diff --git a/src/metrics.js b/src/metrics.js
index bbd716649..27d90ed11 100644
--- a/src/metrics.js
+++ b/src/metrics.js
@@ -380,8 +380,7 @@ async function pipeContainerToMap(name, statsMap) {
     assert.ok(statsMap instanceof Map);
 
     // we used to poll before instead of a stream. but docker caches metrics internally and rate logic has to handle dups
-    const [error, statsStream] = await safe(docker.getStats(name, { stream: true }));
-    if (error) return null; // container stopped or missing, silently ignore
+    const statsStream = await docker.getStats(name, { stream: true });
 
     statsStream.on('error', (error) => debug(error));
     statsStream.on('data', (data) => {
@@ -425,9 +424,7 @@ async function pipeContainerToMap(name, statsMap) {
 async function pipeSystemToMap(statsMap) {
     assert.ok(statsMap instanceof Map);
 
-    const [error, metrics] = await safe(readSystemMetrics());
-    if (error) return; // silently ignore error
-
+    const metrics = await readSystemMetrics();
     const oldMetrics = statsMap.get('system')?.raw || null;
 
     const gap = oldMetrics ? (metrics.ts - oldMetrics.ts) : null;
@@ -479,7 +476,7 @@ async function getStream(options) {
 
     const INTERVAL_MSECS = 1000;
     intervalId = setInterval(async () => {
-        if (options.system) await pipeSystemToMap(statsMap);
+        if (options.system) await safe(pipeSystemToMap(statsMap), { debug });
 
         const result = {};
         const nowSecs = Date.now() / 1000; // to match graphite return value