diff --git a/files/error-summary.sh b/files/error-summary.sh
index 3c5b23f8d639cf918447975d86d97a087e293d66..14a1a598b535444834d08f66cb0c33f60e3e9494 100755
--- a/files/error-summary.sh
+++ b/files/error-summary.sh
@@ -21,6 +21,11 @@ else
 	SERVER_LOG_DIR="/operational_shared/logs/${HOSTNAME}/"
 fi
 
+# list external required binaries here (space separated)
+REQUIREMENTS="help2man grep sed gzip man find file sort uniq"
+for REQUIREMENT in ${REQUIREMENTS}; do
+	command -v "${REQUIREMENT}" >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo >&2 "ERROR: '${REQUIREMENT}' required but not installed. Aborting."; exit 1; }
+done
 
 
 ### CLI ARGUMENTS