diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
index 3d3e988..32c29f3 100644
--- a/debian/control
+++ b/debian/control
@@ -1,32 +1,33 @@
 Source: swh-loader-core
 Maintainer: Software Heritage developers <swh-devel@inria.fr>
 Section: python
 Priority: optional
 Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 9),
                dh-python (>= 2),
                python3-all,
                python3-nose,
+               python3-psutil,
                python3-retrying,
                python3-setuptools,
                python3-swh.core,
                python3-swh.model (>= 0.0.18~),
                python3-swh.storage (>= 0.0.97~),
                python3-vcversioner
 Standards-Version: 3.9.6
 Homepage: https://forge.softwareheritage.org/diffusion/60/
 
 Package: python3-swh.loader.core
 Architecture: all
 Depends: python3-swh.core,
          python3-swh.model (>= 0.0.18~),
          python3-swh.storage (>= 0.0.97~),
          ${misc:Depends},
          ${python3:Depends}
 Breaks: python3-swh.deposit.loader (<< 0.0.48~),
         python3-swh.loader.debian (<< 0.0.9~),
         python3-swh.loader.dir (<< 0.0.31~),
         python3-swh.loader.git (<< 0.0.36~),
         python3-swh.loader.mercurial (<< 0.0.3~),
         python3-swh.loader.svn (<< 0.0.35~),
         python3-swh.loader.tar (<< 0.0.33~)
 Description: Software Heritage Loader Core
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index b814c8e..0e002e1 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # Add here external Python modules dependencies, one per line. Module names
 # should match https://pypi.python.org/pypi names. For the full spec or
 # dependency lines, see https://pip.readthedocs.org/en/1.1/requirements.html
 vcversioner
 retrying
+psutil
diff --git a/swh/loader/core/utils.py b/swh/loader/core/utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f1f43cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swh/loader/core/utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2018  The Software Heritage developers
+# See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
+# License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
+# See top-level LICENSE file for more information
+
+
+import os
+import shutil
+import psutil
+
+
+def clean_dangling_folders(dirpath, pattern_check, log=None):
+    """Clean up potential dangling temporary working folder rooted at
+       `dirpath`. Those folders must match a dedicated pattern and not
+       belonging to a live pid.
+
+    Args:
+        dirpath (str): Path to check for dangling files
+        pattern_check (str): A dedicated pattern to check on first
+        level directory (e.g `swh.loader.mercurial.`,
+        `swh.loader.svn.`)
+        log (Logger): Optional logger
+
+    """
+    if not os.path.exists(dirpath):
+        return
+    for filename in os.listdir(dirpath):
+        try:
+            # pattern: `swh.loader.svn-pid.{noise}`
+            if pattern_check not in filename or \
+               '-' not in filename:  # silently ignore unknown patterns
+                continue
+            _, pid = filename.split('-')
+            pid = int(pid.split('.')[0])
+            if psutil.pid_exists(pid):
+                if log:
+                    log.debug('PID %s is live, skipping' % pid)
+                continue
+            path_to_cleanup = os.path.join(dirpath, filename)
+            # could be removed concurrently, so check before removal
+            if os.path.exists(path_to_cleanup):
+                shutil.rmtree(path_to_cleanup)
+        except Exception as e:
+            if log:
+                msg = 'Fail to clean dangling path %s: %s' % (
+                    path_to_cleanup, e)
+                log.warn(msg)