diff --git a/redaction-service-v1/redaction-service-server-v1/src/main/java/com/iqser/red/service/redaction/v1/server/segmentation/SectionsBuilderService.java b/redaction-service-v1/redaction-service-server-v1/src/main/java/com/iqser/red/service/redaction/v1/server/segmentation/SectionsBuilderService.java
index 7ee5a4c8..f6b92cda 100644
--- a/redaction-service-v1/redaction-service-server-v1/src/main/java/com/iqser/red/service/redaction/v1/server/segmentation/SectionsBuilderService.java
+++ b/redaction-service-v1/redaction-service-server-v1/src/main/java/com/iqser/red/service/redaction/v1/server/segmentation/SectionsBuilderService.java
@@ -121,6 +121,14 @@ public class SectionsBuilderService {
             paragraphMap.computeIfAbsent(1, x -> new TreeSet<>()).add(paragraph);
         }
 
+        // first page is always a paragraph, else we can't process pages 1..N,
+        // where N is the first found page with a paragraph
+        if (paragraphMap.get(1) == null) {
+            Paragraph paragraph = new Paragraph();
+            document.getParagraphs().add(paragraph);
+            paragraphMap.computeIfAbsent(1, x -> new TreeSet<>()).add(paragraph);
+        }
+
         for (Page page : document.getPages()) {
             for (PdfImage image : page.getImages()) {
                 SortedSet<Paragraph> paragraphsOnPage = paragraphMap.get(page.getPageNumber());