diff --git a/my_ocrd_workflow b/my_ocrd_workflow
index 9d380cd..eab0c46 100755
--- a/my_ocrd_workflow
+++ b/my_ocrd_workflow
@@ -7,12 +7,14 @@ export LOG_LEVEL=${LOG_LEVEL:-DEBUG}  # /etc/ocrd_logging.py uses this to set le
 export TEXTEQUIV_LEVEL=glyph
 
 # Command line parameters
-OPTS=`getopt -o I: --long input-file-grp: -- "$@"`
+OPTS=`getopt -o I: --long input-file-grp:,skip-validation -- "$@"`
 eval set -- "$OPTS"
 INPUT_FILE_GRP=OCR-D-IMG
+SKIP_VALIDATION=false
 while true; do
   case "$1" in
     -I|--input-file-grp) INPUT_FILE_GRP=$2; shift 2;;
+    --skip-validation) SKIP_VALIDATION=true; shift;;
 
     --) shift; break;;
     *) break;;
@@ -46,7 +48,9 @@ do_validate() {
     --skip pixel_density
     --page-strictness lax
     --page-coordinate-consistency off'
-  ocrd workspace validate $validate_options
+  if [ "$SKIP_VALIDATION" = false ]; then
+    ocrd workspace validate $validate_options
+  fi
 }
 
 do_binarization() {