diff --git a/drivers/iio/chemical/sgp30.c b/drivers/iio/chemical/sgp30.c
index f10bbebc29e4..379c1c4af8d8 100644
--- a/drivers/iio/chemical/sgp30.c
+++ b/drivers/iio/chemical/sgp30.c
@@ -548,6 +548,9 @@ static int sgp_probe(struct i2c_client *client)
 
 	data->iaq_thread = kthread_run(sgp_iaq_threadfn, data,
 				       "%s-iaq", data->client->name);
+	if (IS_ERR(data->iaq_thread))
+		return dev_err_probe(dev, PTR_ERR(data->iaq_thread),
+				     "failed to start IAQ thread\n");
 
 	return 0;
 }