diff --git a/rq/timeouts.py b/rq/timeouts.py
index f1e1848f..a96d8919 100644
--- a/rq/timeouts.py
+++ b/rq/timeouts.py
@@ -8,7 +8,9 @@ class JobTimeoutException(Exception):
     pass
 
 
-class death_penalty_after(object):
+class BaseDeathPenalty(object):
+    """Base class to setup job timeouts."""
+    
     def __init__(self, timeout):
         self._timeout = timeout
 
@@ -31,6 +33,15 @@ class death_penalty_after(object):
         # invoking context.
         return False
 
+    def setup_death_penalty(self):
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def cancel_death_penalty(self):
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+
+class UnixSignalDeathPenalty(BaseDeathPenalty):
+    
     def handle_death_penalty(self, signum, frame):
         raise JobTimeoutException('Job exceeded maximum timeout '
                                   'value (%d seconds).' % self._timeout)
@@ -48,4 +59,4 @@ class death_penalty_after(object):
         default signal handling.
         """
         signal.alarm(0)
-        signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, signal.SIG_DFL)
+        signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, signal.SIG_DFL)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/rq/worker.py b/rq/worker.py
index 688b1a44..05b4fa0d 100644
--- a/rq/worker.py
+++ b/rq/worker.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ from .job import Job, Status
 from .utils import make_colorizer, utcnow, utcformat
 from .logutils import setup_loghandlers
 from .exceptions import NoQueueError, DequeueTimeout
-from .timeouts import death_penalty_after
+from .timeouts import UnixSignalDeathPenalty
 from .version import VERSION
 from rq.compat import text_type, as_text
 
@@ -59,6 +59,8 @@ def signal_name(signum):
 class Worker(object):
     redis_worker_namespace_prefix = 'rq:worker:'
     redis_workers_keys = 'rq:workers'
+    death_penalty_class = UnixSignalDeathPenalty
+
 
     @classmethod
     def all(cls, connection=None):
@@ -462,7 +464,7 @@ class Worker(object):
 
         with self.connection._pipeline() as pipeline:
             try:
-                with death_penalty_after(job.timeout or Queue.DEFAULT_TIMEOUT):
+                with self.death_penalty_class(job.timeout or Queue.DEFAULT_TIMEOUT):
                     rv = job.perform()
 
                 # Pickle the result in the same try-except block since we need to