diff --git a/storage/badger/approvals.go b/storage/badger/approvals.go
index 4733c8e3e77..3023204290c 100644
--- a/storage/badger/approvals.go
+++ b/storage/badger/approvals.go
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ func (r *ResultApprovals) index(resultID flow.Identifier, chunkIndex uint64, app
 
 			// no approval found, index the approval
 
-			return operation.IndexResultApproval(resultID, chunkIndex, approvalID)(rw.Writer())
+			return operation.UnsafeIndexResultApproval(resultID, chunkIndex, approvalID)(rw.Writer())
 		}
 
 		// an approval is already indexed, double check if it is the same
diff --git a/storage/badger/operation/approvals.go b/storage/badger/operation/approvals.go
index af64911df7e..7c78095e090 100644
--- a/storage/badger/operation/approvals.go
+++ b/storage/badger/operation/approvals.go
@@ -18,12 +18,14 @@ func RetrieveResultApproval(approvalID flow.Identifier, approval *flow.ResultApp
 	return retrieveR(makePrefix(codeResultApproval, approvalID), approval)
 }
 
-// IndexResultApproval inserts a ResultApproval ID keyed by ExecutionResult ID
+// UnsafeIndexResultApproval inserts a ResultApproval ID keyed by ExecutionResult ID
 // and chunk index. If a value for this key exists, a storage.ErrAlreadyExists
 // error is returned. This operation is only used by the ResultApprovals store,
 // which is only used within a Verification node, where it is assumed that there
 // is only one approval per chunk.
-func IndexResultApproval(resultID flow.Identifier, chunkIndex uint64, approvalID flow.Identifier) func(storage.Writer) error {
+// CAUTION: In order to prevent overwriting, use of this function must be
+// synchronized with check (RetrieveResultApproval) for existance of the key.
+func UnsafeIndexResultApproval(resultID flow.Identifier, chunkIndex uint64, approvalID flow.Identifier) func(storage.Writer) error {
 	return insertW(makePrefix(codeIndexResultApprovalByChunk, resultID, chunkIndex), approvalID)
 }
 
diff --git a/storage/badger/operation/reader_batch_writer.go b/storage/badger/operation/reader_batch_writer.go
index d92df33d3b3..3c8a26530fd 100644
--- a/storage/badger/operation/reader_batch_writer.go
+++ b/storage/badger/operation/reader_batch_writer.go
@@ -16,15 +16,30 @@ type ReaderBatchWriter struct {
 	batch *badger.WriteBatch
 
 	addingCallback sync.Mutex // protect callbacks
-	callbacks      []func(error)
+
+	// callbacks are executed regardless of the success of the batch commit.
+	// if any function that is adding writes to the batch fails, the callbacks
+	// are also called with the error, in this case the callbacks are executed
+	// before the batch is submitted. This is useful for the locks in those functions
+	// to be released.
+	// callbacks must be non-blocking
+	callbacks []func(error)
 }
 
 var _ storage.BadgerReaderBatchWriter = (*ReaderBatchWriter)(nil)
 
+// GlobalReader returns a database-backed reader which reads the latest committed global database state ("read-committed isolation").
+// This reader will not read writes written to ReaderBatchWriter.Writer until the write batch is committed.
+// This reader may observe different values for the same key on subsequent reads.
 func (b *ReaderBatchWriter) GlobalReader() storage.Reader {
 	return b
 }
 
+// Writer returns a writer associated with a batch of writes. The batch is pending until it is committed.
+// When we `Write` into the batch, that write operation is added to the pending batch, but not committed.
+// The commit operation is atomic w.r.t. the batch; either all writes are applied to the database, or no writes are.
+// Note:
+// - The writer cannot be used concurrently for writing.
 func (b *ReaderBatchWriter) Writer() storage.Writer {
 	return b
 }