diff --git a/server/index.js b/server/index.js
index 4c5638038..6e658cff3 100644
--- a/server/index.js
+++ b/server/index.js
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 // @flow
 import env from "./env"; // eslint-disable-line import/order
+import "./tracing"; // must come before importing any instrumented module
+
 import http from "http";
 import debug from "debug";
 import Koa from "koa";
@@ -12,12 +14,10 @@ import stoppable from "stoppable";
 import throng from "throng";
 import "./sentry";
 import services from "./services";
-import { initTracing } from "./tracing";
 import { checkEnv, checkMigrations } from "./utils/startup";
 import { checkUpdates } from "./utils/updates";
 
 checkEnv();
-initTracing();
 checkMigrations();
 
 // If a services flag is passed it takes priority over the enviroment variable
diff --git a/server/tracing.js b/server/tracing.js
index 91fdce37c..251f01a4c 100644
--- a/server/tracing.js
+++ b/server/tracing.js
@@ -1,13 +1,11 @@
 // @flow
 
-export function initTracing() {
-  // If the DataDog agent is installed and the DD_API_KEY environment variable is
-  // in the environment then we can safely attempt to start the DD tracer
-  if (process.env.DD_API_KEY) {
-    require("dd-trace").init({
-      // SOURCE_COMMIT is used by Docker Hub
-      // SOURCE_VERSION is used by Heroku
-      version: process.env.SOURCE_COMMIT || process.env.SOURCE_VERSION,
-    });
-  }
+// If the DataDog agent is installed and the DD_API_KEY environment variable is
+// in the environment then we can safely attempt to start the DD tracer
+if (process.env.DD_API_KEY) {
+  require("dd-trace").init({
+    // SOURCE_COMMIT is used by Docker Hub
+    // SOURCE_VERSION is used by Heroku
+    version: process.env.SOURCE_COMMIT || process.env.SOURCE_VERSION,
+  });
 }