diff --git a/Utilities/Tools/jobutils.sh b/Utilities/Tools/jobutils.sh
index cbdab6c9e0b43..84ae6552a26eb 100644
--- a/Utilities/Tools/jobutils.sh
+++ b/Utilities/Tools/jobutils.sh
@@ -46,10 +46,12 @@ o2_cleanup_shm_files() {
 }
 
 # Function to find out all the (recursive) child processes starting from a parent PID.
-# The output includes includes the parent
-# output is saved in child_pid_list
+# The output includes the parent
 childprocs() {
   local parent=$1
+  if [ ! "$2" ]; then
+    child_pid_list=""
+  fi
   if [ "$parent" ] ; then
     child_pid_list="$child_pid_list $parent"
     for childpid in $(pgrep -P ${parent}); do
diff --git a/run/o2sim_parallel.cxx b/run/o2sim_parallel.cxx
index 1c2971511af4d..670704e51dc73 100644
--- a/run/o2sim_parallel.cxx
+++ b/run/o2sim_parallel.cxx
@@ -118,12 +118,18 @@ int checkresult()
   return errors;
 }
 
+std::vector<int> gChildProcesses; // global vector of child pids
+
 // signal handler for graceful exit
 void sighandler(int signal)
 {
   if (signal == SIGINT || signal == SIGTERM) {
-    LOG(INFO) << "signal caught ... clean up and exit";
+    LOG(INFO) << "o2-sim driver: Signal caught ... clean up and exit";
     cleanup();
+    // forward signal to all children
+    for (auto& pid : gChildProcesses) {
+      kill(pid, signal);
+    }
     exit(0);
   }
 }
@@ -346,7 +352,7 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
     }
     return r;
   } else {
-    childpids.push_back(pid);
+    gChildProcesses.push_back(pid);
     close(pipe_serverdriver_fd[1]);
     std::cout << "Spawning particle server on PID " << pid << "; Redirect output to " << getServerLogName() << "\n";
     launchThreadMonitoringEvents(pipe_serverdriver_fd[0], "DISTRIBUTING EVENT : ");
@@ -380,7 +386,7 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
             "worker", "--mq-config", localconfig.c_str(), "--severity", "info", (char*)nullptr);
       return 0;
     } else {
-      childpids.push_back(pid);
+      gChildProcesses.push_back(pid);
       std::cout << "Spawning sim worker " << id << " on PID " << pid
                 << "; Redirect output to " << workerlogss.str() << "\n";
     }
@@ -409,13 +415,13 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
     return 0;
   } else {
     std::cout << "Spawning hit merger on PID " << pid << "; Redirect output to " << getMergerLogName() << "\n";
-    childpids.push_back(pid);
+    gChildProcesses.push_back(pid);
     close(pipe_mergerdriver_fd[1]);
     launchThreadMonitoringEvents(pipe_mergerdriver_fd[0], "EVENT FINISHED : ");
   }
 
   // wait on merger (which when exiting completes the workflow)
-  auto mergerpid = childpids.back();
+  auto mergerpid = gChildProcesses.back();
 
   int status, cpid;
   // wait just blocks and waits until any child returns; but we make sure to wait until merger is here
@@ -426,8 +432,8 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
     }
     // we bring down all processes if one of them aborts
     if (WTERMSIG(status) == SIGABRT) {
-      for (auto p : childpids) {
-        kill(p, SIGABRT);
+      for (auto p : gChildProcesses) {
+        kill(p, SIGTERM);
       }
       cleanup();
       LOG(FATAL) << "ABORTING DUE TO ABORT IN COMPONENT";
@@ -438,7 +444,7 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
   LOG(INFO) << "Simulation process took " << timer.RealTime() << " s";
 
   // make sure the rest shuts down
-  for (auto p : childpids) {
+  for (auto p : gChildProcesses) {
     if (p != mergerpid) {
       LOG(DEBUG) << "SHUTTING DOWN CHILD PROCESS " << p;
       kill(p, SIGTERM);