diff --git a/workers/Dockerfile.prod b/workers/Dockerfile.prod
index d3de69eb..d4b6ce95 100644
--- a/workers/Dockerfile.prod
+++ b/workers/Dockerfile.prod
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ RUN mkdir worker
 WORKDIR /root/worker
 COPY . .
 
+# Set environment variables for prod
+ENV PROD=true
+
 ENV PORT 8500
 EXPOSE 8500
 EXPOSE 65535
diff --git a/workers/pvinsight-validation-runner.py b/workers/pvinsight-validation-runner.py
index 437534d3..a6274041 100644
--- a/workers/pvinsight-validation-runner.py
+++ b/workers/pvinsight-validation-runner.py
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ def is_local():
     Returns:
         bool: True if the application is running locally, False otherwise.
     """
-    return 'AWS_EXECUTION_ENV' not in os.environ and 'ECS_CONTAINER_METADATA_URI' not in os.environ and 'ECS_CONTAINER_METADATA_URI_V4' not in os.environ
+    return 'AWS_EXECUTION_ENV' not in os.environ and 'ECS_CONTAINER_METADATA_URI' not in os.environ and 'ECS_CONTAINER_METADATA_URI_V4' not in os.environ and 'PROD' not in os.environ
 
 is_s3_emulation = is_local()
 
diff --git a/workers/submission_worker.py b/workers/submission_worker.py
index fcbea7a8..276d253f 100644
--- a/workers/submission_worker.py
+++ b/workers/submission_worker.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ def is_local():
     Returns:
         bool: True if the application is running locally, False otherwise.
     """
-    return 'AWS_EXECUTION_ENV' not in os.environ and 'ECS_CONTAINER_METADATA_URI' not in os.environ and 'ECS_CONTAINER_METADATA_URI_V4' not in os.environ
+    return 'AWS_EXECUTION_ENV' not in os.environ and 'ECS_CONTAINER_METADATA_URI' not in os.environ and 'ECS_CONTAINER_METADATA_URI_V4' not in os.environ and 'PROD' not in os.environ
 
 is_s3_emulation = is_local()