diff --git a/icu4c/source/test/cintltst/cbiapts.c b/icu4c/source/test/cintltst/cbiapts.c
index eb25cfee8d9..1e0af344702 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/test/cintltst/cbiapts.c
+++ b/icu4c/source/test/cintltst/cbiapts.c
@@ -149,8 +149,8 @@ static void TestBreakIteratorCAPI()
     /* Use french for fun */
     word         = ubrk_open(UBRK_WORD, "en_US", text, u_strlen(text), &status);
     if(status == U_FILE_ACCESS_ERROR) {
-      log_data_err("Check your data - it doesn't seem to be around\n");
-      return;
+        log_data_err("Check your data - it doesn't seem to be around\n");
+        return;
     } else if(U_FAILURE(status)){
         log_err("FAIL: Error in ubrk_open() for word breakiterator: %s\n", myErrorName(status));
     }
@@ -161,6 +161,7 @@ static void TestBreakIteratorCAPI()
     sentence     = ubrk_open(UBRK_SENTENCE, "en_US", text, u_strlen(text), &status);
     if(U_FAILURE(status)){
         log_err("FAIL: Error in ubrk_open() for sentence breakiterator: %s\n", myErrorName(status));
+        return;
     }
     else{
         log_verbose("PASS: Successfully opened  sentence breakiterator\n");
@@ -169,6 +170,7 @@ static void TestBreakIteratorCAPI()
     line         = ubrk_open(UBRK_LINE, "en_US", text, u_strlen(text), &status);
     if(U_FAILURE(status)){
         log_err("FAIL: Error in ubrk_open() for line breakiterator: %s\n", myErrorName(status));
+        return;
     }
     else{
         log_verbose("PASS: Successfully opened  line breakiterator\n");
@@ -177,6 +179,7 @@ static void TestBreakIteratorCAPI()
     character     = ubrk_open(UBRK_CHARACTER, "en_US", text, u_strlen(text), &status);
     if(U_FAILURE(status)){
         log_err("FAIL: Error in ubrk_open() for character breakiterator: %s\n", myErrorName(status));
+        return;
     }
     else{
         log_verbose("PASS: Successfully opened  character breakiterator\n");
diff --git a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/rbbiapts.cpp b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/rbbiapts.cpp
index fd490df50f8..fd722e5e00b 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/rbbiapts.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/rbbiapts.cpp
@@ -148,6 +148,10 @@ void RBBIAPITest::TestBoilerPlate()
     UErrorCode status = U_ZERO_ERROR;
     BreakIterator* a = BreakIterator::createLineInstance(Locale("hi"), status);
     BreakIterator* b = BreakIterator::createLineInstance(Locale("hi_IN"),status);
+    if (U_FAILURE(status)) {
+        errln("Creation of break iterator failed %s", u_errorName(status));
+        return;
+    }
     if(*a!=*b){
         errln("Failed: boilerplate method operator!= does not return correct results");
     }
diff --git a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/rbbitst.cpp b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/rbbitst.cpp
index 9211f9d5c65..ae00df0f638 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/rbbitst.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/rbbitst.cpp
@@ -3176,6 +3176,10 @@ void RBBITest::TestWordBreaks(void)
     "\\uc30d\\u002e\\U000e002c\\u0c48\\u003a\\ub5a1\\u0661\\u002c",
     };
     int loop;
+    if (U_FAILURE(status)) {
+        errln("Creation of break iterator failed %s", u_errorName(status));
+        return;
+    }
     for (loop = 0; loop < (int)(sizeof(strlist) / sizeof(char *)); loop ++) {
         // printf("looping %d\n", loop);
         u_unescape(strlist[loop], str, 25);
@@ -3239,6 +3243,10 @@ void RBBITest::TestWordBoundary(void)
     "\\u003b\\u0027\\u00b7\\u47a3",
     };
     int loop;
+    if (U_FAILURE(status)) {
+        errln("Creation of break iterator failed %s", u_errorName(status));
+        return;
+    }
     for (loop = 0; loop < (int)(sizeof(strlist) / sizeof(char *)); loop ++) {
         // printf("looping %d\n", loop);
         u_unescape(strlist[loop], str, 20);
@@ -3322,6 +3330,10 @@ void RBBITest::TestLineBreaks(void)
      "\\u2116\\u0ed2\\uff64\\u02cd\\u2001\\u2060",
     };
     int loop;
+    if (U_FAILURE(status)) {
+        errln("Creation of break iterator failed %s", u_errorName(status));
+        return;
+    }
     for (loop = 0; loop < (int)(sizeof(strlist) / sizeof(char *)); loop ++) {
         // printf("looping %d\n", loop);
         u_unescape(strlist[loop], str, 20);
@@ -3364,7 +3376,11 @@ void RBBITest::TestSentBreaks(void)
     };
     int loop;
     int forward[100];
-	for (loop = 0; loop < (int)(sizeof(strlist) / sizeof(char *)); loop ++) {
+    if (U_FAILURE(status)) {
+        errln("Creation of break iterator failed %s", u_errorName(status));
+        return;
+    }
+    for (loop = 0; loop < (int)(sizeof(strlist) / sizeof(char *)); loop ++) {
         u_unescape(strlist[loop], str, 100);
         UnicodeString ustr(str);
 
@@ -3420,7 +3436,12 @@ void RBBITest::TestMonkey(char *params) {
     if (breakType == "char" || breakType == "all") {
         RBBICharMonkey  m;
         BreakIterator  *bi = BreakIterator::createCharacterInstance(locale, status);
-        RunMonkey(bi, m, "char", seed, loopCount);
+        if (U_SUCCESS(status)) {
+            RunMonkey(bi, m, "char", seed, loopCount);
+        }
+        else {
+            errln("Creation of character break iterator failed %s", u_errorName(status));
+        }
         delete bi;
     }
 
@@ -3428,7 +3449,12 @@ void RBBITest::TestMonkey(char *params) {
         logln("Word Break Monkey Test");
         RBBIWordMonkey  m;
         BreakIterator  *bi = BreakIterator::createWordInstance(locale, status);
-        RunMonkey(bi, m, "word", seed, loopCount);
+        if (U_SUCCESS(status)) {
+            RunMonkey(bi, m, "word", seed, loopCount);
+        }
+        else {
+            errln("Creation of word break iterator failed %s", u_errorName(status));
+        }
         delete bi;
     }
 
@@ -3439,7 +3465,12 @@ void RBBITest::TestMonkey(char *params) {
         if (params == NULL) {
             loopCount = 50;
         }
-        RunMonkey(bi, m, "line", seed, loopCount);
+        if (U_SUCCESS(status)) {
+            RunMonkey(bi, m, "line", seed, loopCount);
+        }
+        else {
+            errln("Creation of line break iterator failed %s", u_errorName(status));
+        }
         delete bi;
     }
 
diff --git a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/srchtest.cpp b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/srchtest.cpp
index 2f75d835527..aa3d5f2ee36 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/srchtest.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/srchtest.cpp
@@ -1633,6 +1633,10 @@ void StringSearchTest::TestBreakIteratorCanonical()
         }
         search  = &(BREAKITERATOREXACT[count + 1]);
         breaker = getBreakIterator(search->breaker);
+        if (breaker == NULL) {
+            errln("Error creating BreakIterator");
+            return;
+        }
         breaker->setText(strsrch->getText());
         strsrch->setBreakIterator(breaker, status);
         if (U_FAILURE(status) || strsrch->getBreakIterator() != breaker) {