[colechristensen]

You have to learn to respect your tools. In a society with guard rails everywhere and children who grow up in bubbles, it is a bit more difficult. But you do and then it becomes normal to understand that you are standing next to something that can kill you in seconds and your awareness and thoughtfulness change dramatically.

[toomanybeersies]

I've met enough old blokes missing fingers from workplace accidents to know that's not the case.

[fho]

Yep ... most commonly accidents with table saws ... easily preventable by just not putting your fingers in the way of the blade.

[throwaway0a5e]

Just keep fingers away from moving things in general.

There's a lot of edge cases where you can get away with it but it's a bad habit to get into.

That said, the people who complain that literally every bit of content with a power tool doesn't start with the introductory lecture about safety need to go stick their hand in a wood chipper. That's like asking for every math class to start by reiterating basic arithmetic. It's an unnecessary drag on everyone for nothing. The people who need to be told to wear safety glasses aren't watching a youtube video on how to build a race car cage, they're not at that level, and the people who are watching it don't need to be told.

[fho]

I've been involved in two open workspaces / hackerspaces ... one had a very open "use at your own risk" attitude towards powertools and you just signed a waiver that they are not responsible, the other had a "you are not allowed to use our powertools" policy for insurance reasons.

Not surprisingly the second workshop was not used at all, which is somewhat of an antithesis to being an open workshop in the first place ...