diff --git a/builtin.c b/builtin.c
index 2acd992..fe0e2f1 100644
--- a/builtin.c
+++ b/builtin.c
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ wrerror:
 		update_ERRNO_int(errno);
 	else
 		fatal(_("%s to \"%s\" failed (%s)"), from,
-			rp ? rp->value : _("standard output"),
+			rp ? rp->value : ((fp == stdout) ? _("standard output") : _("standard error")),
 			errno ? strerror(errno) : _("reason unknown"));
 }
 
@@ -245,13 +245,35 @@ do_fflush(int nargs)
 			return make_number((AWKNUM) status);
 		}
 		fp = rp->output.fp;
-		if (fp != NULL)
+		if (fp != NULL) {
 			status = rp->output.gawk_fflush(fp, rp->output.opaque);
+			/* do we need to call rp->output.gawk_ferror here? */
+			if (status) {
+				if (is_non_fatal_redirect(rp->value, strlen(rp->value)))
+					update_ERRNO_int(errno);
+				else
+					fatal(_("%s to \"%s\" failed (%s)"), "fflush",
+						rp->value,
+						errno ? strerror(errno) : _("reason unknown"));
+			}
+		}
 		else if ((rp->flag & RED_TWOWAY) != 0)
 				warning(_("fflush: cannot flush: two-way pipe `%.*s' has closed write end"),
 					len, file);
 	} else if ((fp = stdfile(tmp->stptr, tmp->stlen)) != NULL) {
 		status = fflush(fp);
+		if (status) {
+			if (is_non_fatal_std(fp))
+				update_ERRNO_int(errno);
+			else {
+				/* die silently on EPIPE to stdout */
+				if (fp == stdout && errno == EPIPE)
+					gawk_exit(EXIT_FATAL);
+				fatal(_("%s to \"%s\" failed (%s)"), "fflush",
+					(fp == stdout) ? _("standard output") : _("standard error"),
+					errno ? strerror(errno) : _("reason unknown"));
+			}
+		}
 	} else {
 		status = -1;
 		warning(_("fflush: `%.*s' is not an open file, pipe or co-process"), len, file);
diff --git a/io.c b/io.c
index cced126..10e4cd9 100644
--- a/io.c
+++ b/io.c
@@ -1403,11 +1403,27 @@ flush_io()
 	errno = 0;
 	/* we don't warn about stdout/stderr if EPIPE, but we do error exit */
 	if (fflush(stdout)) {
+		if (is_non_fatal_std(stdout))
+			update_ERRNO_int(errno);
+		else {
+			if (errno == EPIPE)
+				/* die silently on EPIPE to stdout */
+				gawk_exit(EXIT_FATAL);
+			fatal(_("%s to \"%s\" failed (%s)"), "fflush",
+				_("standard output"),
+				errno ? strerror(errno) : _("reason unknown"));
+		}
 		if (errno != EPIPE)
 			warning(_("error writing standard output (%s)"), strerror(errno));
 		status++;
 	}
 	if (fflush(stderr)) {
+		if (is_non_fatal_std(stderr))
+			update_ERRNO_int(errno);
+		else
+			fatal(_("%s to \"%s\" failed (%s)"), "fflush",
+				_("standard error"),
+				errno ? strerror(errno) : _("reason unknown"));
 		if (errno != EPIPE)
 			warning(_("error writing standard error (%s)"), strerror(errno));
 		status++;
@@ -1416,6 +1432,11 @@ flush_io()
 		/* flush both files and pipes, what the heck */
 		if ((rp->flag & RED_WRITE) != 0 && rp->output.fp != NULL) {
 			if (rp->output.gawk_fflush(rp->output.fp, rp->output.opaque)) {
+				if (!is_non_fatal_redirect(rp->value, strlen(rp->value)))
+					fatal(_("%s to \"%s\" failed (%s)"), "fflush",
+						rp->value,
+						errno ? strerror(errno) : _("reason unknown"));
+				update_ERRNO_int(errno);
 				if ((rp->flag & RED_PIPE) != 0)
 					warning(_("pipe flush of `%s' failed (%s)."),
 						rp->value, strerror(errno));