diff --git a/ia-wait-item-tasks b/ia-wait-item-tasks
index 89064eb..f96204e 100755
--- a/ia-wait-item-tasks
+++ b/ia-wait-item-tasks
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-# Wait until an item has no outstanding tasks
-# Usage: ia-wait-item-tasks IDENTIFIER
-if [[ $# -ne 1 ]]
+if [[ $# -ne 1 || "$1" == '-h' || "$1" == '--help' ]]
 then
 	echo 'Usage: ia-wait-item-tasks IDENTIFIER'
+	echo 'Waits until the Internet Archive item IDENTIFIER has no outstanding tasks.'
+	echo 'Exits non-zero if there are errored tasks'
 	exit 1
 fi
 
@@ -12,9 +12,14 @@ set -e
 while :
 do
 	out="$(ia tasks "$1")"
-	if ! grep -Fvq ' "finished": ' <<<"${out}"
+	out="$(python3 -c 'import json, sys; {print(o["status"]) for o in map(json.loads, sys.stdin) if "status" in o}' <<<"${out}")"
+	if [[ -z "${out}" ]]
 	then
 		break
 	fi
+	if grep -Fxq 'error' <<<"${out}"
+	then
+		exit 1
+	fi
 	sleep 60
 done