Disaster piles up from trifles; safety incidents usually begin with one lucky break taken for granted.
Tips
history
From Ouyang Xiu's (欧阳修, Northern Song) 《伶官传序》 (preface to the Biography of the Actors): 夫祸患常积于忽微，而智勇多困于所溺 — 'disaster builds up from what is slight and unseen; wisdom and courage are often undone by what they indulge in.' A classical reflection on the fall of the Later Tang, now used as a management maxim.
usage
Often paired with its twin 智勇多困于所溺 ('wisdom and courage are undone by what they indulge'). 忽微 literally means 'the overlooked and the minute' — the trifles no one takes seriously until they compound.
