--- old/src/share/vm/gc/shared/workerManager.hpp	2016-06-23 12:29:40.991519647 -0700
+++ new/src/share/vm/gc/shared/workerManager.hpp	2016-06-23 12:29:40.883519650 -0700
@@ -55,9 +55,17 @@
     uint start = created_workers;
     uint end = MIN2(active_workers, total_workers);
     for (uint worker_id = start; worker_id < end; worker_id += 1) {
-      WorkerThread* new_worker = holder->install_worker(worker_id);
-      assert(new_worker != NULL, "Failed to allocate GangWorker");
+      WorkerThread* new_worker = NULL;
+      if (initializing || !InjectGCWorkerCreationFailure) {
+        new_worker = holder->install_worker(worker_id);
+      }
       if (new_worker == NULL || !os::create_thread(new_worker, worker_type)) {
+        log_trace(gc, task)("WorkerManager::add_workers() : "
+           "creation failed due to failed allocation of native %s",
+           new_worker == NULL ?  "memory" : "thread");
+        if (new_worker != NULL) {
+           delete new_worker;
+        }
         if (initializing) {
           vm_exit_out_of_memory(0, OOM_MALLOC_ERROR, "Cannot create worker GC thread. Out of system resources.");
         }
@@ -67,9 +75,8 @@
       os::start_thread(new_worker);
     }
 
-    log_trace(gc, task)("AdaptiveSizePolicy::add_workers() : "
-       "active_workers: %u created_workers: %u",
-       active_workers, created_workers);
+    log_trace(gc, task)("WorkerManager::add_workers() : "
+       "created_workers: %u", created_workers);
 
     return created_workers;
   }
--- old/src/share/vm/runtime/globals.hpp	2016-06-23 12:29:41.627519625 -0700
+++ new/src/share/vm/runtime/globals.hpp	2016-06-23 12:29:41.499519629 -0700
@@ -1539,6 +1539,10 @@
           "Dynamically choose the number of parallel threads "              \
           "parallel gc will use")                                           \
                                                                             \
+  diagnostic(bool, InjectGCWorkerCreationFailure, false,                    \
+             "Inject thread creation failures for "                         \
+             "UseDynamicNumberOfGCThreads")                                 \
+                                                                            \
   diagnostic(bool, ForceDynamicNumberOfGCThreads, false,                    \
           "Force dynamic selection of the number of "                       \
           "parallel threads parallel gc will use to aid debugging")         \