diff --git a/src/charm.py b/src/charm.py
index d021e78e..472bc11a 100755
--- a/src/charm.py
+++ b/src/charm.py
@@ -143,11 +143,14 @@ def _on_update_status(self, _: EventBase) -> None:  # noqa: C901
             self.model.unit.status = BlockedStatus(error_msg)
             return
 
-        if self._stored.exporter_installed:  # type: ignore[truthy-function]
-            if not self.exporter.check_active():
-                logger.warning("Exporter health check - failed.")
-                # if restart isn't successful, an ExporterError exception will be raised here
-                self.restart_exporter()
+        if not self._stored.exporter_installed:  # type: ignore[truthy-function]
+            logger.warning("Exporter not installed")  # type: ignore[unreachable]
+            return
+
+        if not self.exporter.check_health():
+            logger.warning("Exporter health check - failed.")
+            # if restart isn't successful, an ExporterError exception will be raised here
+            self.restart_exporter()
 
         self.model.unit.status = ActiveStatus("Unit is ready")
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_charm.py b/tests/unit/test_charm.py
index 3b4db824..e51865e0 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_charm.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_charm.py
@@ -206,6 +206,7 @@ def test_09_update_status_exporter_crashed(self, mock_hw_tool_helper, mock_expor
         self.harness.add_relation("cos-agent", "grafana-agent")
         self.harness.begin()
         self.harness.charm._stored.resource_installed = True
+        self.harness.charm._stored.exporter_installed = True
         with self.assertRaises(ExporterError):
             self.harness.charm.on.update_status.emit()