diff --git a/index.php b/index.php
index d200c0e4..5251436e 100644
--- a/index.php
+++ b/index.php
@@ -80,10 +80,6 @@ $whitelist_default = array(
 
 try {
 
-	Bridge::setDir(PATH_LIB_BRIDGES);
-	Format::setDir(PATH_LIB_FORMATS);
-	Cache::setDir(PATH_LIB_CACHES);
-
 	if(!file_exists(WHITELIST_FILE)) {
 		$whitelist_selection = $whitelist_default;
 		$whitelist_write = implode("\n", $whitelist_default);
diff --git a/lib/rssbridge.php b/lib/rssbridge.php
index c0ab675f..b82f7fe8 100644
--- a/lib/rssbridge.php
+++ b/lib/rssbridge.php
@@ -35,3 +35,14 @@ require_once PATH_LIB . 'contents.php';
 // Vendor
 require_once PATH_LIB_VENDOR . 'simplehtmldom/simple_html_dom.php';
 require_once PATH_LIB_VENDOR . 'php-urljoin/src/urljoin.php';
+
+// Initialize static members
+try {
+	Bridge::setDir(PATH_LIB_BRIDGES);
+	Format::setDir(PATH_LIB_FORMATS);
+	Cache::setDir(PATH_LIB_CACHES);
+} catch(Exception $e) {
+	error_log($e);
+	header('Content-type: text/plain', true, 500);
+	die($e->getMessage());
+}
diff --git a/tests/BridgeImplementationTest.php b/tests/BridgeImplementationTest.php
index fea38768..0261f58c 100644
--- a/tests/BridgeImplementationTest.php
+++ b/tests/BridgeImplementationTest.php
@@ -4,9 +4,7 @@ use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
 use PHPUnit\Framework\TestResult;
 use PHPUnit\Framework\AssertionFailedError;
 
-require_once(__DIR__ . '/../lib/rssbridge.php');
-
-Bridge::setDir(PATH_LIB_BRIDGES);
+require_once __DIR__ . '/../lib/rssbridge.php';
 
 /**
  * This class checks bridges for implementation details: