diff --git a/scripts/ems/biconcor/Alignment.h b/scripts/ems/biconcor/Alignment.h
index f6e448047..5927388c7 100644
--- a/scripts/ems/biconcor/Alignment.h
+++ b/scripts/ems/biconcor/Alignment.h
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ private:
   INDEX m_sentenceCount;
   char m_unaligned[ 256 ]; // here for speed (local to PhraseAlignment)
 
+  // No copying allowed.
+  Alignment(const Alignment&);
+  void operator=(const Alignment&);
+
 public:
   Alignment();
   ~Alignment();
diff --git a/scripts/ems/biconcor/Mismatch.h b/scripts/ems/biconcor/Mismatch.h
index 4a54a6342..f08fc282a 100644
--- a/scripts/ems/biconcor/Mismatch.h
+++ b/scripts/ems/biconcor/Mismatch.h
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ private:
   bool m_target_unaligned[ 256 ];
   bool m_unaligned;
 
+  // No copying allowed.
+  Mismatch(const Mismatch&);
+  void operator=(const Mismatch&);
+
 public:
   Mismatch( SuffixArray *sa, TargetCorpus *tc, Alignment *a, INDEX sentence_id, INDEX position, char source_length, char target_length, char source_start, char source_end );
   ~Mismatch();
diff --git a/scripts/ems/biconcor/PhrasePairCollection.h b/scripts/ems/biconcor/PhrasePairCollection.h
index 2708d4c93..f88bfc10f 100644
--- a/scripts/ems/biconcor/PhrasePairCollection.h
+++ b/scripts/ems/biconcor/PhrasePairCollection.h
@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@ private:
   int m_max_pp_target;
   int m_max_pp;
 
+  // No copying allowed.
+  PhrasePairCollection(const PhrasePairCollection&);
+  void operator=(const PhrasePairCollection&);
+
 public:
   PhrasePairCollection ( SuffixArray *, TargetCorpus *, Alignment * );
   ~PhrasePairCollection ();
diff --git a/scripts/ems/biconcor/SuffixArray.h b/scripts/ems/biconcor/SuffixArray.h
index 6ac77baa4..af7f5567e 100644
--- a/scripts/ems/biconcor/SuffixArray.h
+++ b/scripts/ems/biconcor/SuffixArray.h
@@ -19,6 +19,10 @@ private:
   INDEX m_size;
   INDEX m_sentenceCount;
 
+  // No copying allowed.
+  SuffixArray(const SuffixArray&);
+  void operator=(const SuffixArray&);
+
 public:
   SuffixArray();
   ~SuffixArray();
diff --git a/scripts/ems/biconcor/TargetCorpus.cpp b/scripts/ems/biconcor/TargetCorpus.cpp
index fa09be3bd..9230cd673 100644
--- a/scripts/ems/biconcor/TargetCorpus.cpp
+++ b/scripts/ems/biconcor/TargetCorpus.cpp
@@ -13,6 +13,19 @@ const int LINE_MAX_LENGTH = 10000;
 
 using namespace std;
 
+TargetCorpus::TargetCorpus()
+    : m_array(NULL),
+      m_sentenceEnd(NULL),
+      m_vcb(),
+      m_size(0),
+      m_sentenceCount(0) {}
+
+TargetCorpus::~TargetCorpus()
+{
+  free(m_array);
+  free(m_sentenceEnd);
+}
+
 void TargetCorpus::Create(const string& fileName )
 {
   ifstream textFile;
@@ -43,6 +56,16 @@ void TargetCorpus::Create(const string& fileName )
   m_array = (WORD_ID*) calloc( sizeof( WORD_ID ), m_size );
   m_sentenceEnd = (INDEX*) calloc( sizeof( INDEX ), m_sentenceCount );
 
+  if (m_array == NULL) {
+    cerr << "cannot allocate memory to m_array" << endl;
+    exit(1);
+  }
+
+  if (m_sentenceEnd == NULL) {
+    cerr << "cannot allocate memory to m_sentenceEnd" << endl;
+    exit(1);
+  }
+
   // fill the array
   int wordIndex = 0;
   int sentenceId = 0;
@@ -69,12 +92,6 @@ void TargetCorpus::Create(const string& fileName )
   cerr << "done reading " << wordIndex << " words, " << sentenceId << " sentences." << endl;
 }
 
-TargetCorpus::~TargetCorpus()
-{
-  free(m_array);
-  free(m_sentenceEnd);
-}
-
 WORD TargetCorpus::GetWordFromId( const WORD_ID id ) const
 {
   return m_vcb.GetWord( id );
@@ -132,11 +149,23 @@ void TargetCorpus::Load(const string& fileName )
   fread( &m_size, sizeof(INDEX), 1, pFile );
   cerr << "words in corpus: " << m_size << endl;
   m_array = (WORD_ID*) calloc( sizeof(WORD_ID), m_size );
+
+  if (m_array == NULL) {
+    cerr << "cannot allocate memory to m_array" << endl;
+    exit(1);
+  }
+
   fread( m_array, sizeof(WORD_ID), m_size, pFile ); // corpus
 
   fread( &m_sentenceCount, sizeof(INDEX), 1, pFile );
   cerr << "sentences in corpus: " << m_sentenceCount << endl;
   m_sentenceEnd = (INDEX*) calloc( sizeof(INDEX), m_sentenceCount );
+
+  if (m_sentenceEnd == NULL) {
+    cerr << "cannot allocate memory to m_sentenceEnd" << endl;
+    exit(1);
+  }
+
   fread( m_sentenceEnd, sizeof(INDEX), m_sentenceCount, pFile); // sentence index
   fclose( pFile );
   m_vcb.Load( fileName + ".tgt-vcb" );
diff --git a/scripts/ems/biconcor/TargetCorpus.h b/scripts/ems/biconcor/TargetCorpus.h
index ea3e6363f..24b6a00ec 100644
--- a/scripts/ems/biconcor/TargetCorpus.h
+++ b/scripts/ems/biconcor/TargetCorpus.h
@@ -14,7 +14,12 @@ private:
   INDEX m_size;
   INDEX m_sentenceCount;
 
+  // No copying allowed.
+  TargetCorpus(const TargetCorpus&);
+  void operator=(const TargetCorpus&);
+
 public:
+  TargetCorpus();
   ~TargetCorpus();
 
   void Create(const std::string& fileName );