diff --git a/plugins/omkafka/omkafka.c b/plugins/omkafka/omkafka.c
index ae74fb178..251eb094b 100644
--- a/plugins/omkafka/omkafka.c
+++ b/plugins/omkafka/omkafka.c
@@ -969,12 +969,11 @@ checkFailedMessages(instanceData *const __restrict__ pData)
 	DEFiRet;
 
 	/* Loop through failed messages, reprocess them first! */
-	while (!LIST_EMPTY(&pData->failedmsg_head)) {
-		fmsgEntry = LIST_FIRST(&pData->failedmsg_head);
-		//assert(fmsgEntry == NULL); /* Avoids false positives in CLANG*/
+	while ((fmsgEntry = LIST_FIRST(&pData->failedmsg_head)) != NULL) {
 		/* Put back into kafka! */
 		iRet = writeKafka(pData, (uchar*) fmsgEntry->payload, NULL, fmsgEntry->topicname);
 		if(iRet != RS_RET_OK) {
+			// TODO: LogError???
 			DBGPRINTF("omkafka: failed to delivery failed msg '%.*s' with status %d. "
 				"- suspending AGAIN!\n",
 				(int)(strlen((char*)fmsgEntry->payload)-1),
@@ -986,6 +985,7 @@ checkFailedMessages(instanceData *const __restrict__ pData)
 				(char*)fmsgEntry->payload);
 			LIST_REMOVE(fmsgEntry, entries);
 			free(fmsgEntry);
+			fmsgEntry = NULL;
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -994,49 +994,43 @@ finalize_it:
 }
 
 /* This function persists failed messages into a data file, so they can
- * Be resend on next startup.
+ * be resend on next startup.
  * alorbach, 2017-06-02
  */
-static rsRetVal
+static rsRetVal ATTR_NONNULL(1)
 persistFailedMsgs(instanceData *const __restrict__ pData)
 {
 	DEFiRet;
 	int fdMsgFile = -1;
 	ssize_t nwritten;
 
-	/*	Clear Failed Msg List */
-	failedmsg_entry* fmsgEntry;
-
-	fmsgEntry	= LIST_FIRST(&pData->failedmsg_head);
+	failedmsg_entry* fmsgEntry = LIST_FIRST(&pData->failedmsg_head);
 	if (fmsgEntry != NULL) {
 		fdMsgFile = open((char*)pData->failedMsgFile,
 					O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_APPEND|O_LARGEFILE|O_CLOEXEC,
 					S_IRUSR|S_IWUSR|S_IRGRP|S_IWGRP);
 		if(fdMsgFile == -1) {
-			char errStr[1024];
-			rs_strerror_r(errno, errStr, sizeof(errStr));
-			DBGPRINTF("omkafka: persistFailedMsgs error opening failed msg file: %s\n", errStr);
+			LogError(errno, RS_RET_ERR, "omkafka: persistFailedMsgs error opening failed msg file");
 			ABORT_FINALIZE(RS_RET_ERR);
 		}
 
-		/* Loop through failed messages, reprocess them first! */
 		while (fmsgEntry != NULL)	{
-			/* Put into into kafka! */
-			write(fdMsgFile, fmsgEntry->topicname, ustrlen(fmsgEntry->topicname) );
-			write(fdMsgFile, "\t", 1);
-			nwritten = write(fdMsgFile, fmsgEntry->payload, ustrlen(fmsgEntry->payload) );
+			nwritten = write(fdMsgFile, fmsgEntry->topicname, ustrlen(fmsgEntry->topicname) );
+			if(nwritten != -1)
+				write(fdMsgFile, "\t", 1);
+			if(nwritten != -1)
+				nwritten = write(fdMsgFile, fmsgEntry->payload, ustrlen(fmsgEntry->payload) );
 			if(nwritten == -1) {
-				DBGPRINTF("omkafka: persistFailedMsgs error %d writing failed msg file\n", errno);
+				LogError(errno, RS_RET_ERR, "omkafka: persistFailedMsgs error writing failed msg file");
 				ABORT_FINALIZE(RS_RET_ERR);
 			} else {
 				DBGPRINTF("omkafka: persistFailedMsgs successfully written loaded msg '%.*s' for topic '%s'\n",
 					(int)(strlen((char*)fmsgEntry->payload)-1), fmsgEntry->payload, fmsgEntry->topicname);
 			}
-			/* Get next item */
 			fmsgEntry = LIST_NEXT(fmsgEntry, entries);
 		}
 	} else {
-		DBGPRINTF("omkafka: persistFailedMsgs We do not need to persist failed messages.\n");
+		DBGPRINTF("omkafka: persistFailedMsgs: We do not need to persist failed messages.\n");
 	}
 finalize_it:
 	if(fdMsgFile != -1) {
@@ -1196,7 +1190,6 @@ CODESTARTfreeInstance
 	/* Helpers for Failed Msg List */
 	failedmsg_entry* fmsgEntry1;
 	failedmsg_entry* fmsgEntry2;
-	/* Close error file */
 	if(pData->fdErrFile != -1)
 		close(pData->fdErrFile);
 	/* Closing Kafka first! */
@@ -1213,13 +1206,13 @@ CODESTARTfreeInstance
 	pthread_rwlock_unlock(&pData->rkLock);
 
 	/* Delete Linked List for failed msgs */
-	fmsgEntry1	= LIST_FIRST(&pData->failedmsg_head);
+	fmsgEntry1 = LIST_FIRST(&pData->failedmsg_head);
 	while (fmsgEntry1 != NULL)	{
-		fmsgEntry2	= LIST_NEXT(fmsgEntry1,	entries);
+		fmsgEntry2 = LIST_NEXT(fmsgEntry1, entries);
 		free(fmsgEntry1->payload);
 		free(fmsgEntry1->topicname);
 		free(fmsgEntry1);
-		fmsgEntry1	= fmsgEntry2;
+		fmsgEntry1 = fmsgEntry2;
 	}
 	LIST_INIT(&pData->failedmsg_head);
 	/* Free other mem */