diff --git a/files/image_config/monit/memory_checker b/files/image_config/monit/memory_checker
index dfe270e7952..056d2438356 100755
--- a/files/image_config/monit/memory_checker
+++ b/files/image_config/monit/memory_checker
@@ -96,6 +96,11 @@ def check_memory_usage(container_name, threshold_value):
         sys.exit(4)
 
 
+def is_service_active(service):
+    status = subprocess.run("systemctl is-active --quiet {}".format(service), shell=True, check=False)
+    return status.returncode == 0
+
+
 def get_running_container_names():
     """Retrieves names of running containers by talking to the docker daemon.
 
@@ -128,6 +133,10 @@ def main():
     parser.add_argument("threshold_value", type=int, help="threshold value in bytes")
     args = parser.parse_args()
 
+    if not is_service_active("docker"):
+        syslog.syslog(syslog.LOG_INFO,"Skipping memory check: docker daemon is down")
+        sys.exit(0)
+
     running_container_names = get_running_container_names()
     if args.container_name in running_container_names:
         check_memory_usage(args.container_name, args.threshold_value)