diff --git a/src/ThreadPipeline.h b/src/ThreadPipeline.h
index a1c45ad..422a6c9 100644
--- a/src/ThreadPipeline.h
+++ b/src/ThreadPipeline.h
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ private:
 
   // We can safely acquire this many items
   uint32_t getSafeLen(int stage, int threadIndex, bool mayBlock) {
-    uint32_t safeLen = -1;
+    uint32_t safeLen = UINT32_MAX;
     auto &thread = threadState[stage][threadIndex];
     // See if we can determine that there are entries we can acquire entirely
     // from state local to the thread
@@ -141,9 +141,9 @@ private:
 
   struct alignas(128) ThreadState {
     // Where this thread has published up to
-    std::atomic<uint32_t> pops;
+    std::atomic<uint32_t> pops{0};
     // Where this thread will publish to the next time it publishes
-    uint32_t localPops;
+    uint32_t localPops{0};
     // Where the previous stage's threads have published up to last we checked
     std::vector<uint32_t> lastPushRead;
   };
@@ -230,6 +230,11 @@ public:
   // `block` is true, then this call will block if the queue is full, until the
   // queue is not full. Otherwise it will return an empty batch if the queue is
   // full.
+  //
+  // Preconditions:
+  //   - size > 0 (must request at least one slot)
+  //   - size <= slotCount (cannot request more slots than ring buffer capacity)
+  // Violating preconditions results in program termination via abort().
   [[nodiscard]] ProducerGuard push(uint32_t const size, bool block) {
     if (size == 0) {
       abort();