diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 2266452..d80cb63 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@ COPY run.py /app/
 # Port the application listens on
 EXPOSE 8000
 
+# Health check to ensure the container is responding to requests
+HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=5s --retries=3 \
+  CMD curl -f http://localhost:8000/health || exit 1
+
 # Command to run the application using Uvicorn
 # The command format is: uvicorn [module:app_object] --host [ip] --port [port]
 # We use the standard uvicorn worker configuration
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d8fdedf..4396001 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ Copy `.env.example` to `.env` (done automatically by `make dev-setup`) and fill
 | `ENABLE_ETL_SCHEDULER`    |          | Set `true` to run the ETL on a schedule                                                |
 | `ETL_CRON`                |          | Cron expression (UTC) — takes precedence over `ETL_INTERVAL_MINUTES`                   |
 | `ETL_INTERVAL_MINUTES`    |          | ETL polling interval in minutes (default `15`)                                         |
+| `SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT_SECONDS` |          | Graceful shutdown timeout in seconds (default `30`)                                    |
 | `BQ_ENABLED`              |          | Set `true` to enable BigQuery loading                                                  |
 | `BQ_PROJECT_ID`           |          | GCP project ID                                                                         |
 | `BQ_DATASET`              |          | BigQuery dataset name                                                                  |
diff --git a/run.py b/run.py
index 6e0d946..38d86e9 100644
--- a/run.py
+++ b/run.py
@@ -2,6 +2,13 @@
 from src.main import app # noqa: F401
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    uvicorn.run("src.main:app", host="0.0.0.0", port=8000)
+    from src.config import get_settings
+    settings = get_settings()
+    uvicorn.run(
+        "src.main:app",
+        host="0.0.0.0",
+        port=8000,
+        timeout_graceful_shutdown=settings.SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT_SECONDS
+    )
 
 
diff --git a/src/config.py b/src/config.py
index e206e2e..8dd888f 100644
--- a/src/config.py
+++ b/src/config.py
@@ -4,11 +4,6 @@
 from pydantic import Field
 from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings, SettingsConfigDict
 
-from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings
-
-class Settings(BaseSettings):
-   
-
 class Settings(BaseSettings):
     model_config = SettingsConfigDict(env_file=".env", env_file_encoding="utf-8", extra="ignore")
 
@@ -38,6 +33,7 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     POOL_SIZE: int = 5
     POOL_MAX_OVERFLOW: int = 10
     REPORT_CACHE_MINUTES: int = 60
+    SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT_SECONDS: int = 30
 
     SERVICE_API_KEY: str = "default_service_secret_change_me"
     ADMIN_API_KEY: str = "default_admin_secret_change_me"
diff --git a/src/main.py b/src/main.py
index 614bc90..60e1beb 100644
--- a/src/main.py
+++ b/src/main.py
@@ -197,11 +197,14 @@ def on_startup() -> None:
 @app.on_event("shutdown")
 def on_shutdown() -> None:
     global etl_scheduler
+    log_info("Shutdown initiated: waiting for in-flight requests and scheduler...")
     if etl_scheduler is not None:
         try:
-            etl_scheduler.shutdown(wait=False)
-        except Exception:
-            pass
+            # wait=True ensures running jobs complete before scheduler stops
+            etl_scheduler.shutdown(wait=True)
+            log_info("ETL scheduler shut down successfully.")
+        except Exception as exc:
+            log_error("Error during scheduler shutdown", {"error": str(exc)})
 
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------