diff --git a/services/filestore/app/coffee/FileConverter.coffee b/services/filestore/app/coffee/FileConverter.coffee
index 337f721ffa..c53828d454 100644
--- a/services/filestore/app/coffee/FileConverter.coffee
+++ b/services/filestore/app/coffee/FileConverter.coffee
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ approvedFormats = ["png"]
 
 twentySeconds = 20 * 1000
 
+childProcessOpts =
+	killSignal: "SIGKILL"
+	timeout: twentySeconds
+
 module.exports =
 
 	convert: (sourcePath, requestedFormat, callback)->
@@ -17,9 +21,7 @@ module.exports =
 			err = new Error("invalid format requested")
 			return callback err
 		args = "nice convert -flatten -density 300 #{sourcePath} #{destPath}"
-		opts =
-			timeout: twentySeconds
-		exec args, opts, (err, stdout, stderr)->
+		exec args, childProcessOpts, (err, stdout, stderr)->
 			timer.done()
 			if err?
 				logger.err err:err, stderr:stderr, sourcePath:sourcePath, requestedFormat:requestedFormat, destPath:destPath,  "something went wrong converting file"
@@ -37,9 +39,7 @@ module.exports =
 			width: 424
 			height: 300
 		args = "nice convert -flatten -background white -resize 260x -density 300 #{sourcePath} #{destPath}"
-		opts =
-			timeout: twentySeconds
-		exec args, opts,(err, stdout, stderr)->
+		exec args, childProcessOpts, (err, stdout, stderr)->
 			if err?
 				logger.err err:err, stderr:stderr, sourcePath:sourcePath, "something went wrong converting file to preview"
 			else
@@ -56,9 +56,7 @@ module.exports =
 			width: 600
 			height: 849
 		args = "nice convert -flatten -background white -resize 548x -density 300 #{sourcePath} #{destPath}"
-		opts =
-			timeout: twentySeconds
-		exec args, opts,(err, stdout, stderr)->
+		exec args, childProcessOpts, (err, stdout, stderr)->
 			if err?
 				logger.err err:err, stderr:stderr, sourcePath:sourcePath, destPath:destPath, "something went wrong converting file to preview"
 			else
diff --git a/services/filestore/app/coffee/ImageOptimiser.coffee b/services/filestore/app/coffee/ImageOptimiser.coffee
index 7aece25464..dbddaa3205 100644
--- a/services/filestore/app/coffee/ImageOptimiser.coffee
+++ b/services/filestore/app/coffee/ImageOptimiser.coffee
@@ -10,11 +10,12 @@ module.exports =
 		args = "optipng #{localPath}"
 		opts =
 			timeout: 20 * 1000
+			killSignal: "SIGKILL"
 		exec args, opts,(err, stdout, stderr)->
 			if err?
 				logger.err err:err, stderr:stderr, localPath:localPath, "something went wrong converting compressPng"
 			else
 				logger.log  localPath:localPath, "finished compressPng file"
-			callback(err)	
+			callback(err)