--- a/src/lib/ABWContentCollector.cpp
+++ b/src/lib/ABWContentCollector.cpp
@@ -643,7 +643,7 @@ void libabw::ABWContentCollector::collectHeaderFooter(const char *id, const char
   if (!type)
     m_ps->m_currentHeaderFooterId = -1;
 
-  std::string sType(type);
+  std::string sType(type ? type : "");
   boost::trim(sType);
   std::vector<std::string> strVec;
   boost::algorithm::split(strVec, sType, boost::is_any_of("-"), boost::token_compress_on);