diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/pjfanning/xlsx/XmlUtils.java b/src/main/java/com/github/pjfanning/xlsx/XmlUtils.java
index 99e52fa9..57d00b3d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/pjfanning/xlsx/XmlUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/pjfanning/xlsx/XmlUtils.java
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ public static Document readDocument(InputStream inp) throws IOException, SAXExce
     return DocumentHelper.readDocument(inp);
   }
 
-  public static NodeList searchForNodeList(Document document, String xpath) {
+  public static NodeList searchForNodeList(Document document, String xpath) throws ParseException {
     try {
       XPath xp = XPathFactory.newInstance().newXPath();
       xp.setNamespaceContext(transitionalFormatNamespaceContext);
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/pjfanning/xlsx/impl/ooxml/OoXmlStrictConverterUtils.java b/src/main/java/com/github/pjfanning/xlsx/impl/ooxml/OoXmlStrictConverterUtils.java
index 93decfc3..e995e89e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/pjfanning/xlsx/impl/ooxml/OoXmlStrictConverterUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/pjfanning/xlsx/impl/ooxml/OoXmlStrictConverterUtils.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package com.github.pjfanning.xlsx.impl.ooxml;
 
+import com.github.pjfanning.xlsx.exceptions.ReadException;
 import org.apache.poi.util.Beta;
 
 import java.io.*;
@@ -34,7 +35,7 @@ public static Properties readMappings() {
 
             }
         } catch (IOException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+            throw new ReadException("Failed to read mappings", e);
         }
         return props;
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/pjfanning/xlsx/impl/ooxml/OoxmlReader.java b/src/main/java/com/github/pjfanning/xlsx/impl/ooxml/OoxmlReader.java
index f436b884..e738e184 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/pjfanning/xlsx/impl/ooxml/OoxmlReader.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/pjfanning/xlsx/impl/ooxml/OoxmlReader.java
@@ -71,7 +71,8 @@ public class OoxmlReader extends XSSFReader {
    */
   @Internal
   public OoxmlReader(StreamingReader.Builder builder,
-                     OPCPackage pkg, boolean strictOoxmlChecksNeeded) throws IOException, OpenXML4JException {
+                     OPCPackage pkg, boolean strictOoxmlChecksNeeded)
+          throws IOException, OpenXML4JException, POIXMLException {
     super(pkg, true);
 
     PackageRelationship coreDocRelationship = this.pkg.getRelationshipsByType(
@@ -183,9 +184,12 @@ static class OoxmlSheetReader {
      * Construct a new SheetIterator
      *
      * @param wb package part holding workbook.xml
+     * @throws IOException if reading the data from the package fails
+     * @throws POIXMLException if the package data is invalid
      */
     OoxmlSheetReader(final StreamingReader.Builder builder,
-                     final PackagePart wb, final boolean strictOoxmlChecksNeeded) throws IOException {
+                     final PackagePart wb, final boolean strictOoxmlChecksNeeded)
+            throws IOException, POIXMLException {
       this.builder = builder;
       this.strictOoxmlChecksNeeded = strictOoxmlChecksNeeded;
       /*
@@ -245,7 +249,7 @@ SheetData getSheetData(final XSSFSheetRef sheetRef) {
       return sd;
     }
 
-    private ArrayList<XSSFSheetRef> createSheetListFromWB(PackagePart wb) throws IOException {
+    private ArrayList<XSSFSheetRef> createSheetListFromWB(PackagePart wb) throws IOException, OpenException, POIXMLException {
 
       XMLSheetRefReader xmlSheetRefReader = new XMLSheetRefReader();
       XMLReader xmlReader;