diff --git a/HLT/Trigger/TrigMonitoring/HLTRates2COOL/src/HLTCountsArchiverRCApp.cxx b/HLT/Trigger/TrigMonitoring/HLTRates2COOL/src/HLTCountsArchiverRCApp.cxx
index 8978d1e98a0a37ebcc1861429262be3f090355e4..be7a57d526228d2b4223c9210dcf5ebfa2602ed1 100644
--- a/HLT/Trigger/TrigMonitoring/HLTRates2COOL/src/HLTCountsArchiverRCApp.cxx
+++ b/HLT/Trigger/TrigMonitoring/HLTRates2COOL/src/HLTCountsArchiverRCApp.cxx
@@ -93,11 +93,11 @@ hltca::HLTCountsArchiverRCApp::writeToCool() {
       m_coolWriter.flushStorageBuffers();
 
    }
-   catch(cool::Exception ex) {
+   catch(const cool::Exception& ex) {
       std::cerr << "cool::exception: Could not write to COOL: " << ex.what() << std::endl;
       return;
    }
-   catch(std::exception ex) {
+   catch(const std::exception& ex) {
       std::cerr << "std::exception: Could not write to COOL: " << ex.what() << std::endl;
       return;
    }