diff --git a/src/gearimpl/FixedPadSizeDiskLayout.cc b/src/gearimpl/FixedPadSizeDiskLayout.cc
index bff31d1..7466118 100644
--- a/src/gearimpl/FixedPadSizeDiskLayout.cc
+++ b/src/gearimpl/FixedPadSizeDiskLayout.cc
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ namespace gear {
       return _padWidth / _rows.at( rowNum ).RCenter ;
 
     }
-    catch(std::out_of_range){
+    catch(std::out_of_range const&){
       return 0. ;
     }
   }
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ namespace gear {
 	return _rows.at( rowNum ).PhiPad;
 
     }
-    catch(std::out_of_range){
+    catch(std::out_of_range const&){
       return 0. ;
     }
   }
diff --git a/src/gearimpl/GearMgrImpl.cc b/src/gearimpl/GearMgrImpl.cc
index 5f834f7..d7cb6a2 100644
--- a/src/gearimpl/GearMgrImpl.cc
+++ b/src/gearimpl/GearMgrImpl.cc
@@ -467,7 +467,7 @@ namespace gear{
 
       lcalParameters->getDoubleVal("beam_crossing_angle") ;
 
-    }catch( UnknownParameterException ){
+    }catch( UnknownParameterException const& ){
 
       std::cout << "WARNING GearMgrImpl::setLcalParameters: added "
 	" missing parameter beam_crossing_angle 0.0 ! " << std::endl ;
@@ -488,7 +488,7 @@ namespace gear{
 
       lhcalParameters->getDoubleVal("beam_crossing_angle") ;
 
-    }catch( UnknownParameterException ){
+    }catch( UnknownParameterException const& ){
 
     std::cout << "WARNING GearMgrImpl::setLHcalParameters: added "
 	" missing parameter beam_crossing_angle 0.0 ! " << std::endl ;
@@ -509,7 +509,7 @@ namespace gear{
 
       beamcalParameters->getDoubleVal("beam_crossing_angle") ;
 
-    }catch( UnknownParameterException ){
+    }catch( UnknownParameterException const& ){
 
       std::cout << "WARNING GearMgrImpl::setBeamCalParameters: added "
 	" missing parameter beam_crossing_angle 0.0 ! " << std::endl ;
diff --git a/src/gearxml/GearParametersXML.cc b/src/gearxml/GearParametersXML.cc
index ad764ad..29be197 100644
--- a/src/gearxml/GearParametersXML.cc
+++ b/src/gearxml/GearParametersXML.cc
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ namespace gear {
 	
 	value = getXMLAttribute( par , "value" )  ; 
       }      
-      catch( ParseException ) {
+      catch( ParseException const& ) {
 	
 	if( par->FirstChild() )
 	  value =  par->FirstChild()->Value() ;
diff --git a/src/gearxml/GearXML.cc b/src/gearxml/GearXML.cc
index 747f76e..d2cc492 100644
--- a/src/gearxml/GearXML.cc
+++ b/src/gearxml/GearXML.cc
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ namespace gear{
 
     try{   detName = mgr->getDetectorName()  ;
     }
-    catch( UnknownParameterException ){}
+    catch( UnknownParameterException const& ){}
 
     global.SetAttribute( "detectorName" , detName ) ;
     
diff --git a/src/gearxml/tinyxmlparser.cc b/src/gearxml/tinyxmlparser.cc
index 8731850..311ae5a 100644
--- a/src/gearxml/tinyxmlparser.cc
+++ b/src/gearxml/tinyxmlparser.cc
@@ -110,14 +110,17 @@ void TiXmlBase::ConvertUTF32ToUTF8( unsigned long input, char* output, int* leng
 			--output; 
 			*output = (char)((input | BYTE_MARK) & BYTE_MASK); 
 			input >>= 6;
+                        [[fallthrough]];
 		case 3:
 			--output; 
 			*output = (char)((input | BYTE_MARK) & BYTE_MASK); 
 			input >>= 6;
+                        [[fallthrough]];
 		case 2:
 			--output; 
 			*output = (char)((input | BYTE_MARK) & BYTE_MASK); 
 			input >>= 6;
+                        [[fallthrough]];
 		case 1:
 			--output; 
 			*output = (char)(input | FIRST_BYTE_MARK[*length]);
diff --git a/src/test/testgear.cc b/src/test/testgear.cc
index edd7e91..e43deeb 100644
--- a/src/test/testgear.cc
+++ b/src/test/testgear.cc
@@ -239,12 +239,12 @@ void testFixedPadSizeDiskLayout( const  FixedPadSizeDiskLayout& pl ) {
       // in the other implementations, because there are pads at the edge of the pad plane
       // which have no neighbour.
       if( j == 0 ) {
-	int ln = pl.getRightNeighbour(  pl.getPadIndex( iRow , iPad ) ) ; 
+	pl.getRightNeighbour(  pl.getPadIndex( iRow , iPad ) ) ; 
 	assert(  pl.getPadNumber( ln ) ==  nPad-1 ) ;
       }
 
       if( j == nPad-1 ) {
-	int rn = pl.getLeftNeighbour(  pl.getPadIndex( iRow , iPad ) ) ; 
+	pl.getLeftNeighbour(  pl.getPadIndex( iRow , iPad ) ) ; 
 	assert(  pl.getPadNumber( rn ) ==  0 ) ;
       }
 
diff --git a/src/test/testtpcproto.cc b/src/test/testtpcproto.cc
index 18fde8b..320d9e8 100644
--- a/src/test/testtpcproto.cc
+++ b/src/test/testtpcproto.cc
@@ -156,14 +156,14 @@ void testRectangularPadRowLayout( const  RectangularPadRowLayout& pl ) {
       
       if( j != 0 ) {
 
- 	int ln = pl.getLeftNeighbour(  pl.getPadIndex( iRow , iPad ) ) ; 
+ 	pl.getLeftNeighbour(  pl.getPadIndex( iRow , iPad ) ) ; 
 
  	assert(  pl.getPadNumber( ln ) ==  iPad - 1 ) ;
       }
 
       if( j != nPad-1 ) {
 
-	int rn = pl.getRightNeighbour(  pl.getPadIndex( iRow , iPad ) ) ; 
+	pl.getRightNeighbour(  pl.getPadIndex( iRow , iPad ) ) ; 
 
  	assert(  pl.getPadNumber( rn )  ==  iPad + 1 ) ;
       }