diff --git a/enqueue.go b/enqueue.go
index 409afcdd..9dfd8e58 100644
--- a/enqueue.go
+++ b/enqueue.go
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@ type Enqueuer struct {
 
 // NewEnqueuer creates a new enqueuer with the specified Redis namespace and Redis pool.
 func NewEnqueuer(namespace string, pool *redis.Pool) *Enqueuer {
+	if pool == nil {
+		panic("NewEnqueuer needs a non-nil *redis.Pool")
+	}
+
 	return &Enqueuer{
 		Namespace:             namespace,
 		Pool:                  pool,
diff --git a/worker_pool.go b/worker_pool.go
index 104005c6..75e4876a 100644
--- a/worker_pool.go
+++ b/worker_pool.go
@@ -63,6 +63,10 @@ type middlewareHandler struct {
 
 // NewWorkerPool creates a new worker pool. ctx should be a struct literal whose type will be used for middleware and handlers. concurrency specifies how many workers to spin up - each worker can process jobs concurrently.
 func NewWorkerPool(ctx interface{}, concurrency uint, namespace string, pool *redis.Pool) *WorkerPool {
+	if pool == nil {
+		panic("NewWorkerPool needs a non-nil *redis.Pool")
+	}
+
 	ctxType := reflect.TypeOf(ctx)
 	validateContextType(ctxType)
 	wp := &WorkerPool{