diff --git a/changelog.html b/changelog.html
index 13b939e621f1a8be3a49720ea1877d1c776d8d8c..492aef617e757fd2af260550e9e7b6a775339e4e 100644
--- a/changelog.html
+++ b/changelog.html
@@ -58,6 +58,9 @@ Upcoming changes</a>
   <li class=bug>
     User icon in People broken if Jenkins root URL unconfigured.
     (<a href="https://issues.jenkins-ci.org/browse/JENKINS-18118">issue 18118</a>)
+  <li class=bug>
+    Progress bar sometimes broken in People.
+    (<a href="https://issues.jenkins-ci.org/browse/JENKINS-18119">issue 18119</a>)
 </ul>
 </div><!--=TRUNK-END=-->
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/jenkins/util/ProgressiveRendering.java b/core/src/main/java/jenkins/util/ProgressiveRendering.java
index 04b2f97956bbba154c23c1e11896a8b260e712a4..d659d0b5ed5f886dcf47bd12651d2146023db92a 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/jenkins/util/ProgressiveRendering.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/jenkins/util/ProgressiveRendering.java
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ import org.kohsuke.stapler.bind.JavaScriptMethod;
  * (since it may be canceled if the user simply browses to another page while it is running).
  * <ol>
  * <li>Write a {@code <script>} section defining {@code function display(data)}.
- *     (Call {@code document.getElementById('someid').sortable.refresh()} if using a {@code sortable} table.)
+ *     (Call {@code var t = document.getElementById('someid'); if (t.sortable != null) t.sortable.refresh()} if using a {@code sortable} table.)
  * <li>Use {@code <l:progressiveRendering handler="${it.something()}" callback="display"/>} from your
  *     Jelly page to display a progress bar and initialize JavaScript infrastructure.
  *     (The callback attribute can take arbitrary JavaScript expression to be evaluated in the browser
diff --git a/core/src/main/resources/hudson/model/View/AsynchPeople/index.jelly b/core/src/main/resources/hudson/model/View/AsynchPeople/index.jelly
index f98571068c9d014466d6bdc1081aa7a5944a45ba..1c8a953e57c53db934c853ec3398b589f110a567 100644
--- a/core/src/main/resources/hudson/model/View/AsynchPeople/index.jelly
+++ b/core/src/main/resources/hudson/model/View/AsynchPeople/index.jelly
@@ -88,7 +88,9 @@ THE SOFTWARE.
                   }
                   r.appendChild(d);
 
-                  p.sortable.refresh();
+                  if (p.sortable != null) {
+                      p.sortable.refresh();
+                  }
               }
           }
       </script>