diff --git a/rowers/dataprepnodjango.py b/rowers/dataprepnodjango.py
index ab1f8506..be8855d0 100644
--- a/rowers/dataprepnodjango.py
+++ b/rowers/dataprepnodjango.py
@@ -729,7 +729,7 @@ def getsmallrowdata_db(columns,ids=[],debug=False):
         try:
             df = pd.read_parquet(csvfilenames[0],columns=columns,engine='pyarrow')
         except (OSError,IndexError):
-            pass
+            df = pd.DataFrame()
 
 
     return df