diff --git a/resctl-bench/src/lambda.rs b/resctl-bench/src/lambda.rs
index 4fbc890..80e7e45 100644
--- a/resctl-bench/src/lambda.rs
+++ b/resctl-bench/src/lambda.rs
@@ -48,8 +48,25 @@ pub fn init_lambda() {
 pub async fn run() -> Result<()> {
     let handler = |event: LambdaEvent<LambdaFunctionUrlRequest>| async move {
         let helper = LambdaHelper::new().await;
-        let request: Request = serde_json::from_str(event.payload.body.as_ref().unwrap().as_str())?;
-
+        let Some(event_body) = event.payload.body else {
+            error!("No body found in event payload: {:?}", event.payload);
+            return Ok(Response {
+                issue: None,
+                error_type: Some(format!("Custom")),
+                error_message: Some(format!("No body found in event payload.")),
+            });
+        };
+        let request: Request = match serde_json::from_str(event_body.as_str()) {
+            Ok(req) => req,
+            Err(e) => {
+                error!("Error parsing event body: {}", e);
+                return Ok(Response {
+                    issue: None,
+                    error_type: Some(format!("Custom")),
+                    error_message: Some(format!("Error parsing event body: {}", e)),
+                });
+            }
+        };
         // Unpack the base64 encoded gz-compressed file. This is safe because Lambda has a hard
         // limit on the size of the requests (6MB at the moment).
         let data = base64::decode(&request.data)?;
@@ -65,6 +82,7 @@ pub async fn run() -> Result<()> {
         let object_name = helper.object_name_from_hash(&data)?;
 
         if helper.s3_object_exists(&object_name).await? {
+            error!("File {} has already been submitted", object_name);
             return Ok(Response {
                 issue: None,
                 error_type: Some(format!("Custom")),
@@ -81,10 +99,18 @@ pub async fn run() -> Result<()> {
                 &sysinfo,
                 &format!("{}\n\n{}```\n{}\n```", s3_url, identification, summary),
             )
-            .await?;
+            .await;
+        if let Err(e) = issue_url {
+            error!("Error creating Github issue: {:#}", e);
+            return Ok(Response {
+                issue: None,
+                error_type: Some(format!("Custom")),
+                error_message: Some(format!("Error creating Github issue: {}", e)),
+            });
+        }
 
         Ok::<_, Error>(Response {
-            issue: Some(issue_url),
+            issue: Some(issue_url.unwrap()),
             error_type: None,
             error_message: None,
         })
@@ -158,11 +184,11 @@ impl LambdaHelper {
             .set_name(Some("/iocost-bot/appid".to_string()))
             .send()
             .await
-            .expect("Failed to query parameter")
+            .context("Failed to query AWS parameter /iocost-bot/appid")?
             .parameter
-            .expect("Could not find parameter")
+            .context("Could not find AWS parameter /iocost-bot/appid")?
             .value
-            .expect("Parameter value is None");
+            .context("Value of parameter AWS /iocost-bot/appid is None")?;
 
         let pem = self
             .ssm
@@ -170,15 +196,16 @@ impl LambdaHelper {
             .set_name(Some("/iocost-bot/privatekey".to_string()))
             .send()
             .await
-            .expect("Failed to query parameter")
+            .context("Failed to query parameter AWS /iocost-bot/privatekey")?
             .parameter
-            .expect("Could not find parameter")
+            .context("Could not find parameter AWS /iocost-bot/privatekey")?
             .value
-            .expect("Parameter value is None");
+            .context("Value of parameter AWS /iocost-bot/privatekey is None")?;
 
         let token = octocrab::auth::create_jwt(
             app_id.parse::<u64>().unwrap().into(),
-            &jsonwebtoken::EncodingKey::from_rsa_pem(pem.as_bytes()).unwrap(),
+            &jsonwebtoken::EncodingKey::from_rsa_pem(pem.as_bytes())
+                .context("Couldn't create a JWT for Github authentication")?,
         )
         .unwrap();
 
diff --git a/resctl-bench/src/main.rs b/resctl-bench/src/main.rs
index c283616..4ae0edc 100644
--- a/resctl-bench/src/main.rs
+++ b/resctl-bench/src/main.rs
@@ -255,17 +255,10 @@ impl Program {
 
     fn do_upload(&mut self) -> Result<()> {
         let args = &self.args_file.data;
-        let path = Path::new(&args.result)
-            .file_name()
-            .unwrap()
-            .to_string_lossy()
-            .to_string();
+        let mut data: Vec<u8> = std::fs::read(&args.result)
+            .context(format!("Error opening or reading {}", &args.result))?;
 
-        let mut data = Vec::<u8>::new();
-        let mut f = std::fs::OpenOptions::new().read(true).open(&path)?;
-        f.read_to_end(&mut data)?;
-
-        if !path.ends_with(".gz") {
+        if !args.result.ends_with(".gz") {
             let deflated = std::mem::take(&mut data);
             let mut encoder = libflate::gzip::Encoder::new(&mut data)?;
             encoder.write_all(&deflated).context("Compressing file")?;
@@ -285,7 +278,13 @@ impl Program {
             .with_json(&request)?
             .send()?;
 
-        let response: LambdaResponse = serde_json::from_str(response.as_str()?)?;
+        let Ok(response) = serde_json::from_str::<LambdaResponse>(response.as_str()?) else {
+            error!(
+                "Failed to submit benchmark. Server response: {}",
+                response.as_str()?
+            );
+            std::process::exit(1);
+        };
         if response.issue.is_none() {
             if let Some(error_message) = response.error_message {
                 error!("Failed to submit benchmark: {}", error_message);