diff --git a/src/protocol/mod.rs b/src/protocol/mod.rs
index febb0a5125eee904e53feefb132373f9e78e0c21..993e4e64f949e0ff8efe028d9ccc4231b21c7d8d 100644
--- a/src/protocol/mod.rs
+++ b/src/protocol/mod.rs
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ impl ProtocolDescription {
     /// A somewhat temporary method. Can be used by components to lookup type
     /// definitions by their name (to have their implementation somewhat
     /// resistant to changes in the standard library)
-    pub(crate) fn find_type(&self, module_name: &[u8], type_name: &[u8]) -> Option<TypeInspector> {
+    pub(crate) fn find_type<'a>(&'a self, module_name: &[u8], type_name: &[u8]) -> Option<TypeInspector<'a>> {
         // Lookup type definition in module
         let root_id = self.lookup_module_root(module_name)?;
         let module = &self.heap[root_id];
@@ -291,8 +291,8 @@ pub struct TypeInspector<'a> {
     type_table: &'a MonoType,
 }
 
-impl TypeInspector {
-    pub fn as_union(&self) -> UnionTypeInspector {
+impl<'a> TypeInspector<'a> {
+    pub fn as_union(&'a self) -> UnionTypeInspector<'a> {
         let heap = self.heap.as_union();
         let type_table = self.type_table.variant.as_union();
         return UnionTypeInspector{ heap, type_table };
@@ -304,7 +304,7 @@ pub struct UnionTypeInspector<'a> {
     type_table: &'a UnionMonomorph,
 }
 
-impl UnionTypeInspector {
+impl UnionTypeInspector<'_> {
     /// Retrieves union variant tag value.
     pub fn get_variant_tag_value(&self, variant_name: &[u8]) -> Option<i64> {
         let variant_index = self.heap.variants.iter()