diff --git a/lib/ProxySQL_Statistics.cpp b/lib/ProxySQL_Statistics.cpp
index 5148a4c92..05dc7d51f 100644
--- a/lib/ProxySQL_Statistics.cpp
+++ b/lib/ProxySQL_Statistics.cpp
@@ -466,6 +466,10 @@ void ProxySQL_Statistics::system_cpu_sets() {
 		char *query1=NULL;
 		query1=(char *)"INSERT INTO system_cpu VALUES (?1, ?2, ?3)";
 		rc=sqlite3_prepare_v2(mydb3, query1, -1, &statement1, 0);
+		if (rc!=SQLITE_OK) {
+			proxy_error("SQLITE CRITICAL error: %s . Shutting down.\n", sqlite3_errmsg(mydb3));
+			exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
+		}
 
 		time_t ts = time(NULL);
 
@@ -529,6 +533,10 @@ void ProxySQL_Statistics::system_memory_sets() {
 		char *query1=NULL;
 		query1=(char *)"INSERT INTO system_memory VALUES (?1, ?2, ?3, ?4, ?5, ?6, ?7)";
 		rc=sqlite3_prepare_v2(mydb3, query1, -1, &statement1, 0);
+		if (rc!=SQLITE_OK) {
+			proxy_error("SQLITE CRITICAL error: %s . Shutting down.\n", sqlite3_errmsg(mydb3));
+			exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
+		}
 
 		time_t ts = time(NULL);
 
@@ -713,7 +721,10 @@ void ProxySQL_Statistics::MySQL_Threads_Handler_sets(SQLite3_result *resultset)
 	query1=(char *)"INSERT INTO mysql_connections VALUES (?1, ?2, ?3, ?4, ?5, ?6, ?7, ?8, ?9, ?10, ?11, ?12, ?13)";
 	//query2=(char *)"INSERT INTO myhgm_connections VALUES (?1, ?2, ?3, ?4, ?5, ?6)";
 	rc=sqlite3_prepare_v2(mydb3, query1, -1, &statement1, 0);
-	assert(rc==SQLITE_OK);
+	if (rc!=SQLITE_OK) {
+		proxy_error("SQLITE CRITICAL error: %s . Shutting down.\n", sqlite3_errmsg(mydb3));
+		exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
+	}
 	//rc=sqlite3_prepare_v2(mydb3, query2, -1, &statement2, 0);
 	//assert(rc==SQLITE_OK);
 	//rc=sqlite3_prepare_v2(mydb3, query3, -1, &statement3, 0);
@@ -838,7 +849,10 @@ void ProxySQL_Statistics::MySQL_Query_Cache_sets(SQLite3_result *resultset) {
 	char *query1=NULL;
 	query1=(char *)"INSERT INTO mysql_query_cache VALUES (?1, ?2, ?3, ?4, ?5, ?6, ?7, ?8, ?9)";
 	rc=sqlite3_prepare_v2(mydb3, query1, -1, &statement1, 0);
-	assert(rc==SQLITE_OK);
+	if (rc!=SQLITE_OK) {
+		proxy_error("SQLITE CRITICAL error: %s . Shutting down.\n", sqlite3_errmsg(mydb3));
+		exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
+	}
 
 	uint64_t qc_values[9];
 	for (int i=0; i<9; i++) {
diff --git a/lib/sqlite3db.cpp b/lib/sqlite3db.cpp
index 6c1e12d94..cc01f5626 100644
--- a/lib/sqlite3db.cpp
+++ b/lib/sqlite3db.cpp
@@ -37,13 +37,14 @@ int SQLite3DB::open(char *__url, int flags) {
 	url=strdup(__url);
 	int rc;
 	rc=sqlite3_open_v2(url, &db, flags , NULL);
-	if(rc){
+	if (rc) {
     proxy_debug(PROXY_DEBUG_SQLITE, 1, "SQLITE: Error on sqlite3_open_v2(): %s\n", sqlite3_errmsg(db));
 		if (assert_on_error) {
 			assert(rc==0);
 		}
-		return -1;		
-  }
+		proxy_error("SQLITE CRITICAL error: Unable to open %s. Shutting down.\n", url);
+		exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
+	}
 	return 0;
 }