diff --git a/tools/test.py b/tools/test.py
index ada5e607d2ca8bc02681c2d999be913e8328d5bd..af950aac2918e81af3d1ab200c0d74d492828ae5 100644
--- a/tools/test.py
+++ b/tools/test.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import argparse
+import os
 import os.path as osp
 import shutil
 import tempfile
@@ -119,6 +120,8 @@ def parse_args():
         help='job launcher')
     parser.add_argument('--local_rank', type=int, default=0)
     args = parser.parse_args()
+    if 'LOCAL_RANK' not in os.environ:
+        os.environ['LOCAL_RANK'] = str(args.local_rank)
     return args
 
 
diff --git a/tools/train.py b/tools/train.py
index b8f21d11fa687ffd4e9c5aaf8b5d46b5142c826e..d8bb9dc0f416f398b41ef8af7dd7c3c9743a0838 100644
--- a/tools/train.py
+++ b/tools/train.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 from __future__ import division
 
 import argparse
+import os
 from mmcv import Config
 
 from mmdet import __version__
@@ -35,6 +36,8 @@ def parse_args():
         help='job launcher')
     parser.add_argument('--local_rank', type=int, default=0)
     args = parser.parse_args()
+    if 'LOCAL_RANK' not in os.environ:
+        os.environ['LOCAL_RANK'] = str(args.local_rank)
 
     return args