diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/planner/multi_physical_planner.c b/src/backend/distributed/planner/multi_physical_planner.c
index a12572ad5..073dd12bc 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/planner/multi_physical_planner.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/planner/multi_physical_planner.c
@@ -5213,6 +5213,12 @@ ActiveShardPlacementLists(List *taskList)
 
 		/* filter out shard placements that reside in inactive nodes */
 		List *activeShardPlacementList = ActivePlacementList(shardPlacementList);
+		if (activeShardPlacementList == NIL)
+		{
+			ereport(ERROR,
+					(errmsg("no active placements were found for shard " UINT64_FORMAT,
+							anchorShardId)));
+		}
 
 		/* sort shard placements by their creation time */
 		activeShardPlacementList = SortList(activeShardPlacementList,
@@ -5271,7 +5277,7 @@ ActivePlacementList(List *placementList)
 
 		/* check if the worker node for this shard placement is active */
 		workerNode = FindWorkerNode(placement->nodeName, placement->nodePort);
-		if (workerNode != NULL)
+		if (workerNode != NULL && workerNode->isActive)
 		{
 			activePlacementList = lappend(activePlacementList, placement);
 		}