diff --git a/swift/obj/auditor.py b/swift/obj/auditor.py
index fce1d85b59..4c78d07af3 100644
--- a/swift/obj/auditor.py
+++ b/swift/obj/auditor.py
@@ -257,8 +257,12 @@ class ObjectAuditor(Daemon):
             signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, signal.SIG_DFL)
             if zero_byte_fps:
                 kwargs['zero_byte_fps'] = self.conf_zero_byte_fps
-            self.run_audit(**kwargs)
-            sys.exit()
+            try:
+                self.run_audit(**kwargs)
+            except Exception as e:
+                self.logger.error(_("ERROR: Unable to run auditing: %s") % e)
+            finally:
+                sys.exit()
 
     def audit_loop(self, parent, zbo_fps, override_devices=None, **kwargs):
         """Parallel audit loop"""
diff --git a/test/unit/obj/test_auditor.py b/test/unit/obj/test_auditor.py
index e65beab84e..e8f8a2b16a 100644
--- a/test/unit/obj/test_auditor.py
+++ b/test/unit/obj/test_auditor.py
@@ -487,6 +487,18 @@ class TestAuditor(unittest.TestCase):
         finally:
             auditor.diskfile.DiskFile = was_df
 
+    @mock.patch.object(auditor.ObjectAuditor, 'run_audit')
+    @mock.patch('os.fork', return_value=0)
+    def test_with_inaccessible_object_location(self, mock_os_fork,
+                                               mock_run_audit):
+        # Need to ensure that any failures in run_audit do
+        # not prevent sys.exit() from running.  Otherwise we get
+        # zombie processes.
+        e = OSError('permission denied')
+        mock_run_audit.side_effect = e
+        self.auditor = auditor.ObjectAuditor(self.conf)
+        self.assertRaises(SystemExit, self.auditor.fork_child, self)
+
     def test_with_tombstone(self):
         ts_file_path = self.setup_bad_zero_byte(with_ts=True)
         self.assertTrue(ts_file_path.endswith('ts'))