The primary safety feature on a modern table saw is the riving knife, which helps prevent kickback. My old Craftsman contractor saw doesn't have one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riving_knife

While not as tight to the blade as a riving knife, I've found these splitters[1] paired with a zero-clearance insert are an excellent alternative, and can be custom-fitted to almost any saw with nothing but a hand drill and the saw itself.

[1] https://www.microjig.com/collections/mj-splitter

I learned respect for my table saw early in my software engineer turned part time woodworker career after a near miss kick back incident. I’ve been using MJ splitters ever since on my old school Delta unisaw.

Neat! I didn't know this existed. A wonderful retro-fit for older saws!

Mid 80s.

We were in a 'newer' school district - the middle school was less than 10 years old at that time. All equipment was relatively 'new'.

Thanks. I only started using table saws a few years ago, so I watched a lot of youtube videos on safe operation.

It seems clear that using (riving knife) + (blade guard) + (push sticks or similar) + (feather board) + (careful adherence to safe operation) eliminates most of the risk.

I'm still unclear how much risk remains when following those rules. Maybe because most injuries I hear about involve people skipping at least one of those five elements.