diff --git a/src/nameservice/WFServiceGovernance.h b/src/nameservice/WFServiceGovernance.h
index 942cf2f5..a42bf3a9 100644
--- a/src/nameservice/WFServiceGovernance.h
+++ b/src/nameservice/WFServiceGovernance.h
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ public:
 	std::string host;
 	std::string port;
 	unsigned int fail_count;
-	unsigned int ref;
+	std::atomic<int> ref;
 	long long broken_timeout;
 	PolicyAddrParams *params;