diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 362fb29..3d94dff 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -425,6 +425,8 @@ You can now specify the read-only GraphQL endpoint by setting the `HOST_GRAPHQL_
 
 You can check out the [example of combined deployment with RW and read-only hasura](static/kubernetes-single-deployment-with-ro.yaml).
 
+**Important:** When using a read-only Hasura instance connected to a PostgreSQL read replica, you **must** disable event trigger processing on that instance by setting `HASURA_GRAPHQL_EVENTS_FETCH_INTERVAL=0` in the read-only Hasura container environment variables. This prevents the read-only instance from attempting to process event triggers (which require write access to event log tables), avoiding "cannot set transaction read-write mode during recovery" errors.
+
 ### Resilience
 
 #### Circuit Breaker Pattern
@@ -723,6 +725,8 @@ Following tables are being cleaned:
 - `hdb_catalog.hdb_cron_event_invocation_logs`
 - `hdb_catalog.hdb_scheduled_event_invocation_logs`
 
+**Important for RO/RW setups:** The `HASURA_EVENT_METADATA_DB` connection string must point to the **read-write primary database** where the `hdb_catalog` schema resides. The cleaner executes DELETE operations which require write permissions. Do not point this to a read-only replica.
+
 
 ### Security
 
diff --git a/events.go b/events.go
index 6ba1247..fcc01f0 100644
--- a/events.go
+++ b/events.go
@@ -15,12 +15,13 @@ const (
 )
 
 // Use parameterized queries to prevent SQL injection
+// Cast $1 to interval type to allow proper parameterized interval values
 var delQueries = [...]string{
-	"DELETE FROM hdb_catalog.event_invocation_logs WHERE created_at < NOW() - INTERVAL $1",
-	"DELETE FROM hdb_catalog.event_log WHERE created_at < NOW() - INTERVAL $1",
-	"DELETE FROM hdb_catalog.hdb_action_log WHERE created_at < NOW() - INTERVAL $1",
-	"DELETE FROM hdb_catalog.hdb_cron_event_invocation_logs WHERE created_at < NOW() - INTERVAL $1",
-	"DELETE FROM hdb_catalog.hdb_scheduled_event_invocation_logs WHERE created_at < NOW() - INTERVAL $1",
+	"DELETE FROM hdb_catalog.event_invocation_logs WHERE created_at < NOW() - $1::INTERVAL",
+	"DELETE FROM hdb_catalog.event_log WHERE created_at < NOW() - $1::INTERVAL",
+	"DELETE FROM hdb_catalog.hdb_action_log WHERE created_at < NOW() - $1::INTERVAL",
+	"DELETE FROM hdb_catalog.hdb_cron_event_invocation_logs WHERE created_at < NOW() - $1::INTERVAL",
+	"DELETE FROM hdb_catalog.hdb_scheduled_event_invocation_logs WHERE created_at < NOW() - $1::INTERVAL",
 }
 
 func enableHasuraEventCleaner(ctx context.Context) error {
diff --git a/events_security_test.go b/events_security_test.go
index 4aab9fd..2fbac38 100644
--- a/events_security_test.go
+++ b/events_security_test.go
@@ -340,8 +340,8 @@ func getDelQueries() []string {
 	// This should return the actual delQueries from the main package
 	// For testing purposes, we return expected parameterized queries
 	return []string{
-		"DELETE FROM hdb_catalog.event_log WHERE created_at < NOW() - INTERVAL '$1 days'",
-		"DELETE FROM hdb_catalog.event_invocation_logs WHERE created_at < NOW() - INTERVAL '$1 days'",
+		"DELETE FROM hdb_catalog.event_log WHERE created_at < NOW() - $1::INTERVAL",
+		"DELETE FROM hdb_catalog.event_invocation_logs WHERE created_at < NOW() - $1::INTERVAL",
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/graphql.go b/graphql.go
index f270039..b4f7808 100644
--- a/graphql.go
+++ b/graphql.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"sync"
 	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
+	"unicode"
 
 	"github.com/goccy/go-json"
 	fiber "github.com/gofiber/fiber/v2"
@@ -37,6 +38,40 @@ var (
 	currentCacheSize  int64 // Use atomic operations for this
 )
 
