diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 497b278d..f45a34fe 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ All Notable changes to `Csv` will be documented in this file
 
 ### Fixed
 
-- None
+- BOM string and empty records stripping fix [#394](https://github.com/thephpleague/csv/issues/394)
 
 ### Removed
 
diff --git a/src/HTMLConverter.php b/src/HTMLConverter.php
index e3458249..8a7c6bdd 100644
--- a/src/HTMLConverter.php
+++ b/src/HTMLConverter.php
@@ -96,11 +96,13 @@ protected function appendHeaderSection(string $node_name, array $record, DOMElem
             return;
         }
 
+        /** @var DOMDocument $ownerDocument */
+        $ownerDocument = $table->ownerDocument;
         $node = $this->xml_converter
             ->rootElement($node_name)
             ->recordElement('tr')
             ->fieldElement('th')
-            ->import([$record], $table->ownerDocument)
+            ->import([$record], $ownerDocument)
         ;
 
         /** @var DOMElement $element */
diff --git a/src/Reader.php b/src/Reader.php
index 770474db..e29351db 100644
--- a/src/Reader.php
+++ b/src/Reader.php
@@ -132,8 +132,13 @@ protected function setHeader(int $offset): array
             throw new SyntaxError(sprintf('The header record does not exist or is empty at offset: `%s`', $offset));
         }
 
-        if (0 === $offset) {
-            return $this->removeBOM($header, mb_strlen($this->getInputBOM()), $this->enclosure);
+        if (0 !== $offset) {
+            return $header;
+        }
+
+        $header = $this->removeBOM($header, mb_strlen($this->getInputBOM()), $this->enclosure);
+        if ([''] === $header) {
+            throw new SyntaxError(sprintf('The header record does not exist or is empty at offset: `%s`', $offset));
         }
 
         return $header;
@@ -347,10 +352,19 @@ protected function stripBOM(Iterator $iterator, string $bom): Iterator
                 return $record;
             }
 
-            return $this->removeBOM($record, $bom_length, $this->enclosure);
+            $record = $this->removeBOM($record, $bom_length, $this->enclosure);
+            if ([''] === $record) {
+                return [null];
+            }
+
+            return $record;
         };
 
-        return new MapIterator($iterator, $mapper);
+        $filter = function (array $record): bool {
+            return $this->is_empty_records_included || $record != [null];
+        };
+
+        return new CallbackFilterIterator(new MapIterator($iterator, $mapper), $filter);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/tests/ReaderTest.php b/tests/ReaderTest.php
index 27f18ddf..26c53aa1 100644
--- a/tests/ReaderTest.php
+++ b/tests/ReaderTest.php
@@ -556,4 +556,75 @@ public function sourceProvider(): array
             ],
         ];
     }
+
+    public function testRemovingEmptyRecordsWhenBOMStringIsPresent(): void
+    {
+        $bom = Reader::BOM_UTF8;
+        $text = <<<CSV
+$bom
+column 1,column 2,column 3
+cell11,cell12,cell13
+CSV;
+        $csv = Reader::createFromString($text);
+        $csv->setHeaderOffset(1);
+
+        self::assertCount(1, $csv);
+        self::assertSame([
+            'column 1' => 'cell11',
+            'column 2' => 'cell12',
+            'column 3' => 'cell13',
+        ], $csv->fetchOne(0));
+
+        $csv->includeEmptyRecords();
+
+        self::assertCount(2, $csv);
+        self::assertSame([
+            'column 1' => null,
+            'column 2' => null,
+            'column 3' => null,
+        ], $csv->fetchOne(0));
+    }
+
+    public function testRemovingEmptyRecordsWithoutBOMString(): void
+    {
+        $text = <<<CSV
+
+column 1,column 2,column 3
+cell11,cell12,cell13
+CSV;
+        $csv = Reader::createFromString($text);
+        $csv->setHeaderOffset(1);
+
+        self::assertCount(1, $csv);
+        self::assertSame([
+            'column 1' => 'cell11',
+            'column 2' => 'cell12',
+            'column 3' => 'cell13',
+        ], $csv->fetchOne(0));
+
+        $csv->includeEmptyRecords();
+
+        self::assertCount(2, $csv);
+        self::assertSame([
+            'column 1' => null,
+            'column 2' => null,
+            'column 3' => null,
+        ], $csv->fetchOne(0));
+    }
+
+
+    public function testGetHeaderThrowsIfTheFirstRecordOnlyContainsBOMString(): void
+    {
+        $bom = Reader::BOM_UTF8;
+        $text = <<<CSV
+$bom
+column 1,column 2,column 3
+cell11,cell12,cell13
+CSV;
+        $csv = Reader::createFromString($text);
+        $csv->setHeaderOffset(0);
+
+        self::expectException(Exception::class);
+        $csv->getHeader();
+    }
 }