diff --git a/lib/OpenLayers/Events.js b/lib/OpenLayers/Events.js
index 4a9f703038..18d1983b4f 100644
--- a/lib/OpenLayers/Events.js
+++ b/lib/OpenLayers/Events.js
@@ -860,10 +860,9 @@ OpenLayers.Events = OpenLayers.Class({
         // returns incorrect offsets. So our best bet is to not invalidate the
         // offsets once we have them, and hope that the page was not scrolled
         // when we did the initial calculation.
-        if (!((document.body.scrollTop != 0 ||
-                                document.body.scrollLeft != 0) &&
-                                navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone/i))) {
-            OpenLayers.Console.log("clear");
+        var body = document.body;
+        if (body && !((body.scrollTop != 0 || body.scrollLeft != 0) &&
+                                    navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone/i))) {
             this.element.offsets = null;
         }
     },      
diff --git a/tests/Map.html b/tests/Map.html
index d4a8d12b6d..5f89d1a2d9 100644
--- a/tests/Map.html
+++ b/tests/Map.html
@@ -1593,8 +1593,20 @@
         
     }
 
+    // test if we can call updateSize before document.body is ready. updateOk
+    // is tested in the test_updateSize function below
+    var earlyMap = new OpenLayers.Map();
+    var updateOk;
+    try {
+      earlyMap.updateSize();
+      updateOk = true;
+    } catch(e) {}
+    earlyMap.destroy();
     function test_updateSize(t) {
-        t.plan(2);
+        t.plan(3);
+
+        // checking updateSize from outside this test function (see above)
+        t.ok(updateOk, "updateSize works before document.body is ready");
 
         var map, moveToCnt, size;
 
@@ -1625,7 +1637,7 @@
         map.updateSize();
         t.eq(moveToCnt, 1, "updateSize move the map if it has a center");
 
-        map.destroy();
+        map.destroy();        
     }
     
     function test_invisible_map(t) {