diff --git a/actors/health.py b/actors/health.py
index 6b0bd604..959c9a14 100644
--- a/actors/health.py
+++ b/actors/health.py
@@ -271,28 +271,32 @@ def check_workers(actor_id, ttl):
             except:
                 logger.error("Time received for TTL measurements is not of type datetime.")
                 last_execution = datetime.datetime.min
-            if last_execution + datetime.timedelta(seconds=ttl) < datetime.datetime.utcnow():
+            worker_end_time = last_execution + datetime.timedelta(seconds=ttl)
+            now_time = datetime.datetime.utcnow()
+            if worker_end_time < now_time:
                 # shutdown worker
                 logger.info("Shutting down worker beyond ttl.")
                 shutdown_worker(actor_id, worker_id)
             else:
-                logger.info("Still time left for this worker.")
+                logger.info(f"Worker is within ttl. Leaving worker. worker_end_time: {worker_end_time} < current_time: {now_time}")
 
         if worker['status'] == codes.ERROR:
             # shutdown worker
             logger.info("Shutting down worker in error status.")
             shutdown_worker(actor_id, worker_id)
 
-        # Ensure the worker container still exists on the correct host_id. Workers can be deleted after restarts or crashes.
+
+        ### Ensure the worker container still exists on the correct host_id. Workers can be deleted after restarts or crashes.
+        # Kubernetes container names have to be completely lowercase.
+        if conf.container_backend == 'kubernetes':
+            db_worker_id = worker_id.lower()
+        else:
+            db_worker_id = worker_id
+
         worker_container_found = False
         if worker['host_id'] == conf.spawner_host_id and worker['status'] == 'READY':
             try:
                 for container in worker_containers:
-                    # Kubernete container names have to be completely lowercase.
-                    if conf.container_backend == 'kubernetes':
-                        db_worker_id = worker_id.lower()
-                    else:
-                        db_worker_id = worker_id
                     if db_worker_id in container['worker_id']:
                         worker_container_found = True
                         break
@@ -450,4 +454,4 @@ def main():
     check_workers_store(ttl)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    main()
\ No newline at end of file
+    main()
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 59948d44..7261327f 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ cryptography==3.4.7
 pytest
 ipython
 kubernetes
-tapipy>=1.2.20
-tapisservice>=1.3.0
+tapipy==1.5.0
+tapisservice==1.5.0
 
 # we can migrate to a higher version of cloudpickle as soon as we upgrade the samples images (e.g. abacosamples/py3_func:dev)
 # currently, differences in the patch version withing 0.5 of cloudpickle (e.g. 0.5.2 vs 0.5.6) causes compatibility issues.