diff --git a/src/.umm_malloc_cfg.h.swo b/src/.umm_malloc_cfg.h.swo
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..574272d
Binary files /dev/null and b/src/.umm_malloc_cfg.h.swo differ
diff --git a/src/umm_info.c b/src/umm_info.c
index bf4d68d..0139501 100644
--- a/src/umm_info.c
+++ b/src/umm_info.c
@@ -24,12 +24,10 @@
 UMM_HEAP_INFO ummHeapInfo;
 
 void *umm_info(void *ptr, bool force) {
-    if (UMM_HEAP == NULL) {
-        umm_init();
-    }
-
     uint16_t blockNo = 0;
 
+    UMM_CHECK_INITIALIZED();
+
     /* Protect the critical section... */
     UMM_CRITICAL_ENTRY();
 
diff --git a/src/umm_integrity.c b/src/umm_integrity.c
index 6b6906a..d26931f 100644
--- a/src/umm_integrity.c
+++ b/src/umm_integrity.c
@@ -31,9 +31,7 @@ bool umm_integrity_check(void) {
     uint16_t prev;
     uint16_t cur;
 
-    if (UMM_HEAP == NULL) {
-        umm_init();
-    }
+    UMM_CHECK_INITIALIZED();
 
     /* Iterate through all free blocks */
     prev = 0;
diff --git a/src/umm_malloc.c b/src/umm_malloc.c
index c71c25c..fce5d17 100644
--- a/src/umm_malloc.c
+++ b/src/umm_malloc.c
@@ -360,9 +360,7 @@ static void umm_free_core(void *ptr) {
 
 void umm_free(void *ptr) {
 
-    if (UMM_HEAP == NULL) {
-        umm_init();
-    }
+    UMM_CHECK_INITIALIZED();
 
     /* If we're being asked to free a NULL pointer, well that's just silly! */
 
@@ -501,9 +499,7 @@ void *umm_malloc(size_t size) {
 
     void *ptr = NULL;
 
-    if (UMM_HEAP == NULL) {
-        umm_init();
-    }
+    UMM_CHECK_INITIALIZED();
 
     /*
      * the very first thing we do is figure out if we're being asked to allocate
@@ -542,9 +538,7 @@ void *umm_realloc(void *ptr, size_t size) {
 
     size_t curSize;
 
-    if (UMM_HEAP == NULL) {
-        umm_init();
-    }
+    UMM_CHECK_INITIALIZED();
 
     /*
      * This code looks after the case of a NULL value for ptr. The ANSI C
diff --git a/src/umm_malloc_cfg.h b/src/umm_malloc_cfg.h
index 3d48b1d..dffb4fa 100644
--- a/src/umm_malloc_cfg.h
+++ b/src/umm_malloc_cfg.h
@@ -37,10 +37,6 @@
  * sure that the configuration makes sense. For example the UMM_BLOCK_BODY_SIZE
  * is a minimum of 8 and a multiple of 4.
  *
- * UMM_TEST_BUILD
- *
- * Set this if you want to compile in the test suite
- *
  * UMM_BLOCK_BODY_SIZE
  *
  * Defines the umm_block[].body size - it is 8 by default
@@ -82,6 +78,16 @@
  * Setting this at compile time will automatically set UMM_INFO.
  * Note that enabling this define will add a slight runtime penalty.
  *
+ * UMM_CHECK_INITIALIZED
+ *
+ * Set if you want to be able to verify that the heap is intialized
+ * before any operation - the default is no check. You may set the
+ * UMM_CHECK_INITIALIZED macro to the following provided macros, or
+ * write your own handler:
+ *
+ *    UMM_INIT_IF_UNINITIALIZED
+ *    UMM_HANG_IF_UNINITIALIZED
+ *
  * UMM_INTEGRITY_CHECK
  *
  * Set if you want to be able to verify that the heap is semantically correct
@@ -106,6 +112,9 @@
  * Set n to a value from 0 to 6 depending on how verbose you want the debug
  * log to be
  *
+ * UMM_TEST_BUILD
+ *
+ * Set this if you want to compile in the test suite
  * ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  *
  * Support for this library in a multitasking environment is provided when
@@ -128,6 +137,20 @@
 
 /* -------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 
+#ifndef UMM_INIT_IF_UNINITIALIZED
+    #define UMM_INIT_IF_UNINITIALIZED() do { if (UMM_HEAP == NULL) { umm_init(); } } while(0)
+#endif
+
+#ifndef UMM_HANG_IF_UNINITIALIZED
+    #define UMM_HANG_IF_UNINITIALIZED() do { if (UMM_HEAP == NULL) { while(1) {} } } while(0)
+#endif
+
+#ifndef UMM_CHECK_INITIALIZED
+    #define UMM_CHECK_INITIALIZED()
+#endif
+
+/* -------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
+
 #ifndef UMM_BLOCK_BODY_SIZE
     #define UMM_BLOCK_BODY_SIZE (8)
 #endif
diff --git a/src/umm_poison.c b/src/umm_poison.c
index e7c4e42..d565674 100644
--- a/src/umm_poison.c
+++ b/src/umm_poison.c
@@ -207,9 +207,7 @@ bool umm_poison_check(void) {
     bool ok = true;
     unsigned short int cur;
 
-    if (UMM_HEAP == NULL) {
-        umm_init();
-    }
+    UMM_CHECK_INITIALIZED();
 
     /* Now iterate through the blocks list */
     cur = UMM_NBLOCK(0) & UMM_BLOCKNO_MASK;