diff --git a/src/libs/vpatterndb/vcontainer.cpp b/src/libs/vpatterndb/vcontainer.cpp
index cbfb0c5cc..e91e73ead 100644
--- a/src/libs/vpatterndb/vcontainer.cpp
+++ b/src/libs/vpatterndb/vcontainer.cpp
@@ -808,7 +808,7 @@ const QHash<QString, QSharedPointer<VInternalVariable> > *VContainer::DataVariab
 //---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 VContainerData::~VContainerData()
 {
-    if (ref == 0)
+    if (ref.load() == 0)
     {
         --VContainer::copyCounter[nspace];
     }