diff --git a/pkg/db/db_store.go b/pkg/db/db_store.go
index ad0cab9..16345e1 100644
--- a/pkg/db/db_store.go
+++ b/pkg/db/db_store.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"database/sql"
 	"sync"
+	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/rs/zerolog"
@@ -14,7 +15,7 @@ const databaseDriver = "postgres"
 // instance holds a single instance of the database
 var instance *ReaderWriter
 
-var ready bool
+var ready atomic.Bool
 
 // once is used to ensure that there is only a single instance of the database
 var once sync.Once
@@ -23,7 +24,7 @@ var once sync.Once
 type Store struct {
 	db    func() *sql.DB
 	dbs   *ReaderWriter
-	ready *bool
+	ready *atomic.Bool
 }
 
 // NewDbConnectionFromSettings sets up a db connection from the settings, only once
@@ -60,7 +61,7 @@ func NewDbConnectionFromSettings(ctx context.Context, settings *Settings, withSe
 
 // IsReady returns if db is ready to connect to
 func (store *Store) IsReady() bool {
-	return *store.ready
+	return store.ready.Load()
 }
 
 // DBS returns the reader and writer databases to connect to
@@ -70,7 +71,7 @@ func (store *Store) DBS() *ReaderWriter {
 
 // NewDbConnectionForTest use this for tests as we have multiple sessions in parallel and don't want the synced one
 func NewDbConnectionForTest(ctx context.Context, settings *Settings, withSearchPath bool) Store {
-	localReady := false
+	localReady := atomic.Bool{}
 	dbConnection := NewDbConnection(
 		ctx,
 		&localReady,
diff --git a/pkg/db/db_wrapper.go b/pkg/db/db_wrapper.go
index e30c436..1e913b8 100644
--- a/pkg/db/db_wrapper.go
+++ b/pkg/db/db_wrapper.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
+	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
 
 	_ "github.com/lib/pq" // concrete implementation of database
@@ -43,10 +44,10 @@ type ReaderWriter struct {
 var dbs *ReaderWriter
 
 // NewDbConnection connects to the reader and writer per passed in options, with retries, returning a DBReaderWriter object that contains sql.DB connection
-func NewDbConnection(ctx context.Context, ready *bool, ro ConnectOptions, wo ConnectOptions) *ReaderWriter {
+func NewDbConnection(ctx context.Context, ready *atomic.Bool, ro ConnectOptions, wo ConnectOptions) *ReaderWriter {
 	dbs = &ReaderWriter{Reader: &DB{}, Writer: &DB{}}
 
-	go func(ctx context.Context, ready *bool, dbs *ReaderWriter) {
+	go func(ctx context.Context, ready *atomic.Bool, dbs *ReaderWriter) {
 		errCh := make(chan error)
 		defer close(errCh)
 
@@ -74,7 +75,7 @@ func NewDbConnection(ctx context.Context, ready *bool, ro ConnectOptions, wo Con
 			rCancel()
 			wCancel()
 			wg.Wait()
-			*ready = r
+			ready.Store(r)
 		}
 
 		rCount := 0
diff --git a/pkg/db/settings.go b/pkg/db/settings.go
index b4d7e18..ffd41df 100644
--- a/pkg/db/settings.go
+++ b/pkg/db/settings.go
@@ -13,14 +13,14 @@ const (
 
 // Settings connection settings to postgres db
 type Settings struct {
-	User               string `yaml:"USER"`
-	Password           string `yaml:"PASSWORD"`
-	Port               string `yaml:"PORT"`
-	Host               string `yaml:"HOST"`
-	Name               string `yaml:"NAME"`
-	MaxOpenConnections int    `yaml:"MAX_OPEN_CONNECTIONS"`
-	MaxIdleConnections int    `yaml:"MAX_IDLE_CONNECTIONS"`
-	SSLMode            string `yaml:"SSL_MODE"`
+	User               string `env:"USER"                 yaml:"USER"`
+	Password           string `env:"PASSWORD"             yaml:"PASSWORD"`
+	Port               string `env:"PORT"                 yaml:"PORT"`
+	Host               string `env:"HOST"                 yaml:"HOST"`
+	Name               string `env:"NAME"                 yaml:"NAME"`
+	MaxOpenConnections int    `env:"MAX_OPEN_CONNECTIONS" yaml:"MAX_OPEN_CONNECTIONS"`
+	MaxIdleConnections int    `env:"MAX_IDLE_CONNECTIONS" yaml:"MAX_IDLE_CONNECTIONS"`
+	SSLMode            string `env:"SSL_MODE"             yaml:"SSL_MODE"`
 }
 
 // BuildConnectionString builds the connection string to the database - for now same as reader