diff --git a/DPGAnalysis/Skims/src/LogErrorEventFilter.cc b/DPGAnalysis/Skims/src/LogErrorEventFilter.cc
index 141b2378e8f71..b940105630d65 100644
--- a/DPGAnalysis/Skims/src/LogErrorEventFilter.cc
+++ b/DPGAnalysis/Skims/src/LogErrorEventFilter.cc
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ class LogErrorEventFilter : public edm::global::EDFilter<edm::RunCache<leef::Run
   size_t maxSavedEventsPerLumi_;
   bool verbose_, veryVerbose_;
   bool taggedMode_, forcedValue_;
-  mutable std::atomic<bool> statsGuard_;
+  mutable std::atomic<bool> statsGuard_{false};
 
   template <typename Collection>
   static void increment(ErrorSet &scoreboard, Collection &list);