diff --git a/coreutils/tee.c b/coreutils/tee.c
index 6ec1d6d..ba2e10f 100644
--- a/coreutils/tee.c
+++ b/coreutils/tee.c
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
 	int flags;
 	int retval = EXIT_SUCCESS;
 #ifdef CONFIG_FEATURE_TEE_USE_BLOCK_IO
-	size_t c;
+	ssize_t c;
 	RESERVE_CONFIG_BUFFER(buf, BUFSIZ);
 #else
 	int c;
@@ -78,12 +78,16 @@
 	*p = NULL;				/* Store the sentinal value. */
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_FEATURE_TEE_USE_BLOCK_IO
-	while ((c = read(STDIN_FILENO, buf, BUFSIZ)) != 0) {
+	while ((c = safe_read(STDIN_FILENO, buf, BUFSIZ)) > 0) {
 		for (p=files ; *p ; p++) {
 			fwrite(buf, 1, c, *p);
 		}
 	}
 
+	if (c < 0) {			/* Make sure read errors are signaled. */
+		retval = EXIT_FAILURE;
+	}
+
 #ifdef CONFIG_FEATURE_CLEAN_UP
 	RELEASE_CONFIG_BUFFER(buf);
 #endif