Pin;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 use std::time::Duration;
-use thiserror::Error;
 
 pub type ExecuteTaskFn<AppData> = Arc<
     dyn Fn(
@@ -24,13 +24,16 @@ pub type ExecuteTaskFn<AppData> = Arc<
 
 pub type StateFn<AppData> = Arc<dyn Fn() -> AppData + Send + Sync>;
 
-#[derive(Debug, Error)]
+#[derive(Debug, thiserror::Error)]
 pub enum TaskExecError {
+    #[error("Task deserialization failed: {0}")]
+    TaskDeserializationFailed(#[from] serde_json::Error),
+
     #[error("Task execution failed: {0}")]
     ExecutionFailed(#[from] anyhow::Error),
 
-    #[error("Task deserialization failed: {0}")]
-    TaskDeserializationFailed(#[from] serde_json::Error),
+    #[error("Task panicked with: {0}")]
+    Panicked(String),
 }
 
 pub(crate) fn runnable<BT>(
@@ -144,9 +147,18 @@ where
             .get(&task.task_name)
             .ok_or_else(|| AsyncQueueError::TaskNotRegistered(task.task_name.clone()))?;
 
-        // TODO: catch panics
-        let result: Result<(), TaskExecError> =
-            runnable_task_caller(task_info, task.payload.clone(), (self.app_data_fn)()).await;
+        // catch panics
+        let result: Result<(), TaskExecError> = CatchUnwindFuture::create({
+            let task_payload = task.payload.clone();
+            let app_data = (self.app_data_fn)();
+            let runnable_task_caller = runnable_task_caller.clone();
+            async move { runnable_task_caller(task_info, task_payload, app_data).await }
+        })
+        .await
+        .and_then(|result| {
+            result?;
+            Ok(())
+        });
 
         match &result {
             Ok(_) => self.finalize_task(task, result).await?,
@@ -159,7 +171,9 @@ where
                         task.id,
                         backoff_seconds
                     );
+
                     let error_message = format!("{}", error);
+
                     self.store
                         .schedule_task_retry(task.id, backoff_seconds, &error_message)
                         .await?;
diff --git a/src/worker_pool.rs b/src/worker_pool.rs
index d5379b6..3d8d0bc 100644
--- a/src/worker_pool.rs
+++ b/src/worker_pool.rs
@@ -379,7 +379,7 @@ mod tests {
         #[derive(Clone)]
         struct NotifyFinishedContext {
             /// Used to notify the task ran
-            tx: Arc<Mutex<Option<tokio::sync::oneshot::Sender<()>>>>,
+            notify_finished: Arc<Mutex<Option<tokio::sync::oneshot::Sender<()>>>>,
         }
 
         /// A task that notifies the test that it ran
@@ -398,7 +398,7 @@ mod tests {
                 context: Self::AppData,
             ) -> Result<(), anyhow::Error> {
                 // Notify the test that the task ran
-                match context.tx.lock().await.take() {
+                match context.notify_finished.lock().await.take() {
                     None => println!("Cannot notify, already done that!"),
                     Some(tx) => {
                         tx.send(()).unwrap();
@@ -412,7 +412,7 @@ mod tests {
         let (tx, rx) = tokio::sync::oneshot::channel();
 
         let my_app_context = NotifyFinishedContext {
-            tx: Arc::new(Mutex::new(Some(tx))),
+            notify_finished: Arc::new(Mutex::new(Some(tx))),
         };
 
         let (join_handle, queue) =
@@ -529,6 +529,57 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn task_can_panic_and_not_affect_worker() {
+        #[derive(Clone, serde::Serialize, serde::Deserialize)]
+        struct BrokenTask;
+
+        #[async_trait]
+        impl BackgroundTask for BrokenTask {
+            const TASK_NAME: &'static str = "panic_me";
+            type AppData = ();
+
+            async fn run(
+                &self,
+                _task: CurrentTask,
+                _context: Self::AppData,
+            ) -> Result<(), anyhow::Error> {
+                panic!("Oh no!");
+            }
+        }
+
+        let (notify_stop_worker_pool, should_stop) = tokio::sync::oneshot::channel();
+
+        let task_store = memory_store().await;
+
+        let (worker_pool_finished, queue) = WorkerPool::new(task_store.clone(), |_| ())
+            .register_task_type::<BrokenTask>()
+            .configure_queue("default".into())
+            .start(async move {
+                should_stop.await.unwrap();
+            })
+            .await
+            .unwrap();
+
+        // Enqueue a task that will panic
+        queue.enqueue(BrokenTask).await.unwrap();
+
+        notify_stop_worker_pool.send(()).unwrap();
+        worker_pool_finished.await.unwrap();
+
+        let raw_task = task_store
+            .tasks
+            .lock()
+            .await
+            .first_entry()
+            .unwrap()
+            .remove();
+        assert_eq!(
+            serde_json::to_string(&raw_task.error_info.unwrap()).unwrap(),
+            "{\"error\":\"Task panicked with: Oh no!\"}"
+        );
+    }
+
     /// This test will make sure that the worker pool will only stop after all workers are done.
     /// We create a KeepAliveTask that will keep running until we notify it to stop.
     /// We stop the worker pool and make sure that the KeepAliveTask is still running.