diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/execution/OrderedMemoryAwareThreadPoolExecutor.java b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/execution/OrderedMemoryAwareThreadPoolExecutor.java
index 6d03fb029c..f2729d542f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/execution/OrderedMemoryAwareThreadPoolExecutor.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/execution/OrderedMemoryAwareThreadPoolExecutor.java
@@ -16,13 +16,14 @@
 package org.jboss.netty.handler.execution;
 
 import java.util.IdentityHashMap;
-import java.util.LinkedList;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.WeakHashMap;
+import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentLinkedQueue;
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentMap;
 import java.util.concurrent.Executor;
 import java.util.concurrent.ThreadFactory;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.Channel;
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelEvent;
@@ -284,51 +285,57 @@ public class OrderedMemoryAwareThreadPoolExecutor extends
     }
 
     private final class ChildExecutor implements Executor, Runnable {
-        private final LinkedList<Runnable> tasks = new LinkedList<Runnable>();
-
+        private final ConcurrentLinkedQueue<Runnable> tasks = new ConcurrentLinkedQueue<Runnable>();
+        private final AtomicBoolean isRunning = new AtomicBoolean(false);
+        
         ChildExecutor() {
         }
 
         @Override
         public void execute(Runnable command) {
-            boolean needsExecution;
-            synchronized (tasks) {
-                needsExecution = tasks.isEmpty();
-                tasks.add(command);
-            }
+            tasks.add(command);
+            
 
-            if (needsExecution) {
+            if (isRunning.get() == false) {
                 doUnorderedExecute(this);
             }
         }
 
         @Override
         public void run() {
-            Thread thread = Thread.currentThread();
-            for (;;) {
-                final Runnable task;
-                synchronized (tasks) {
-                    task = tasks.getFirst();
-                }
-
-                boolean ran = false;
-                beforeExecute(thread, task);
+            // check if its already running by using CAS. If so just return here. So in the worst case the thread
+            // is executed and do nothing
+            if (isRunning.compareAndSet(false, true)) {
                 try {
-                    task.run();
-                    ran = true;
-                    onAfterExecute(task, null);
-                } catch (RuntimeException e) {
-                    if (!ran) {
-                        onAfterExecute(task, e);
-                    }
-                    throw e;
-                } finally {
-                    synchronized (tasks) {
-                        tasks.removeFirst();
-                        if (tasks.isEmpty()) {
+                    Thread thread = Thread.currentThread();
+                    for (;;) {
+                        final Runnable task = tasks.poll();
+                        // this should never happen but just in case check if
+                        // the queue was empty
+                        if (task == null) {
                             break;
                         }
+                        
+                        boolean ran = false;
+                        beforeExecute(thread, task);
+                        try {
+                            task.run();
+                            ran = true;
+                            onAfterExecute(task, null);
+                        } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+                            if (!ran) {
+                                onAfterExecute(task, e);
+                            }
+                            throw e;
+                        } finally {
+                            if (tasks.isEmpty()) {
+                                break;
+                            }
+                        }
                     }
+                } finally {
+                    // set it back to not running
+                    isRunning.set(false);
                 }
             }
         }