My close call involved a lathe. I was applying a good sanding and a first coat of polish to a plate I was making when it started to become delaminated and started to decouple from the lathe. The plate 11" in diameter went sailing past my left ear over my shoulder and into the shop just missing several of the other guys working on near by benches. If it had struck me the safety equipment I was wearing - goggles and hearing protection would not have done much. All we can do is be reasonably safe when working around power tools. Personally I was thrilled to see the invention of the Saw Stop. I actually attended a demonstration of it. The sales rep took a saw stop equipped table saw and turned it on then got a hot dog and pushed it onto the spinning blade other then a very small nick in the hot dog there was no damage done to the hot dog, the saw however needed to have it's saw stop mechanism replaced. I would rather do that then try to regrow fingers. The President of the Saw Stop company believes in this so much he has actually used his one hand in demonstrations, talk about faith in your product!
DW