What is the most important reason to wear safety glasses when using power tools?

Safety glasses protect your eyes from flying debris, wood chips, metal shavings, dust, and other particles thrown off by power tools — eye injuries are among the most common and most serious shop accidents, and many are permanent. Eye protection should be worn whenever cutting, grinding, drilling, or doing any work that can produce flying material. Other key safety practices include wearing hearing protection around loud tools, removing loose clothing and jewelry, keeping guards in place, and maintaining a clean work area. Shop safety, especially eye protection, is a recurring topic on the Shop Information subtest.