diff --git a/packages/search/src/elasticsearch/dbhelper.ts b/packages/search/src/elasticsearch/dbhelper.ts
index 61b3b7a00f2..49bb8c886f3 100644
--- a/packages/search/src/elasticsearch/dbhelper.ts
+++ b/packages/search/src/elasticsearch/dbhelper.ts
@@ -17,20 +17,27 @@ export const indexComposition = async (
   } catch (err) {
     // tslint:disable-next-line:no-console
     console.log(err)
+    throw err
   }
 }
 
 export const updateComposition = async (id: string, body: ICompositionBody) => {
-  const response = await client.update({
-    index: 'ocrvs',
-    type: 'compositions',
-    id,
-    body: {
-      doc: body
-    }
-  })
+  try {
+    const response = await client.update({
+      index: 'ocrvs',
+      type: 'compositions',
+      id,
+      body: {
+        doc: body
+      }
+    })
 
-  return response
+    return response
+  } catch (err) {
+    // tslint:disable-next-line:no-console
+    console.log(err)
+    throw err
+  }
 }
 
 export const searchComposition = async (body: ICompositionBody) => {
@@ -46,6 +53,7 @@ export const searchComposition = async (body: ICompositionBody) => {
   } catch (err) {
     // tslint:disable-next-line:no-console
     console.log(err)
+    return null
   }
 }
 
@@ -66,5 +74,6 @@ export const searchByCompositionId = async (compositionId: string) => {
   } catch (err) {
     // tslint:disable-next-line:no-console
     console.log(err)
+    return null
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/search/src/elasticsearch/utils.ts b/packages/search/src/elasticsearch/utils.ts
index 7c91337e23a..236a14112de 100644
--- a/packages/search/src/elasticsearch/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/search/src/elasticsearch/utils.ts
@@ -68,13 +68,9 @@ export async function detectDuplicates(
 }
 
 export async function getCreatedBy(compositionId: string) {
-  let results
-  try {
-    results = await searchByCompositionId(compositionId)
-  } catch (error) {
-    console.log(error)
-  }
+  const results = await searchByCompositionId(compositionId)
   const result =
+    results &&
     results.hits.hits &&
     (results.hits.hits[0] && (results.hits.hits[0]._source as ICompositionBody))
 
@@ -83,9 +79,9 @@ export async function getCreatedBy(compositionId: string) {
 
 function findDuplicateIds(
   compositionIdentifier: string,
-  results: SearchResponse<{}>
+  results: SearchResponse<{}> | null
 ) {
-  const hits = results.hits.hits
+  const hits = (results && results.hits.hits) || []
   return hits
     .filter(
       hit =>