diff --git a/pkg/workload/schemachange/operation_generator.go b/pkg/workload/schemachange/operation_generator.go
index cc7c29685f3b..68a5cd35d3e8 100644
--- a/pkg/workload/schemachange/operation_generator.go
+++ b/pkg/workload/schemachange/operation_generator.go
@@ -1629,6 +1629,9 @@ func (og *operationGenerator) getTableColumns(
 	if err := rows.Err(); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+	if len(ret) == 0 {
+		return nil, pgx.ErrNoRows
+	}
 	for i := range ret {
 		c := &ret[i]
 		c.typ, err = og.typeFromTypeName(tx, typNames[i])