diff --git a/drivers/infiniband/hw/bnxt_re/main.c b/drivers/infiniband/hw/bnxt_re/main.c
index ce72db1b4bc3..17654a9e23fe 100644
--- a/drivers/infiniband/hw/bnxt_re/main.c
+++ b/drivers/infiniband/hw/bnxt_re/main.c
@@ -356,9 +356,13 @@ static int bnxt_re_update_qp1_tos_dscp(struct bnxt_re_dev *rdev)
 	return bnxt_qplib_modify_qp(&rdev->qplib_res, &qp->qplib_qp);
 }
 
-static void bnxt_re_init_dcb_wq(struct bnxt_re_dev *rdev)
+static int bnxt_re_init_dcb_wq(struct bnxt_re_dev *rdev)
 {
 	rdev->dcb_wq = create_singlethread_workqueue("bnxt_re_dcb_wq");
+	if (!rdev->dcb_wq)
+		return -ENOMEM;
+
+	return 0;
 }
 
 static void bnxt_re_uninit_dcb_wq(struct bnxt_re_dev *rdev)
@@ -2339,7 +2343,9 @@ static int bnxt_re_dev_init(struct bnxt_re_dev *rdev, u8 op_type)
 	}
 	bnxt_re_debugfs_add_pdev(rdev);
 
-	bnxt_re_init_dcb_wq(rdev);
+	rc = bnxt_re_init_dcb_wq(rdev);
+	if (rc)
+		goto fail;
 	bnxt_re_net_register_async_event(rdev);
 
 	if (!rdev->is_virtfn)