diff --git a/src/backends/wrappers/extrae/paraver_config.cpp b/src/backends/wrappers/extrae/paraver_config.cpp
index a04799e7bc5154aa061f0ab244b00fe9a537c162..0caa3c03bc0eb6171e992a94740c61fc8f478f71 100644
--- a/src/backends/wrappers/extrae/paraver_config.cpp
+++ b/src/backends/wrappers/extrae/paraver_config.cpp
@@ -93,10 +93,16 @@ void ParaverConfig::addTimeline(ParaverTimelineWindow window_config) {
     auto replaced_window_y_pos = std::regex_replace(
         replaced_event_num, std::regex("NESMIK_REPLACE_WINDOW_Y_POSITION"),
         std::to_string(150));
+    extrae_value max_value_in_array{0};
+
+    auto max_value_in_array_iterator =
+        std::max_element(window_config.semantic_maximums.begin(),
+                         window_config.semantic_maximums.end());
+
+    if (max_value_in_array_iterator != window_config.semantic_maximums.end()) {
+      max_value_in_array = *max_value_in_array_iterator;
+    }
 
-    const extrae_type max_value_in_array =
-        *std::max_element(window_config.semantic_maximums.begin(),
-                          window_config.semantic_maximums.end());
     auto replaced_semantic_max = std::regex_replace(
         replaced_window_y_pos, std::regex("NESMIK_REPLACE_SEMANTIC_MAX"),
         std::to_string(max_value_in_array));
diff --git a/src/delegator.cpp b/src/delegator.cpp
index 9317f5df4a3c39ab1e6ef951d417b47d497c4209..b8a59f58760396d2000427771f47b1786f0d4940 100644
--- a/src/delegator.cpp
+++ b/src/delegator.cpp
@@ -186,6 +186,8 @@ void Delegator::Init() {
     std::cout << "nesMiK Info: Successfully initialized with backend: \""
               << backend << "\"" << std::endl;
   }
+
+  did_initialize_ = true;
 }
 
 // should be thread safe to call?
@@ -193,6 +195,14 @@ void Delegator::RegionStart(std::string_view name) {
   if (!nesmik_on_) {
     return;
   }
+  if (!did_initialize_) {
+    std::cout << "neSmiK Warning: called region_start(\"" << name
+              << "\") without calling nesmik_init()" << std::endl;
+    Init();
+    std::cout
+        << "neSmiK Warning: Forced to init on region_start from MPI-Rank: "
+        << mpi_helper_->getRankNumber() << std::endl;
+  }
   name_stack_.push(std::string(name));
   switch (backend_selection_) {
     case BackendMode::NotProperlyNested:
@@ -208,6 +218,13 @@ void Delegator::RegionStop(std::string_view name) {
   if (!nesmik_on_) {
     return;
   }
+  if (!did_initialize_) {
+    std::cout << "neSmiK Warning: called region_stop(\"" << name
+              << "\") without calling nesmik_init()" << std::endl;
+    Init();
+    std::cout << "neSmiK Warning: Forced to init on region_stop from MPI-Rank: "
+              << mpi_helper_->getRankNumber() << std::endl;
+  }
   switch (backend_selection_) {
     case BackendMode::NotProperlyNested:
       npn_annotation_strategy_->RegionStop({name});
@@ -229,6 +246,15 @@ void Delegator::RegionStopLast() {
   if (!nesmik_on_) {
     return;
   }
+  if (!did_initialize_) {
+    std::cout << "neSmiK Warning: called region_stop_last() without calling "
+                 "nesmik_init()"
+              << std::endl;
+    Init();
+    std::cout
+        << "neSmiK Warning: Forced to init on region_stop_last from MPI-Rank: "
+        << mpi_helper_->getRankNumber() << std::endl;
+  }
   const std::string stack_empty = "NESMIK: STACK EMPTPY";
   const std::string &last_region_name =
       name_stack_.empty() ? stack_empty : name_stack_.top();