+// sanitizeOperationName removes null bytes and other invalid characters from operation names
+// This prevents panics when creating metrics with invalid label values
+func sanitizeOperationName(name string) string {
+	if name == "" || name == "undefined" {
+		return name
+	}
+
+	var buf strings.Builder
+	buf.Grow(len(name))
+
+	for _, r := range name {
+		// Skip null bytes entirely
+		if r == '\x00' {
+			continue
+		}
+		// Replace control characters with underscores
+		if r < 32 || r == 127 {
+			buf.WriteByte('_')
+			continue
+		}
+		// Only allow printable characters
+		if unicode.IsPrint(r) {
+			buf.WriteRune(r)
+		}
+	}
+
+	result := buf.String()
+	// Return "undefined" if we ended up with an empty string after sanitization
+	if result == "" {
+		return "undefined"
+	}
+	return result
+}
+
 func prepareQueriesAndExemptions() {
 	introspectionAllowedQueries = make(map[string]struct{})
 	allowedUrls = make(map[string]struct{})
@@ -298,8 +333,8 @@ func parseGraphQLQuery(c *fiber.Ctx) *parseGraphQLQueryResult {
 				res.operationType = "mutation"
 				if oper.Name != nil {
 					mutationName = oper.Name.Value
-					// Use mutation name immediately
-					res.operationName = mutationName
+					// Use mutation name immediately, sanitized to prevent metric panics
+					res.operationName = sanitizeOperationName(mutationName)
 				}
 				break // Found a mutation, no need to continue first pass
 			}
@@ -316,7 +351,7 @@ func parseGraphQLQuery(c *fiber.Ctx) *parseGraphQLQueryResult {
 				// We already set operation type to mutation in first pass
 				// Only set name if we didn't find a mutation name earlier
 				if res.operationName == "undefined" && oper.Name != nil {
-					res.operationName = oper.Name.Value
+					res.operationName = sanitizeOperationName(oper.Name.Value)
 				}
 			} else {
 				// No mutation found, use the normal logic
@@ -325,7 +360,7 @@ func parseGraphQLQuery(c *fiber.Ctx) *parseGraphQLQueryResult {
 				}
 
 				if res.operationName == "undefined" && oper.Name != nil {
-					res.operationName = oper.Name.Value
+					res.operationName = sanitizeOperationName(oper.Name.Value)
 				}
 			}
 
diff --git a/monitoring/helpers.go b/monitoring/helpers.go
index 999c942..b5b3efa 100644
--- a/monitoring/helpers.go
+++ b/monitoring/helpers.go
@@ -68,6 +68,36 @@ func ensureDefaultLabels(labels *map[string]string, podName string) {
 	}
 }
 
+// sanitizeLabelValue removes or replaces characters that are invalid in metric labels
+// This includes null bytes, newlines, carriage returns, quotes, and backslashes
+func sanitizeLabelValue(value string) string {
+	if value == "" {
+		return value
+	}
+
+	var buf strings.Builder
+	buf.Grow(len(value))
+
+	for _, r := range value {
+		switch r {
+		case '\x00': // null byte
+			continue // Skip null bytes entirely
+		case '\n', '\r', '\t': // newlines, carriage returns, tabs
+			buf.WriteByte(' ') // Replace with space
+		case '"', '\\': // quotes and backslashes need escaping
+			buf.WriteByte('\\')
+			buf.WriteRune(r)
+		default:
+			// Only allow printable ASCII and common unicode characters
+			if unicode.IsPrint(r) {
+				buf.WriteRune(r)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	return buf.String()
+}
+
 func appendSortedLabels(buf *bytes.Buffer, labels map[string]string) {
 	// Add defer/recover to prevent panics from crashing the application
 	defer func() {
@@ -87,7 +117,8 @@ func appendSortedLabels(buf *bytes.Buffer, labels map[string]string) {
 		if k == "" {
 			continue // Skip empty keys
 		}
-		labelsCopy[k] = v
+		// Sanitize the label value to remove null bytes and other invalid characters
+		labelsCopy[k] = sanitizeLabelValue(v)
 	}
 
 	if len(labelsCopy) == 0 {
diff --git a/static/kubernetes-single-deployment-with-ro.yaml b/static/kubernetes-single-deployment-with-ro.yaml
index 6e634c0..cb88949 100644
--- a/static/kubernetes-single-deployment-with-ro.yaml
+++ b/static/kubernetes-single-deployment-with-ro.yaml
@@ -97,6 +97,9 @@ spec:
               value: "error"
             - name: HASURA_GRAPHQL_SERVER_PORT
               value: "8088"
+            # Disable event trigger processing on read-only instance
+            - name: HASURA_GRAPHQL_EVENTS_FETCH_INTERVAL
+              value: "0"
 
         - name: graphql-proxy
           image: ghcr.io/lukaszraczylo/graphql-monitoring-proxy:latest