diff --git a/repos/base/include/util/bit_allocator.h b/repos/base/include/util/bit_allocator.h
index 573dfc2206..bcd74920aa 100644
--- a/repos/base/include/util/bit_allocator.h
+++ b/repos/base/include/util/bit_allocator.h
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ class Genode::Bit_allocator
 		class Range_conflict : Exception {};
 
 		Bit_allocator() { _reserve(BITS, BITS_ALIGNED - BITS); }
-		Bit_allocator(const Bit_allocator & o) : _array(o._array) { }
+		Bit_allocator(Bit_allocator const &other) : _array(other._array) { }
 
 		/**
 		 * Allocate block of bits
diff --git a/repos/base/include/util/bit_array.h b/repos/base/include/util/bit_array.h
index dbecc9a453..f3d6e87b5a 100644
--- a/repos/base/include/util/bit_array.h
+++ b/repos/base/include/util/bit_array.h
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 #include <base/stdint.h>
 
 namespace Genode {
-	
+
 	class Bit_array_base;
 	template <unsigned> class Bit_array;
 }
@@ -44,9 +44,9 @@ class Genode::Bit_array_base
 
 	private:
 
-		unsigned _bit_cnt;
-		unsigned _word_cnt;
-		addr_t  *_words;
+		unsigned const _bit_cnt;
+		unsigned const _word_cnt = _bit_cnt / BITS_PER_WORD;
+		addr_t * const _words;
 
 		addr_t _word(addr_t index) const {
 			return index / BITS_PER_WORD; }
@@ -76,10 +76,10 @@ class Genode::Bit_array_base
 		{
 			_check_range(index, width);
 
-			addr_t rest, word, mask;
+			addr_t rest;
 			do {
-				word = _word(index);
-				mask = _mask(index, width, rest);
+				addr_t const word = _word(index);
+				addr_t const mask = _mask(index, width, rest);
 
 				if (free) {
 					if ((_words[word] & mask) != mask)
@@ -96,16 +96,27 @@ class Genode::Bit_array_base
 			} while (rest);
 		}
 
+		/*
+		 * Noncopyable
+		 */
+		Bit_array_base(Bit_array_base const &);
+		Bit_array_base &operator = (Bit_array_base const &);
+
 	public:
 
-		Bit_array_base(unsigned bits, addr_t *addr, bool clear)
-		: _bit_cnt(bits),
-		  _word_cnt(_bit_cnt / BITS_PER_WORD),
-		  _words(addr)
+		/**
+		 * Constructor
+		 *
+		 * \param ptr  pointer to array used as backing store for the bits.
+		 *             The array must be initialized with zeros.
+		 *
+		 * \throw Invalid_bit_count
+		 */
+		Bit_array_base(unsigned bits, addr_t *ptr)
+		:
+			_bit_cnt(bits), _words(ptr)
 		{
 			if (!bits || bits % BITS_PER_WORD) throw Invalid_bit_count();
-
-			if (clear) memset(_words, 0, sizeof(addr_t)*_word_cnt);
 		}
 
 		/**
@@ -146,13 +157,16 @@ class Genode::Bit_array : public Bit_array_base
 		static_assert(BITS % BITS_PER_WORD == 0,
 		              "Count of bits need to be word aligned!");
 
-		addr_t _array[_WORDS];
+		struct Array { addr_t values[_WORDS]; } _array { };
 
 	public:
 
-		Bit_array() : Bit_array_base(BITS, _array, true) { }
-		Bit_array(const Bit_array & o) : Bit_array_base(BITS, _array, false) {
-			memcpy(&_array, &o._array, sizeof(_array)); }
+		Bit_array() : Bit_array_base(BITS, _array.values) { }
+
+		Bit_array(Bit_array const &other)
+		:
+			Bit_array_base(BITS, _array.values), _array(other._array)
+		{ }
 };
 
 #endif /* _INCLUDE__UTIL__BIT_ARRAY_H_ */
diff --git a/repos/os/include/os/packet_allocator.h b/repos/os/include/os/packet_allocator.h
index 67709fb9a1..b94f1a74cf 100644
--- a/repos/os/include/os/packet_allocator.h
+++ b/repos/os/include/os/packet_allocator.h
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ class Genode::Packet_allocator : public Genode::Range_allocator
 
 		Allocator      *_md_alloc;         /* meta-data allocator                 */
 		size_t          _block_size;       /* granularity of packet allocations   */
-		void           *_bits  = nullptr;  /* memory chunk containing the bits    */
+		addr_t         *_bits  = nullptr;  /* memory chunk containing the bits    */
 		Bit_array_base *_array = nullptr;  /* bit array managing available blocks */
 		addr_t          _base = 0;         /* allocation base                     */
 		addr_t          _next = 0;         /* next free bit index                 */
@@ -76,11 +76,12 @@ class Genode::Packet_allocator : public Genode::Range_allocator
 		{
 			if (_base || _array) return -1;
 
-			_base  = base;
-			_bits  = _md_alloc->alloc(_block_cnt(size)/8);
-			_array = new (_md_alloc) Bit_array_base(_block_cnt(size),
-			                                        (addr_t*)_bits,
-			                                        true);
+			size_t const number_of_bytes = _block_cnt(size)/8;
+			_base = base;
+			_bits = (addr_t *)_md_alloc->alloc(number_of_bytes);
+			memset(_bits, 0, number_of_bytes);
+
+			_array = new (_md_alloc) Bit_array_base(_block_cnt(size), _bits);
 			return 0;
 		}