diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index fd5ff5a..797ffbe 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -104,6 +104,9 @@ gem 'httparty', '~> 0.16.0'
 # matching against known names in scrapers
 gem 'fuzzy_match', '~> 2.1.0'
 
+# handle long running regexps
+gem 'safe_regexp', '~> 0.3.0'
+
 # simple title and opengraph/twitter cards view helpers
 gem 'tophat', '~> 2.3.0'
 
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index dc7a084..360591a 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -311,6 +311,7 @@ GEM
     ruby-progressbar (1.10.0)
     ruby_dep (1.5.0)
     rubyzip (1.2.2)
+    safe_regexp (0.3.0)
     sassc (2.0.1)
       ffi (~> 1.9)
       rake
@@ -428,6 +429,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   redis (>= 3.3.5, < 5)
   rubocop
   rubyzip (~> 1.2.2)
+  safe_regexp (~> 0.3.0)
   sassc-rails (~> 2.1.0)
   saxerator (~> 0.9.5)
   searchkick (= 3.1.1)
diff --git a/app/jobs/contains_classified_information_job.rb b/app/jobs/contains_classified_information_job.rb
index e0ce905..636a80b 100644
--- a/app/jobs/contains_classified_information_job.rb
+++ b/app/jobs/contains_classified_information_job.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-require 'timeout'
-
 class ContainsClassifiedInformationJob < PaperJob
   queue_as :meta
 
diff --git a/app/jobs/contains_table_job.rb b/app/jobs/contains_table_job.rb
index eb717b3..8a3208a 100644
--- a/app/jobs/contains_table_job.rb
+++ b/app/jobs/contains_table_job.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-require 'timeout'
-
 class ContainsTableJob < PaperJob
   queue_as :meta
 
diff --git a/lib/classified_recognizer.rb b/lib/classified_recognizer.rb
index 5a91e19..610c808 100644
--- a/lib/classified_recognizer.rb
+++ b/lib/classified_recognizer.rb
@@ -49,8 +49,10 @@ def match(regex, group, factor: 1)
     return if @skip.include?(group)
 
     m = nil
-    Timeout::timeout(5) do
-      m = text.scan(regex)
+    begin
+      m = SafeRegexp.execute(text, :scan, regex, timeout: 5)
+    rescue SafeRegexp::RegexpTimeout
+      m = nil
     end
     return if m.blank?
 
@@ -64,7 +66,11 @@ def match(regex, group, factor: 1)
   def match_each(regex, group, factor: 1, &block)
     return if @skip.include?(group)
 
-    m = text.scan(regex)
+    begin
+      m = SafeRegexp.execute(text, :scan, regex, timeout: 5)
+    rescue SafeRegexp::RegexpTimeout
+      m = nil
+    end
     return if m.blank?
 
     m.each do |match|
diff --git a/lib/table_recognizer.rb b/lib/table_recognizer.rb
index a33ae83..c445931 100644
--- a/lib/table_recognizer.rb
+++ b/lib/table_recognizer.rb
@@ -36,34 +36,23 @@ def recognize
     # Hint 5: "\nTabelle 2:\n"
     match(/\nTabelle \d:\n/, :table_num)
 
-    begin
-      Timeout::timeout(5) do
-        # Hint 6: \d\n\d\n\d\n...
-        #m = text.scan(/\p{Zs}(\d[\p{Zs}\d]+\n\d[\p{Zs}\d]+)+/m)
-        match(/(\d[\p{Zs}\d]+\n\d[\p{Zs}\d]+)+/m, :looks_like_table_newlines, factor: 0.5) # TODO: lookahead/lookbehind?
-      end
-    rescue => e
-      # ignore failure
-    end
+    # Hint 6: \d\n\d\n\d\n...
+    #m = text.scan(/\p{Zs}(\d[\p{Zs}\d]+\n\d[\p{Zs}\d]+)+/m)
+    match(/(\d[\p{Zs}\d]+\n\d[\p{Zs}\d]+)+/m, :looks_like_table_newlines, factor: 0.5)
 
     # Hint 7: Anlage 3 Tabelle 1, Anlage / Tabelle 1
     match(/Anlage\s+[\d\/]+\s+Tabelle\s+\d+/m, :attachment_table)
 
-    begin
-      Timeout::timeout(5) do
-        # Hint 8: "\nAAA 10,1 10,2 10,3\nBBB 20 21,1 -1.022,2"
-        match_each(/\n([\p{Zs}\S]+?\p{Zs}+(\-?(?>(?:\d{1,3}(?>(?:\.\d{3}))*(?>(?:,\d+)?|\d*\.?\d+))\p{Zs}*)+))\n/m, :looks_like_table_values, factor: 0.5) do |match|
-          match.first.strip != match.second.strip &&
-            !match.first.strip.start_with?('vom') &&
-            !match.first.match('\d{2}\.\d{2}\.\d{4}') &&
-            !match.first.match('Seite\s+\d+\s+von\s+\d+') &&
-            !match.first.match('(?:Januar|Februar|März|April|Mai|Juni|Juli|August|September|Oktober|November|Dezember)\s+\d{4}\s*\z') &&
-            !match.first.match('(?:Str\.\s\d+|[Pp]latz\s\d+)') &&
-            !match.first.strip.match('\A(?:[0-9]|[MCDXLVI])+\.\s+[^\n]+\s\d+\s*\z')
-        end
-      end
-    rescue => e
-      # ignore failure
+    # Hint 8: "\nAAA 10,1 10,2 10,3\nBBB 20 21,1 -1.022,2"
+    match_each(/\n([\p{Zs}\S]+?\p{Zs}+(\-?(?>(?:\d{1,3}(?>(?:\.\d{3}))*(?>(?:,\d+)?|\d*\.?\d+))\p{Zs}*)+))\n/m, :looks_like_table_values, factor: 0.5) do |match|
+      match.first.strip != match.second.strip &&
+        !match.first.strip.start_with?('vom') &&
+        !match.first.match('\d{2}\.\d{2}\.\d{4}') &&
+        !match.first.match('Seite\s+\d+\s+von\s+\d+') &&
+        !match.first.match('(?:Januar|Februar|März|April|Mai|Juni|Juli|August|September|Oktober|November|Dezember)\s+\d{4}\s*\z') &&
+        !match.first.match('(?:Str\.?\s\d+|[Pp]latz\s\d+)') &&
+        !match.first.match('Drucksache') &&
+        !match.first.strip.match('\A(?:[0-9]|[MCDXLVI])+\.\s+[^\n]+\s\d+\s*\z')
     end
 
     {
@@ -78,7 +67,12 @@ def recognize
   def match(regex, group, factor: 1)
     return if @skip.include?(group)
 
-    m = text.scan(regex)
+    m = nil
+    begin
+      m = SafeRegexp.execute(text, :scan, regex, timeout: 5)
+    rescue SafeRegexp::RegexpTimeout
+      m = nil
+    end
     return if m.blank?
 
     @probability += factor * m.size
@@ -89,7 +83,12 @@ def match(regex, group, factor: 1)
   def match_each(regex, group, factor: 1, &block)
     return if @skip.include?(group)
 
-    m = text.scan(regex)
+    m = nil
+    begin
+      m = SafeRegexp.execute(text, :scan, regex, timeout: 5)
+    rescue SafeRegexp::RegexpTimeout
+      m = nil
+    end
     return if m.blank?
 
     m.each do |match|