diff --git a/jenkins/RO/start_build b/jenkins/RO/start_build
index b6336792ede9a4ebc7e9794b5c9021e10c170355..f3d2117c3e32ab60c481b096ee5077c7cf225380 100755
--- a/jenkins/RO/start_build
+++ b/jenkins/RO/start_build
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ else
 	cd $OSM_MDG
 fi
 if [ $# -gt 0 ]; then
-	git checkout $1
+	git checkout $1 || FATAL "git checkout '$1' didn't work"
 fi
 
 INFO "starting build"