diff --git a/libpldmresponder/platform_numeric_effecter.hpp b/libpldmresponder/platform_numeric_effecter.hpp
index 3acfb3f..46330e6 100644
--- a/libpldmresponder/platform_numeric_effecter.hpp
+++ b/libpldmresponder/platform_numeric_effecter.hpp
@@ -256,6 +256,11 @@
 
     std::unique_ptr<pldm_pdr, decltype(&pldm_pdr_destroy)>
         numericEffecterPdrRepo(pldm_pdr_init(), pldm_pdr_destroy);
+    if (!numericEffecterPdrRepo)
+    {
+        error("Failed to instantiate numeric effecter PDR repository");
+        return PLDM_ERROR;
+    }
     pldm::responder::pdr_utils::Repo numericEffecterPDRs(
         numericEffecterPdrRepo.get());
     pldm::responder::pdr::getRepoByType(handler.getRepo(), numericEffecterPDRs,