diff --git a/src/randomProcesses/noise/noiseModels/noiseModel/noiseModel.C b/src/randomProcesses/noise/noiseModels/noiseModel/noiseModel.C
index 145f992725047247f649688a9e88cff14b86753b..21d52bb3dd8bf6eaf58f391e38d1c47bdd58e169 100644
--- a/src/randomProcesses/noise/noiseModels/noiseModel/noiseModel.C
+++ b/src/randomProcesses/noise/noiseModels/noiseModel/noiseModel.C
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ Foam::scalar Foam::noiseModel::checkUniformTimeStep
                 deltaT = dT;
             }
 
-            if (mag(deltaT - dT) > SMALL)
+            if (mag(dT/deltaT - 1) > 1e-8)
             {
                 FatalErrorInFunction
                     << "Unable to process data with a variable time step"