diff --git a/src/export/controllers/exportController.ts b/src/export/controllers/exportController.ts
index aab1d3c..2b0b19e 100644
--- a/src/export/controllers/exportController.ts
+++ b/src/export/controllers/exportController.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 import { Logger } from '@map-colonies/js-logger';
 import { RequestHandler } from 'express';
 import httpStatus from 'http-status-codes';
+import { HttpError } from '@map-colonies/error-types';
 import { injectable, inject } from 'tsyringe';
 import { CallbackExportResponse } from '@map-colonies/raster-shared';
-import { CreateExportRequest, createExportRequestSchema } from '@src/utils/zod/schemas';
+import { createExportRequestSchema } from '@src/utils/zod/schemas';
 import { SERVICES } from '../../common/constants';
 import { ExportManager } from '../models/exportManager';
 import { ICreateExportJobResponse, IJobStatusResponse } from '../../common/interfaces';
@@ -19,10 +20,13 @@ export class ExportController {
   ) {}
 
   public createExport: CreateExportHandler = async (req, res, next) => {
-    const exportRequest: CreateExportRequest = createExportRequestSchema.parse(req.body);
     try {
+      const exportRequest = createExportRequestSchema.safeParse(req.body);
+      if (!exportRequest.success) {
+        throw new HttpError(exportRequest.error.message, httpStatus.BAD_REQUEST);
+      }
       this.logger.debug({ msg: `Creating export request:`, exportRequest });
-      const jobCreated = await this.manager.createExport(exportRequest);
+      const jobCreated = await this.manager.createExport(exportRequest.data);
       return res.status(httpStatus.OK).json(jobCreated);
     } catch (err) {
       next(err);
diff --git a/tests/integration/export/export.spec.ts b/tests/integration/export/export.spec.ts
index 56d1cc8..c80c4e6 100644
--- a/tests/integration/export/export.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/integration/export/export.spec.ts
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ import { CallbackUrlsTargetArray, ExportJobParameters } from '@map-colonies/rast
 import { JobExportResponse } from '@src/common/interfaces';
 import { JobManagerWrapper } from '@src/clients/jobManagerWrapper';
 import { layerWithMultiPolygonFootprint } from '@tests/mocks/geometryMocks';
+import { CreateExportRequest } from '@src/utils/zod/schemas';
 import { getTestContainerConfig, resetContainer } from '../testContainerConfig';
 import { getApp } from '../../../src/app';
 import { ExportSender } from './helpers/exportSender';
@@ -478,6 +479,37 @@ describe('export', function () {
     });
 
     describe('Bad Path', function () {
+      it('should return 400 bad request when zod validation fails with invalid request body', async function () {
+        // Send completely invalid request body that will fail Zod parsing
+        const invalidRequest = {
+          dbId: 123, // Should be string
+          crs: ['invalid'], // Should be string
+          priority: 'high', // Should be number
+          roi: 'not-a-valid-geojson', // Should be valid FeatureCollection
+          callbackURLs: 'not-an-array', // Should be array
+        };
+
+        const response = await requestSender.export(invalidRequest as unknown as CreateExportRequest);
+
+        expect(response.status).toBe(httpStatusCodes.BAD_REQUEST);
+        expect(response.body).toHaveProperty('message');
+        expect(response).toSatisfyApiSpec();
+      });
+
+      it('should return 400 bad request when zod validation fails with missing required fields', async function () {
+        // Send request without required dbId field
+        const invalidRequest = {
+          crs: 'EPSG:4326',
+          description: 'test',
+        };
+
+        const response = await requestSender.export(invalidRequest as unknown as CreateExportRequest);
+
+        expect(response.status).toBe(httpStatusCodes.BAD_REQUEST);
+        expect(response.body).toHaveProperty('message');
+        expect(response).toSatisfyApiSpec();
+      });
+
       it('should return not found status code when layer not found', async function () {
         const layerId = createExportRequestWithoutCallback.dbId;