diff --git a/pkg/lib/queueinformer/queueinformer_operator.go b/pkg/lib/queueinformer/queueinformer_operator.go
index 779e4093cf1..bd60c188a35 100644
--- a/pkg/lib/queueinformer/queueinformer_operator.go
+++ b/pkg/lib/queueinformer/queueinformer_operator.go
@@ -123,14 +123,24 @@ func (o *Operator) Run(stopc <-chan struct{}) (ready, done chan struct{}, atLeve
 		}
 
 		o.Log.Info("starting informers...")
+		started := make(map[cache.SharedIndexInformer]struct{})
 		for _, queueInformer := range o.queueInformers {
-			go queueInformer.informer.Run(stopc)
+			if _, ok := started[queueInformer.informer]; !ok {
+				go queueInformer.informer.Run(stopc)
+			}
+			started[queueInformer.informer] = struct{}{}
 		}
 
 		for _, informer := range o.informers {
-			go informer.Run(stopc)
+			if _, ok := started[informer]; !ok {
+				go informer.Run(stopc)
+			}
+			started[informer] = struct{}{}
 		}
 
+		// Zero-out so started will be GC'd since this goroutine will live for a while
+		started = nil
+
 		o.Log.Info("waiting for caches to sync...")
 		if ok := cache.WaitForCacheSync(stopc, hasSyncedCheckFns...); !ok {
 			o.Log.Info("failed to wait for caches to sync")