diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemWriter.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemWriter.java
index 768bf0ddf..f1d5a7f93 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemWriter.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemWriter.java
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ import java.nio.channels.FileChannel;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
-
 import javax.xml.namespace.QName;
 import javax.xml.stream.FactoryConfigurationError;
 import javax.xml.stream.XMLEventFactory;
@@ -38,10 +37,12 @@ import javax.xml.transform.Result;
 
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+
 import org.springframework.batch.item.ExecutionContext;
 import org.springframework.batch.item.ItemStreamException;
 import org.springframework.batch.item.ItemWriter;
 import org.springframework.batch.item.WriteFailedException;
+import org.springframework.batch.item.WriterNotOpenException;
 import org.springframework.batch.item.file.ResourceAwareItemWriterItemStream;
 import org.springframework.batch.item.support.AbstractItemStreamItemWriter;
 import org.springframework.batch.item.util.FileUtils;
@@ -152,6 +153,8 @@ ResourceAwareItemWriterItemStream<T>, InitializingBean {
 	private boolean shouldDeleteIfEmpty = false;
 	
 	private boolean restarted = false;
+
+	private boolean initialized = false;
 	
 	// List holding the QName of elements that were opened in the header callback, but not closed
 	private List<QName> unclosedHeaderCallbackElements = Collections.emptyList();
@@ -412,6 +415,8 @@ ResourceAwareItemWriterItemStream<T>, InitializingBean {
 			}
 		}
 
+		this.initialized = true;
+
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -710,6 +715,8 @@ ResourceAwareItemWriterItemStream<T>, InitializingBean {
 				}
 			}
 		}
+
+		this.initialized = false;
 	}
 
 	private void closeStream() {
@@ -731,6 +738,10 @@ ResourceAwareItemWriterItemStream<T>, InitializingBean {
 	@Override
 	public void write(List<? extends T> items) throws XmlMappingException, Exception {
 
+		if(!this.initialized) {
+			throw new WriterNotOpenException("Writer must be open before it can be written to");
+		}
+
 		currentRecordCount += items.size();
 
 		for (Object object : items) {
diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemWriterTests.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemWriterTests.java
index 66bf40b4a..cc36f7f87 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemWriterTests.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemWriterTests.java
@@ -15,11 +15,23 @@
  */
 package org.springframework.batch.item.xml;
 
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlRootElement;
+import javax.xml.stream.XMLEventFactory;
+import javax.xml.stream.XMLEventWriter;
+import javax.xml.stream.XMLStreamException;
+import javax.xml.transform.Result;
+
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
+
 import org.springframework.batch.item.ExecutionContext;
 import org.springframework.batch.item.UnexpectedInputException;
+import org.springframework.batch.item.WriterNotOpenException;
 import org.springframework.batch.support.transaction.ResourcelessTransactionManager;
 import org.springframework.core.io.FileSystemResource;
 import org.springframework.core.io.Resource;
@@ -34,16 +46,6 @@ import org.springframework.util.Assert;
 import org.springframework.util.ClassUtils;
 import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
 
-import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlRootElement;
-import javax.xml.stream.XMLEventFactory;
-import javax.xml.stream.XMLEventWriter;
-import javax.xml.stream.XMLStreamException;
-import javax.xml.transform.Result;
-import java.io.File;
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.util.Collections;
-import java.util.List;
-
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
@@ -128,6 +130,13 @@ public class StaxEventItemWriterTests {
 		assertTrue("execution context keys should be prefixed with writer name", executionContext.containsKey("test.position"));
 	}	
 
+	@Test(expected = WriterNotOpenException.class)
+	public void testAssertWriterIsInitialized() throws Exception {
+		StaxEventItemWriter writer = new StaxEventItemWriter();
+
+		writer.write(Collections.singletonList("foo"));
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Item is written to the output file only after flush.
 	 */