...(done this hundreds of times)...
That right there is your problem. Nobody ever cuts them self open on an intricate one off part, that is requiring odd cuts and the likes. Nope, it's always near the end of the day, doing a cut or making a part that has been made many times over. When you are making the odd part, you are aware of things going on. When making the production part over and over, you fall into a false sense of security.
Point is, when you are making a bunch of parts, take more care to be aware of things, as you aren't naturally aware at that point. Also, if you are nearing the end of the day, and just have a few things left, wait on them, as when you rush to complete them, you inevitably will screw up, be it putting the saw through your finger, mismeasuring a piece of material (big deal when you play with aluminum costing $200 a sheet), or just dripping some glue on top of your freshly installed carpet.
I hope others will add to this.
Yes. On top of what you mentioned, there are a couple things I would like to add. Main thing is a set of anti kick back rollers. The ones pictured are on the old factory piece of crap Delta fence. Dad is currently in the process of making a Biesemeyer clone, but that is unfinished, so the photos are of the old fence, sitting on the floor.
Basically, they are a set of rubber rollers that roll smoothly in one direction, and won't roll in the other. They are adjusted in and out with the vertical thumbscrews, and thickness is adjusted by placing moving the wedge of wood back and forth. The springs hold them tight on the material, and because they hold well, kickbacks are virtually eliminated. I can't see operating a table saw without them.
The other thing is for cutting sheet goods without the use of a table saw. I'm currently in a somewhat cramped shop, so there isn't space to leave the table saw, as well as infeed and outfeed tables, set up. Sometimes, if I've just got a sheet or two to cut up, it isn't worth my time to pull the equipment out of where it is tucked away. Other times, I have a boat, or some other big fabrication project inside, and there isn't room for the table saw to be setup. Thus, I do almost all of my sheet cutting with a circular saw, and this simple guide.
It just takes a hair over a foot off one edge of sheet of plywood. Basically, just rip off a few inches off one side. It doesn't really matter how straight, as long as you have the factory edge. Turn the off cut around, putting the factory edge towards the center of the sheet, and roughly lining up the other side. Stick a few screws in there, then run the saw, with the saw table (pad, deck, whatever you call it) up against the piece you screwed on. This leaves you with a guide that is the exact width of the saw. When you go to cut the sheet goods, all you need is a mark at each end. Clamp the guide on the keeper side of the material, lining the edge up with the line. Putting the guide on the keeper piece accomplishes two things - puts the saw kirf on the discard piece, and if the saw does, for whatever reason, walk, the keeper piece is protected.
As seen in the 3rd pic, when you go to make the guide, make your first strip wide enough to pass both the edge of the saw, and a clamp. I've gotten to the point where I am working with sheet aluminum on about a daily basis, and I'm using this to cut near all of my metal. Quicker than setting up the table saw (quicker than adjusting the fence, and moving the material into place, even if the saw was set up already), and yields excellent results. I've got a few of these, for different blade thicknesses, as well as different saws (and some shorter ones, so I don't have to trip over the extra length when doing cross cuts).
Another thing to think of is hearing protection. I bet a lot of us aren't as careful as we should be. However, I ended up with tinnitus last year, likely from running the angle grinder, as there was a period last fall when I was doing a bunch of steel fabrication, but I've been around loud tools since about birth, so it could have been an accumulation of a number of things. Anyway, it is no fun to live with, whatsoever, and I'm just 17 now, so I've got to live with it for the whole rest of my life.
Even the miter saw and circular saw, especially through aluminum, are enough to cause hearing loss. Go ahead and protect yourself now, as hearing loss cannot be fixed, at least as of this point.