diff --git a/pkg/sidecar/sidecar.go b/pkg/sidecar/sidecar.go
index d8dcb52d..e6383698 100644
--- a/pkg/sidecar/sidecar.go
+++ b/pkg/sidecar/sidecar.go
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ import (
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
-	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/spiffe/go-spiffe/v2/bundle/jwtbundle"
@@ -28,10 +27,12 @@ type Sidecar struct {
 	config         *Config
 	client         *workloadapi.Client
 	jwtSource      *workloadapi.JWTSource
-	processRunning int32
+	processRunning bool
 	process        *os.Process
 	certReadyChan  chan struct{}
 	health         Health
+
+	mu sync.Mutex
 }
 
 type Health struct {
@@ -232,7 +233,10 @@ func (s *Sidecar) updateCertificates(svidResponse *workloadapi.X509Context) {
 
 // signalProcessCMD sends the renew signal to the process or starts it if its first time
 func (s *Sidecar) signalProcess() error {
-	if atomic.LoadInt32(&s.processRunning) == 0 {
+	s.mu.Lock()
+	defer s.mu.Unlock()
+
+	if !s.processRunning {
 		cmdArgs, err := getCmdArgs(s.config.CmdArgs)
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("error parsing cmd arguments: %w", err)
@@ -245,6 +249,7 @@ func (s *Sidecar) signalProcess() error {
 			return fmt.Errorf("error executing process \"%v\": %w", s.config.Cmd, err)
 		}
 		s.process = cmd.Process
+		s.processRunning = true
 		go s.checkProcessExit()
 	} else {
 		if err := SignalProcess(s.process, s.config.RenewSignal); err != nil {
@@ -276,13 +281,13 @@ func (s *Sidecar) signalPID() error {
 }
 
 func (s *Sidecar) checkProcessExit() {
-	atomic.StoreInt32(&s.processRunning, 1)
-	_, err := s.process.Wait()
-	if err != nil {
+	if _, err := s.process.Wait(); err != nil {
 		s.config.Log.Errorf("error waiting for process exit: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	atomic.StoreInt32(&s.processRunning, 0)
+	s.mu.Lock()
+	s.processRunning = false
+	s.mu.Unlock()
 }
 
 func (s *Sidecar) fetchJWTSVIDs(ctx context.Context, jwtAudience string, jwtExtraAudiences []string) (*jwtsvid.SVID, error) {
diff --git a/pkg/sidecar/sidecar_test.go b/pkg/sidecar/sidecar_test.go
index 473676ec..abea363e 100644
--- a/pkg/sidecar/sidecar_test.go
+++ b/pkg/sidecar/sidecar_test.go
@@ -269,3 +269,29 @@ func TestGetCmdArgs(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+// TestSignalProcess makes sure only one copy of the process is started. It uses a small script that creates a file
+// where the name is the process ID of the script. If more then one file exists, then multiple processes were started
+func TestSignalProcess(t *testing.T) {
+	tempDir := t.TempDir()
+	config := &Config{
+		Cmd:         "./sidecar_test.sh",
+		CmdArgs:     tempDir,
+		RenewSignal: "SIGWINCH",
+	}
+	sidecar := New(config)
+	require.NotNil(t, sidecar)
+
+	// Run signalProcess() twice. The second should only signal the process with SIGWINCH which is basically a no op.
+	err := sidecar.signalProcess()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	err = sidecar.signalProcess()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	// Give the script some time to run
+	time.Sleep(1 * time.Second)
+
+	files, err := os.ReadDir(tempDir)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, 1, len(files))
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sidecar/sidecar_test.sh b/pkg/sidecar/sidecar_test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..374e7da0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sidecar/sidecar_test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+touch $1/$$